Thought they bought Bolton's training ground at Euxton when they went pop. Could get far more money for land there.

The players I am on about are the members of the squad won the FA Cup, but were either sold or retired not long after winning the trophy. Since then, the standard of players have not been to the same level as prior to the 2013 season when they won the trophy.

Hence the decline in attendances!

The Stadium should be owned by a independent concern with any club that plays there paying a rent to the leaseholder like they do at Huddersfield, Hull, Leigh, Salford etc.

In the case of our town, that was the original idea when the idea of a joint Stadium was first mooted at a meeting of Warriors Shareholders at the Riverside Club in 1994 with the name of Wigan Sporting club suggested as a name for the independent company owning the Stadium.

That is until Whelan got all his own way with with Wigan Council and bought off 79% of the Warriors Shareholders with his offer of £125 for every £1 share.

As a result of Wigan Council supporting Whelan in anything he did at the time, the Stadium ended up in the hands of Whelan, who during the period of trying to attract a buyer for his "beloved" Wigan Athletic, transferred the DW Stadium to the football club in order to get a price for himself from the sale as any potential buyer of a football club would want the Stadium to be part of the sale. If Whelan had put both companies as separate sales, the Stadium could have been bought by a independent concern, who then would have made the football club pay the same rent as the Warriors. Hopefully that will be the case in the near future if the Administrators sell Wigan Athletic and the DW Stadium as separate sales.

Like the other towns and cities I have mentioned above, the same criteria should have also applied to the Stadium at Robin Park in the late nighties, with both Wigan Athletic and Wigan Warriors being tenants and paying rent to a independent owner of the Stadium ie. Wigan Council.

Leigh Centurions are in a better situation than us as the Leigh Sports Village Stadium is owned by a independent Wigan Council who are the landlords.

And nobody would have bought a loss-making football club with no fixed assets. If IL is having to stick £500K in every year to fund the Warriors with a £2m salary cap and average crowds of 12,000, how much do you think the owner of WAFC is having to put in with a £20m wage bill and average crowds of less than 10,000?

The ground and the training grounds are the only real assets.

You missed the largest reason for declining attendances and better players leaving straight after winning the fa cup, they were relegated....

No bookmaker, from the far east or anywhere else, is going to honour that bet without going to court.

You have got a higher opinion of the owners than I have! They have managed to secure a £28m loan attached to the assets, that can only be the DW Stadium. Regarding Latics survival in the Championship - No.

The football/training ground at Euxton was part of the former sports facilities of the Royal Ordinance Factory and as it was not part of the sale of the whole site for the building of the Buckshaw Village Housing Development, it may a have covenant on it which says that it has always has to be used for sport.

Don't be so naive to think this may have been done at a normal bookmakers.

When i said a calculated gamble i meant the bet that was placed and as far as the loan is concerned it's no different to getting a mortgage against your home,it's just a bigger amount

I'm not naive, and no bookmaker is going to pay up, with no questions asked.

Exactly & I'd even go as far as saying that underworld type bookies will be even less inclined to pay out.

Ateotd it sounds like the guy has fixed the bet - why would anyone pay out knowing that?

What has happen in Hong Kong with the owners of Wigan Athletic is the tip of the iceberg of what is going on in the murky world of football club ownership in this country, especially those owned by companies from Asia.

Hope none ever come into Rugby League!

Lenagan leading bid to take over club. https://wiganwarriors.com/blog/2020/07/ ... -athletic/