Wigan will be only the start?

[PSumbler]

<div id="bridgedd"> <div class="excerpt-title">The following is an excerpt of a blog article.  Read Full Article </div> <br /> It was sad news when I read the other day about Wigan slipping into administration, the first team to be victims of the pandemic that has hit so many people and companies around the world.We should not forget that at the end of the 2012/13 season – the same year that we won the League Cup, Wigan won the FA Cup and just three days later were relegated from the top flight after a stay of 8 seasons.Seven years on and they are facing a third relegation to League One (they have been promoted twice as Champions) thanks to a ... </div>

 

[Swanjaxs]

It's going to be "squeaky bum time" for a number of clubs in the coming months absolutely, ourselves included

 

[Itchysphincter]

How do I read the whole of the OP? I can only see some of it.....

 

[PSumbler]

How do I read the whole of the OP? I can only see some of it.....

Click the words "read full article" and it should take you to it

 

[Itchysphincter]

Ta. Just realised after reading that it’s the same one I read before.

 

[Badlands]

I don't think Wigan going into administration was wholly down to the pandemic.

 

[DangerousDavies]

This simply has to be the time where the whole of football, in this country and beyond, finally works towards installing, maintaining and bloody well sticking to a sustainable model. It's no good introducing wage caps and financial restrictions only for clubs to seek a way to circumnavigate those rules and gain a competitive edge...that just starts the whole snowball effect all over again.

A damn good start would be to get rid of agents from the game; the amount lavished on these leeches is an absolute scandal. If players need representation for contracts etc then this could be provided by the PFA instead.

Clubs have to get a handle on wages and their outgoings and start being run like businesses instead of gambling on making the Premier league so they TV money on offer "makes everything alright".

Worrying times but also an opportunity to set the game right and change things for the better.

 

[Cooperman]

Tough times lay ahead for clubs outside of the Premier League riches and who do not have a benefactor in place. I don't expect Premier League wealth and revenue to drop off any time soon so the gap between PL and non PL will grow even wider. It won't be long before we hear about the next Wigan.

 

[J_B]

I don't think Wigan going into administration was wholly down to the pandemic.

You’re right.

There’s something very dodgy about the Wigan situation which doesn’t reflect well on the EFL and their farcical fit and proper persons rule.

 

[Dr. Winston]

This simply has to be the time where the whole of football, in this country and beyond, finally works towards installing, maintaining and bloody well sticking to a sustainable model.

Clubs have to get a handle on wages and their outgoings and start being run like businesses

But then you get supporters whining about "investment" and "ambition" all whilst clubs try to cut costs down to the sustainable level of which you speak.

There are too many people running football clubs who shouldn't be, and you're certainly bang on about agents, but I doubt there's many football supporters out there who want their clubs to spend less money on players.

 

[K23]

This simply has to be the time where the whole of football, in this country and beyond, finally works towards installing, maintaining and bloody well sticking to a sustainable model. It's no good introducing wage caps and financial restrictions only for clubs to seek a way to circumnavigate those rules and gain a competitive edge...that just starts the whole snowball effect all over again.

A damn good start would be to get rid of agents from the game; the amount lavished on these leeches is an absolute scandal. If players need representation for contracts etc then this could be provided by the PFA instead.

Clubs have to get a handle on wages and their outgoings and start being run like businesses instead of gambling on making the Premier league so they TV money on offer "makes everything alright".

Worrying times but also an opportunity to set the game right and change things for the better.

You've said nothing I could disagree with but the reality is, the whole football pyramid is a competition rather than just an existence and this by its very nature makes it dog eat dog and everyone at every club bar just a handful, will do almost anything they can to get an edge, to be more successful, to be winners without consideration for their own consequences let alone anyone elses. This may be a jaundiced and cynical view, but then I'm a cynic.

 

[TheLoneRanger]

I don't think Wigan going into administration was wholly down to the pandemic.

Something really stinks with the sale of Wigan ...

The selling owners IEC sold their stake to NLF. Both companies are based in Hong Kong and registered in the Cayman Islands.

At the time of the sale Hong Kong businessman Dr Choi Chiu Fai Stanley, chairman of IEC, owned more than 50% of both the seller, IEC, and the buyer, NLF.

Then Au Yeung, initially a minority shareholder in NLF, was stated to have become the owner of 100% of NLF.

IEC sold Wigan, for £17.5m, even showing a profit on the £15.9M they paid Whelan in November 2018. IEC stated on the same day that they sold the club to NLF, that the £24.6M it had put into Wigan, funding the players’ wages and all of their heavy losses - had been repaid in full.

So on the same day Au Yeung took ownership, and after spending £40.5M, he decided not to fund it and put the club into administration ??

So the EFL vetted and approved both Au Yeung and NLF as fit owners of the club??

 

[TheLoneRanger]

"Rick Parry has been involved in an astonishing conversation with a Wigan Athletic fan during which the chairman of the English Football League said there was a rumour that the club’s administration was linked to “a bet in the Philippines on them being relegated”.

"Four weeks ago Wigan were sold from one Hong Kong-based company to another, both of which were until recently majority-owned by the same businessman and a high-stakes professional poker player, Dr Choi Chiu Fai Stanley."

 

[DangerousDavies]

This simply has to be the time where the whole of football, in this country and beyond, finally works towards installing, maintaining and bloody well sticking to a sustainable model.

Clubs have to get a handle on wages and their outgoings and start being run like businesses

But then you get supporters whining about "investment" and "ambition" all whilst clubs try to cut costs down to the sustainable level of which you speak.

There are too many people running football clubs who shouldn't be, and you're certainly bang on about agents, but I doubt there's many football supporters out there who want their clubs to spend less money on players.

Sad but true. We've seen it here with calls for the Americans to spend money, without any thought of the implications of that money being spent (loans with high interest or diluting the Trust etc). But fans need to understand that we're on the verge of financial sanity or lose your club entirely. It won't happen though

 

[DangerousDavies]

This simply has to be the time where the whole of football, in this country and beyond, finally works towards installing, maintaining and bloody well sticking to a sustainable model. It's no good introducing wage caps and financial restrictions only for clubs to seek a way to circumnavigate those rules and gain a competitive edge...that just starts the whole snowball effect all over again.

A damn good start would be to get rid of agents from the game; the amount lavished on these leeches is an absolute scandal. If players need representation for contracts etc then this could be provided by the PFA instead.

Clubs have to get a handle on wages and their outgoings and start being run like businesses instead of gambling on making the Premier league so they TV money on offer "makes everything alright".

Worrying times but also an opportunity to set the game right and change things for the better.

You've said nothing I could disagree with but the reality is, the whole football pyramid is a competition rather than just an existence and this by its very nature makes it dog eat dog and everyone at every club bar just a handful, will do almost anything they can to get an edge, to be more successful, to be winners without consideration for their own consequences let alone anyone elses. This may be a jaundiced and cynical view, but then I'm a cynic.

I think there's going to be a few clubs (and by extension their fans) that will be desperately hoping that just an existence isn't beyond their means over the next 12 months our so!!

And yeah, you're a cynic :lol: