There is no such Premier League rule, believe me! Probably the first thing DW could think of.

Has anyone ever seen official confirmation of that rule? It's raised on here a lot, but there doesn't appear to be anything in the Premier League's rules to substantiate it.

The big problem comes if we lose our first play-off match; then we'd be at home again the following weekend, but the two slots for play-off matches are Friday 17th Sep 8pm, and Saturday 18th Sep 6.15pm. Latics are at home to Man City on the Saturday afternoon at 3pm. If it came to it, our fixture would be the Friday night one anyway as the highest placed week one loser, but we'd only have the game confirmed five-to-seven days beforehand, so it'd be a repeat of the situation that took us to Widnes last time.

If there is a rule its a new one as Hull City played 1 hour after a Hull FC game once didnt they? At the KC.

I don't think it was a Premier League League game. I think it was in the Championship.

It was.

Hull City played Ipswich at 12.45, and then we played in the evening.

the only Premier League rule on the subject that I can find is:

No Club shall have or enter into a ground-sharing agreement unless the agreement contains a legally enforceable provision to the effect that the playing of the Club’s League Matches shall always take precedence over the activities of the other party to the agreement.

Thats the only rule

That rule does not exist!

DW said last time that he could not turn the stadium around in 24 hours. Those were his words.

He must have been referring to his own company then, and the fact he'd rather not pay the staff overtime to get it done.

As has been mentioned above, there's nothing in the PL rulebook about the timing before a match, only that there has to be a provision for the PL club to have the right to dictate terms.

Maybe Wigan's particular agreement has a set time clause that we're not aware of.

We did used to turn around when they were in the championship didnt we?

Yes,
I believe Whelan is doing of because of the criticism Wigan Athletic has had over the state of the pitch from some PL clubs.

Are they just going to swap the Friday and Sunday games?

That's what I'd expect for the first round.

He claims its because its not possible to turn it around but really its because he can't be bothered paying extra staff and also for the reason you have just stated.

I think 14 times we have played on a Friday and they have played on a Saturday. It has certainly happened quite a few times because i used to go to quite a lot of Latics matches pre-PL.

There is no rule stating we can't play 24 hours prior to a PL game. That has just been made up as we have played on a Friday prior to a Latics PL game before.

All these problems have only arisen because Whelan has sold Wigan RL and he knows as long as Wigan RL exist Latics will continue to get poor crowds.