I wish we could buy Sharpys

It is a great idea. I wonder if they did would we move the "home" end to the North Stand?

Latest statement. https://www.wigantoday.net/sport/footba ... ly-api

Latest statement. https://www.wigantoday.net/sport/footba ... ly-api

a lot of ifs and buts in there

So two weeks to find a buyer, at the back end/in the middle of a pandemic (depending on how you look at it). It makes grim reading for them, but potentially for us.

I still think a buyer will come in last minute, however worst case is they go into liquidation... what happens to our future at the DW?

Who would buy a stadium that:

Isn't being used at the moment due to a pandemic.
Is used fortnightly during summer by the rugby team.
No football team supporters bringing revenue in.
No other external revenue comes in, never has there been a concert or other large event since being built.

That's one hell of a white elephant. What would the value of the stadium be at this point? Does it get knocked down and we play out of somewhere else cause its too unaffordable for us?

Like I said, that's worst case. I think they will be saved last minute.

I thought that IL may want buy Sharpeys if he was part of the consortium who may eventually buy WA.
Although a rich guy by comparison to most people I don't think that IL has a few million spare to invest as a part owner of a football club but he may find funders and part of the deal for him would be to buy Sharpeys at a knockdown price.

Probably wishful thinking but would love it if it happened.

Moving to the North Stand wouldn't be a problem to me under those circumstances.

Wigan Council will buy at least 36% of it, seeing as they already own 15%. I can see IL buying 49% of it. If he's prepared to be part of a consortium to buy an ailing football club, then he'd definitely be interested in buying a share, or even a controlling share, of a stadium that could generate revenue.

The only reason it isnt used for concerts etc is the year-round use it currently has for football and rugby. With just one sport, there's capacity to host concerts (even in the summer) without ruining the pitch.

If it does come down to selling off the DW, I wonder if Whelan will make a bid for his statue that he paid for?

I’ll be more than happy to drop it off for him F.O.C

Should leave it there as a tribute to the fact we have a stadium in Wigan as opposed to playing at Bolton or elsewhere

A tribute?

What , when he only contributed less than 20% of his own money towards the cost of the Stadium and then made a profit from the sale to the Chinese.

If Whelan care so much about Wigan, he would have donated it to the town instead of making a fat profit for himself.

A case for statue toppling as far as I and many others are concerned!

p.s. And have you ever seen any Wigan RL Chairman erect a statue of himself holding the Challenge Cup or the Super League Trophy?

Does Andy Gregory still have his scrap metal business?

looking positive now that most of the debt has been written off https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/53851995

looking positive now that most of the debt has been written off https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/53851995

Hopefully it means things progress quickly and they’ll need to. I had a look at what was left of the squad earlier and it’s not pretty. We couldn’t even raise an 11 as things stand, so a takeover needs to be done and players brought in pronto.

I had a read on the Wigan Athletic forum earlier and even now there’s still a fair bit of animosity towards a potential Lenagan consortium taking over. It really is pretty sad some of the opinions I read, especially when you consider the dire position the club finds itself in.

They should be thankful that any local people are interested in saving their little club.

Beggers can't be choosers!

Some people did not like the thoughts of Whelan taking over the rugby .Latics fans have rubbed it since.

There'll always be malcontents. We've got a few of our own.

But to be fair, I'm not sure where the rule is written that a football fan must support his local RL team, or that an RL fan must support his local football team. Surely you can support, or not support, whoever you want?

I do agree that it's sad how some Latics fans seem to have lived in long expectation of Wigan RL disappearing under football's mighty heel. But more fool them. And if some still do, that's amazing.

But as I see it, the main advantage of an IL-led consortium getting hold of the football club will be that it secures the ground for the Warriors. The last thing we want is someone else coming in who knows nothing about this town and then proceeds to give us as tough a time as Whelan did.

I don’t have any sentiment or affinity to Wigan Athletic. My concern is how this affects us and the use of the stadium.

They aren't out of the woods yet. Somebody still needs to stump up the cash knowing that it will not see them making any money, not for a long time anyway. I just can't see anybody (unless mega rich) taking that chance in these very economically challenging times. If they are liquidated IL can basically get it for next to nothing. Besides all that though, we have a long term lease in our favour on that ground. Nobody will want to lose guaranteed revenue on our rent and costs and if they don't want us there it would cost a good few quid to shift us.

Just read on Total RL somebody saying a guy called Mike Danson has bought a decent sized stake in Wigan rugby. The guy is reported to be worth over £700m and if true you’d have to wonder if it has anything to do with a Lenagan consortium attempting to take over Latics. I’ve no idea if the information is accurate or not.

How much is IL actually worth? I know his Latics bid isn’t solely him but to have expenditure at the levels he’d have with both Warriors and Latics takes some substantial money.

Nothing like the money this guy rumoured to have bought a stake in us has I believe. I don’t really know but he couldn’t take Latics over alone from what you read.

Be careful not to break it. Did you know that he broke his leg in a game once?

I am more inclined to think that Lenagan has got involved because he is more concerned about the future of the Stadium.

Going off on a wild speculation/hope trail here but if true and the chap that’s invested is worth £700m+ could we look to finally have our own stadia again?

He is the 184th richest person in Brirtain

184 MIKE DANSON
Media
£743m ▲£88m
Danson, 55, a former management consultant, sold his Datamonitor market research group in 2007 for £502m and his proceeds and previous share sales came to £193m. He has since built up City-based information provider GlobalData, which after its float is a £625.3m operation. Danson sold a 1.4% stake worth £7.6m last October but retains a 68.1% holding valued at £425m, up £80m in a year. He acquired the New Statesman in 2008, driving the leftwing magazine to record readership levels through digital expansion and the addition of two websites. With his wife Helen he runs the Danson Foundation, which donated £1.5m to his old Oxford college, St Anne’s, to provide bursaries to students from disadvantaged backgrounds. It also supports disabled children in Cambodia and women’s education in Uganda.
2017: £655m, 195