I'm a fan of both and your point us very valid. There is a history now if foreign investment in English football clubs just not working out, for every Man City there are two or three cases where these owners come in and the clubs just descend in to turmoil.

The guy who is brokering this deal is the guy who brokered the Man City deal, as he was their chief exec at the time but if these guys have serious cash, why would they choose Wigan? It's all well and good saying they'd be cheap but there are numerous clubs which would be cheap around the country but would have potential to dwarf the crowds we get.

Something doesn't feel right about the deal. These guys probably see the hugely rich, powerful figures getting involved in football ownership now and fancy a piece of the action but much like those people we all know, they want to buy a brand new Ferrari but can only afford a 10 year old Range Rover and won't be able to afford to fill it up with fuel.

Hope I'm wrong and these guys have pots of cash but I doubt it.

Looks like this might be happening sooner rather than later according to the BBC - £20m+ deal with Hong Kong investors.

If it is £20m, seems low for a football club who are likely to be in the Championship next season and are essentially debt free. I'd be surprised if the stadium is included at that price.

rlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41648722rl

That seems to be what the national press reported yesterday but the post reckon be is not that advanced.

What would they going rate for a stadium be? The playing roster is decent enough with a few of them probably having a value of £1m+ (Grigg, Burn, Jacobs, Morsy). The club also owns two training grounds doesn't it?

£20m may buy the team and the training grounds, but it wont buy a stadium too, and I'd bet that if DW didn't own the Latics, they'd be paying full rent to use the stadium. It may end up in a situation like Crystal Palace & Portsmouth where the new foreign owners didn't own the ground they played on. Both went into Administration pretty soon afterwards.

Palace and Portsmouth were both in financial trouble when taken over - Latics are pretty much debt free as Whelan turned debt into shares.

Looks like it might be as low as £15m and it is a betting firm that are looking to take over. If true, can only think he's keeping the stadium.

rlhttps://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/4705192/wigan-premier-league-return-15million-takeover-k8/rl

Whatever happens, Latics will still have the problem of a pitch which is below sea level and all that entails. I wonder if they might get a dispensation for an i-pitch or if there are plans for major ground works. I cannot see multi millions being pumped into a club who play in a swimming pool for three months a year.

When they rename the stadium the "let 1000 flowers bloom" stadium I imagine that money will talk. Perhaps they are actually looking to introduce a new range of Pies to China and are looking for authenticity.

Wigan is around 140 feet above sea level,its the Douglas thats the problem at the Dw

A look at the last published accounts for Latics would indicate a major problem. Their turnover was just under
£16 million but that included the final parachute payment of £12 million. This was for the 2015 - 2016 season when they got promoted. Whelan will not continue to lose HIS money.

I would love us to convert the athletics stadium in to our own 15000 capacity ground and play all our games to a full house every week.

Imagine if Wigan had their own ground like wire or even Leigh, we could get it bouncing with a full ground every week. Not going to happen though

I think we'd all love that but you're right it won't be happening. I'd love nothing better then a similar stadium to Saints/Wire etc. We'd need a bigger one on the odd occasion like Derbies or things like the WCC but you could always host the odd game at the DW anyway.

It's all a pipe dream though. Whoever takes over isn't going to throw that rental income and even more importantly, the match day income in the bars away. That's if they even buy the stadium, if they don't then Whelan definitely won't.

There’s always LSV

Too small for a big club like us.

And if we need too we will ask the owners of the stadium for permission. Any idea who that Is?