It used to cost best part of £300,000 per year - But a couple of years ago the whole drainage system was done (How it should have been done originally) and now it only needs a fraction of the "off Season" works it used to
However the usual smaller version of the off season work wasn't done to the Administration issue

What were the original fixture plans for this season (prior to fixtures being rearranged/neutral venues due to covid). Did we have the usual 6 weeks on the road fixtures set out? I can't remember.

Anyone who buys the Sun needs to see a doctor!

Are you saying that moving to Leigh is just a tactic by the Latic's to get the Administers to sort the matter out before the football season starts.

Like the then board of Wigan did in 1996 when they also use the same tactic by threatening to take the the club out of Wigan to the Reebok in Bolton in an attempt to force the Council to help them find a site for a Stadium of their own?

Perhaps the tactic might have worked, but for the Councillors siding with Whelan, who then bought off 79% of the Wigan shareholders (many of whom were not supporters and lived all over the country) with his offer of £125 for each £1 share which resulted in the Wigan board having to resign.

On reflection, one of the biggest mistakes in the history of the club as recent events has proved.

p.s. New Directors of Oldham Athletic also use the same tactic by threatening to take their club out of Oldham, if the Council did not help them to improve their ground. In their case the tactic must have worked as the club is still in Oldham and the ground got improvements done to it.

It’s a big and risky hill to set their stall out on if so, as we found out. Ultimately we had no choice but to beg DW to let us in the JJB as it were at the time.

I can only see this debacle going one way unfortunately and that’s that Latics go bust. These administrators are taking the right royal p**s out of them, shifting tact at the drop of a hat and coming out with contradictory statements daily. If you’re a buyer that must put you off.

The stadium needs heavy investment IMO, it needs upgrading into modern times. That may well be where Mr Mike Danson steps in, if Latics do end up going either boom or to Leigh. The latter of which would just delay the inevitable IMO.

Despite the Latics fans recent vile and vitriol against anyone and everyone, I do hope they survive. I’ve got mates who are life long Latics fans, that’s what’s keeping me from swaying to the “ta’ra” brigade.

If Coventry City have survived playing in Northampton & Birmingham, I'm sure Latics can survive playing in Leigh.

Either way it needs sorting by now it’s dragging on far to long

Conflicting reports Lenegan wanted to buy the stadium but was turned down these new bidders said that they did not want to buy the stadium but rent which they said the rent was too much(how do they know how much is the rent if there is no stadium buyer) .
The new bidders are prepared to buy the training ground for £500,000 PLUS £1 to buy the latics but not the stadium. Is the stadium already pencilled in for Lenegan if the Latics cannot be sold with the stadium? How do we stand If the stadium is not sold and we dont buy the stadium will we be looking for somewhere else to play.

Wigan rugby chief Ian Lenagan has been trying to buy the ground and become landlord rather than tenant and that is still in negotiation.

However the French-American team are unhappy with the rental terms he wants.

And they turned to Leigh's modern and compact ground as an alternative.

[urlhttps://www.wigantoday.net/sport/football/wigan-athletic-move-play-leigh-rumour-hosed-down-2965993[/url
Wigan Athletic 'move to play at Leigh' rumour is hosed down

Latics and the administrators are one and the same at the moment. The administrators are running the club day to day and they want the club to play at the DW and they want the new owners to purchase the stadium. The tactic of threatening to move them to Leigh is coming from the American consortium by the looks of it, with the ultimate aim IMO being that they’re either handed the stadium for a song or Ian Lenagan buys it and cuts them a better deal to rent it then what has been discussed so far.

It’ll all work itself out in the next few weeks I reckon and I’m confident that this time next year both Wigan Warriors and Wigan Athletic will be playing games at the DW. I’m not sure who will own the place but it’ll happen imo.

On an economic basis, this would make the most sense, but one party could very easily cut off their nose to spite their face.

Having looked through their forums trying to work out if anyone happens to know what is going on, it's clear they are suffering the most unbearable horror and misery during this period. The sort I wouldn't wish on anyone. Yes, it's true that they have a ridiculously gobby minority and that during the early years of the internet they attacked this board, others like it and everyone who participated in them with the most hateful, disgusting and protracted abuse (it only ended when the techs found a way to permanently ban them), but they are certainly taking a beating at present which not all of them deserve.

It's painful just to watch.

Looks like they're losing two more players today inc their captain.
Even if they get out of this administration another relegation beckons.

