Well Boro aren't in the Premier League any more and Portsmouth have changed owner.
Bolton seem to be in the same boat as Latics in having tighter than a crab's ar$e chairmen.

Latics suffering the same fate as Gretna is a definite possibility. They too were pushed well beyond the level they could sustain by an ambitious sugar daddy. Then once he pulled out they went into meltdown and folded within that season as they could not exist at the level they had been raised to.

This could have serious ramifications for Wigan RLFC (if it happens) as the recievers would simply sell the ground as it would be one of Latics' assets leaving us with only the ground at Orrell that is below required standards and can't be developed.

Whelan giving the stadium to Latics could turn out to be a disaster for both clubs in a few years' time.

Who would they sell it to? It's not as though they can move it!

I suppose they could knock it down and sell it to a building firm, though the council would need to agree, and that would never happen.

Interesting possibilities, though more likely I just think Latics will slump back through the leagues until they reach their natural level again.

They could knock it down??????

More than likely it will stay there and both clubs will play out of it.

If Latics went out of existence and the ground was sold off I would expect it to be knocked down after being sold. The council wouldn't have any share in ownership of the ground (Latics will be sole owners) so couldn't stop a sale in the circumstances. Also they would be happy enough with any proposed develoment if it would bring jobs and investment to the town.]

The council do own a small percentage of the ground!!!!!

And WE are sitting tennants.

They couldn't stop a sale (as far as I'm aware), but they could stop the land being used for rebuilding.

But I guess it depends what the new owners are planning to build before you start talking about 'bringing jobs and investment to the town'.

A factory? A supermarket? A casino? A cinema complex?

There are obvious reasons why none of those would apply.

Maybe we could have another zoo? - after the roaring success of the last one.

I suppose we could always use more office space - to add the masses of vacant office space the town already has.

Even building a new housing estate is difficult to conceive if the trade-off is the loss of Wigan RL, one of the town's sporting jewels. They'll just have lost one in Latics; will they want to lose a second merely to create yet another Brookside-type cul-de-sac.

Sorry, but at present this sounds like pie in the sky to me. Given that the stadium would have sitting tenants (on a lease for 50 years), I'm guessing that some kind of satisfactory arrangement would have to be reached with them first. You can't just bulldoze a house if a tenant still has occupancy rights. Presumably something similar applies to businesses. Which would make it even less appealing to a potential buyer.

There may be a germ of truth in what you say, but I doubt it's anything like as simple as you suggest.

Davies is the money man, but doesn't actually have a lot to do with the running of the club, leaving it to Phil Gartside to deal with. That said, the club are still in massive debt from building the Reebok, so it is with good reason to be prudent.

Latics aren't in the best of shape you know, despite making cutbacks.
Look how much they raked in this summer yet they had hardly anything to spend.

Very interesting from The Guardian

rlhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/jun/03/english-premier-league-debtrl

[i'Wigan Athletic are where they are, in the JJB Stadium and in the Premier League, solely due to the patronage of local market trader made good, Dave Whelan. Interest free loans from his holding company were increased to £35.6m, and Wigan were given another unsecured loan of £7.5m assumed to have come from Whelan. Barclays Bank maintained their funding at £23m because of Whelan's backing. The accounts make it clear that Wigan, who expect to continue to make losses, would not be solvent without Whelan's financial backing.'[/i

what kind of tenancy have we?
if its a secure tenancy, they cant evict us.........if its unsecured and on a rolling contract, then they can.

BUT......if the council own a small percentage then they would have to agree to sell their share..........and can anyone imagine a labour council selling out to line the pockets of a capitalist???????????????
neither can i.

stop worrying about it, and let whelan worry about it when it happens.

a labour council dont make me laugh
they may be a labour council by name but there as bent and corrupt as any capatilist on the planet

They still won't want to lose Wigan RL, especially if they've just lost Latics.

The notion that even a council like Wigan's would happily wave goodbye to both the town's pro sports clubs in return for a new housing estate is totally laughable.

Do they council still own a fraction though? Thought I'd read somewhere on here that they just had a 15% stake in Whelco Holdings (the former owners of the stadium)?