If the Stadium loses money, it is because the capacity of 25,000 was to large for both clubs as Whelan had it in his head that if the Latic's were in the Premiership, the crowds would flock to the Stadium in their thousands and there would be full houses at every Latic's game.

Only the games against Liverpool and Manchester United ever attracted large crowds of over 20,000 and that it why it should have named 'Whelans Folly' or 'Whelans White Elephant' Stadium.

Or even 'Wigan Council Bad Mistake' Stadium.

Definitely don't want anything to do with standing,we get plenty of opportunity when we go away from home to stand,and i think that under the stewardship of IFL the stadium could be a great success

I would imagine building the corners to fill in the gaps would be a very expensive operation to undertake

There are far more business opportunities in the stadium than the number of seats you know, and the cost to run a match day would be the same if the stadium held 12,000. It's based on number of people that actually go and not the number of empty seats.

IFL is an astute operator and if he is successful in buying the ground he will have a business plan that he believes will deliver success.

It's all Lenegans fault Latics are in the position they are.... https://forums.vitalfootball.co.uk/thre ... ya.107556/ https://forums.vitalfootball.co.uk/thre ... 553/page-2

It's all Lenegans fault Latics are in the position they are.... https://forums.vitalfootball.co.uk/thre ... ya.107556/ https://forums.vitalfootball.co.uk/thre ... 553/page-2

Why would the dislike the guy though?

Although some probably don't in the same way some don't like IFL

To be fair, he gifted them something that most football fans who live outside the fantasy cash bubble of the Premier League could only dream of. Before Whelan, nothing in Wigan Athletic's history merited Premier League action or a win at Wembley. They'd never been anything more than a 'make up the numbers' lower league club, playing in a run-down shed of a stadium in front of minuscule crowds, in a town that was totally dominated by rugby league.

Whelan bought them a completely different experience of sporting life.

It was never going to last, but it doesn't surprise me that they weren't the least bit embarrassed when he put up a statue to himself at the front of the DW.

In pointing this out, though, I'm not saying that if Latics disappear, it won't end up being our fault ... much like their failure to secure PL status before Whelan is also now our fault, or so those who claim to have been around in the 1980s insist.

Apart from his racist remarks? Or the absolute drivel the WEP used to lap up every week? One week he's saying Bruce is the next England manager and then a month later Bruce is the devil and the reason they are down in the relegation zone.

What about his sporting achievements? Imo the guys done more to divide the town down sporting lines than anyone - all for his (unsustainable) dream of PL footy.

His stewardship of our club was simply a PR stunt to paint himself as 'Mr Wigan'. Compare him to IL and the good he's done for us Vs the nose dive we had under Whelan and it's night and day. We saw deliberate SC breaches, a criminal lack of youth brought through, a relegation scrap and the club's reputation in tatters. Maybe that's why the Latics fans are so scared of IL as they've seen first hand what happens when you're placed number two in your owners affections

I'm also a Union fan and know many good people at Orrell who watched years of hard work go down the drain once Whelan had has his fill. Granted they took his coin, but like many others (including our own shareholders) they were sold a pipedream.

He's lauded for building a knock-off stadium on a known marsh land that needs the pitch digging up and replacing every 12 months. I suppose that doesn't matter to the football fans tho as it doesn't impact their season...

To top it all off he names the stadium after himself and sticks a statue out front.

But why would latics fans hate him?

They wouldn't, but I never said they would. I said one thing I'll never agree with them on is their devotion to the guy.

They are in the (partly down to him and his lofty ambitions), but they still fawn after him.

You'd hope the reasoned fans would also see the damage he's done to the town, but like I said all they care about is football.

What damage has he done to the town? He's built a stadium, owned multiple businesses and employed multiple local people (myself included) and still does I think

Latics fans hated the rugby long before whelan