I think its common knowledge that although the Latics were joint tenants at the DW, they didn't actually physically pay any rent as the owner of the DW was also the owner of the Latics, and any rental payment would just be a couple of lines on respective balance sheets.

Now, if the Latics rent was an accounting exercise, there would be nothing to stop the owner putting a big figure down on the contract, which may have saved some tax. However, with the potential of the DW being owned by a different individual and many years of a sky high rent contract due as part of the "agreement", it may be why potential bidders are looking elsewhere.

The Stadium should be sold to a independent company with both the Warriors and the Latic's as tenants which was the idea promoted by Whelan when the idea of a joint stadium was first made at a meeting at the Riverside Club in 1994 and which is the case at other stadiums like in Huddersfield and Hull etc.

At that meeting a well known shareholder told Whelan to his face that he would not trust him as far as he could throw him and what has happened since that meeting has proved him right.

Harold Heyes?

Which independent company? Which one wants to buy it?

I can't think who would be interested.

The stadium is known to lose money and needs some upgrading, so that's big expenditure right from the off. There is supposedly a covenant on the land so that it can't be used for anything other than rugby or football, which presumably means the DW can't be knocked down and built on. Without two full-time tenants, it's not really viable and the only two tenants in sight are Wigan and Latics, and the likely new owners of Latics already look like a bunch of cheapskates who won't agree to any kind of decent-sized rent.

It's hardly an attractive proposition for a neutral businessman.

The only parties I'd have thought would be likely contenders are Wigan Warriors, because of their obvious vested interest, Latics themselves - though they are currently ruled out, or Wigan Council, and in a time of austerity, with worse to come, where would the council find all that cash?

Perhaps when they get around to renaming it, it can be the DWF. Dave Whelan's Folly.

Sadly passed I believe Brian? Harold also wanted proper scummaging re-introduced.

PROPER SCUMMAGING

The more I think about this, the more it’s turning into a very complex situation. The ground is simply too big to host both rugby league and football in their separate entities and possibly still too big even if both codes were to share it.

If IL (and consortium) were to purchase it, how much rent could we feasibly charge the Latics, given that they are likely to be relegated again at the end of this season? The current Covid problem remains and it will be some time before both clubs are generating any sort of the income that they have been used to. Latics’ income will be going in the wrong direction for the foreseeable. Our own income will be well down and then there are considerable amounts of money that need to be spent on the stadium to bring it up to scratch.

If any potential buyers for the football club come in, they will need deep pockets as per the reasons above. Even with the Warriors providing rental income (assuming that that rent remains at its current level), how can anyone turn in a profit when, from the football side of things, the Latics will likely be playing in front of 4-6k, rattling around in a 25k stadium?

Additionally, where does that leave us with Robin Park and the money that we have invested in that facility so far? Money down the drain? If we do buy the DW, surely then there will be a duplication of all sorts, office space, bars training areas and so on? could we afford to run both?

If I were running the show, I would be looking to move to a new stadium, especially now that Mike Danson is on board. One for the rugby only. Something along the lines of Langtree Park/Halliwell Jones with a capacity of around 18k. It’s a big ask but if St Helens and Warrington can do it, why couldn’t we? Building costs say anything between £35-45m less what we could attract in grants and subsidies etc. Have the ‘new Warriors’ team of Lenagan and Danson the ability/desire to do this. I bet they have considered it.

One thing for sure is that the DW is a big white elephant in the town. Too big for the Rugby, too big for the football and probably too big for both combined.

I think you’re pretty spot on there. The advantage of us not owning the stadium and being tenants is that we can pack up and leave whenever we please. I too would like us to have our own ground in the same mould as Saints/Wire. The DW just isn’t suitable at all IMO.

That’s perhaps what the potential new buyers are seeing. A stadium that is too costly and just doesn’t make financial sense to own given the Latics probable second consecutive relegation. The more of a mess the Latics situation becomes for them, it also does for us too.

And where are we building this new stadium? And why would the council grant planning permission when the DW is sat there collecting dust?

Fair points. Not sure where any possible site would be. That would be for IL and team to look into. The nearer to the town centre the better, rather than an out of town build.

Surely the terms of our lease at the DW doesn’t mean we are tied to it for life? It’s the football club’s stadium, after all, albeit the council own the land upon which it is built.

It doesn't technically belong to the football club either.

There is no way the council will allow another stadium to be built in the town while that's there. It's partly the reason why we couldn't find anywhere to build one in 1997.