Exactly

Sorry, I was under the impression that the problem of the Latics not being sold was due to a lack of interest and football clubs considered to be a bad investment now because of the pandemic!

Nobody picking up on a bid being accepted from a Spanish group?

As long as they dont stick san miguel on the councourse

Much better than the lager currently being sold.

Meat and Potato Pie (Ella)?

Agreed!!

Mucky filth

Coniston Bluebird the way to go

Canny beat a pot of Conny Blue

Galloways Empanadas

Birra Moretti is top stuff, you obviously don’t mean that

The pop-up bars are good. The regular bars are terrible.

Looks as though a deal has been done with a spanish consortium to include the ground and training facilities.

Looks like a golden opportunity missed by us to secure the ground at a snip - £3.5 mil for the lot. Personally would have been worth taking them on to liquidate them and take the ground for a song at that!



Can only hope that leneghan is involved in some part with the ownership of the stadium but looks unlikely at this stage and appears the ground is staying with them... can't help but feel massive opportunity missed!

We are still getting dirt cheap rent that can't be re-negotiated for a long long time yet anyway. Doesn't matter who buys Latics and how much money is pumped in, it will always lose money, just a matter of scale to how rich the owner is. They will be handed around for a few years like Bolton did and end up on Fisher Field playing Bamber Bridge.

IL's offer was rejected weeks and weeks ago. We all knew that.

Getting hold of the DW if Latics were liquidated would have been a two-edged sword, as Wigan playing alone at the stadium would not have been financially viable.

Many people in Wigan will find it very disappointing that the Council made little effort to support the Lenaghan consortium and help secure the future of the stadium for the people of Wigan as was the original intention in 1994 and not allow it to be owned by people who might only be interested in selling it on for a profit if the financial situation of the Latics further declines as a result of the pandemic situation.

But, what else can you expect from a Council who are still living in the days of the horse and cart with councillors only interested in the allowances, expenses and fact finding jaunts they enjoy.

From what I can see, it would appear that the new Spanish owners have secured the Latics, Stadium, Christopher Park etc on the cheap as a result of the sale being handled by a administration company who have been a disgrace in the way it has gone on over the past few weeks.

Supporters of other big clubs like Leeds, St Helens, Warrington etc must be enjoying the situation where the most famous Rugby League club in the game does not play since the great days of Central Park in a stadium of its own and has to pay a rent to a small football club.

Providing the terms of the lease remain the same i.e. 10% of gate receipts then it is not a problem. The rental for 2018 (last published accounts) was £295K which in the grand scheme of things is a very low figure in comparison to the costs of running the stadium.
IF the terms of the deal changes then yes it could be a problem, however unless the new Latics owners are billionaires, which I doubt, they will want Wigan RL to stay at the stadium.

In a normal stadium the running costs would be massively outweighed by the income you'd generate from it. I still don't get why the DW is different.

And when council tax went up to plug the financial gap from buying the stadium, the same people of Wigan would have been having a good moan about that too

The last estimate I heard, from a very good source was that the stadium needed around £5 million spending on it and has been losing money for years.You'd have to look at the stadium accounts to verify that.

I'm not saying it Shouldn't - But what makes you think that it definitely "Should"

Every Business/property etc. has costs associated with it, and facilities built into it to bring in income, how you minimise those costs and maximise the income is what makes it successful or not

Warrington rent out a substantial part of their stadium to the NHS, I'm sure it's proving very successful, we seem to only have Riglettos??? and currently, and over the last few years since austerity etc. I'm guessing income revenue from that and probably the Rugby have reduced.

Just saying "A normal stadium would make money" isn't that simple
I'd be interested what Saints do with their stadium, what income have they been generating prior to Covid and if that outweighs the costs of running it? What is the income generated actual compared to Forecasts?
But how also has it been affected by Covid?

Leeds have pumped tens of millions in, I am sure they will have had projections that showed how they were planning to make that money back, Covid will have blasted those projections, but how & when do Leeds get that back on track and what problems does it create in the interim.

I'm convinced that IFL probably didn't want the stadium, and would be happy with the current arrangement as long as the people come in don't significantly change the arrangement details, however he may have had his hand forced to try & aquire it if no-one else would offer that security or came in at all.

Why should the Council get involved using taxpayers money to prop up a commercial enterprise? How would they square that with the many people in the borough who have no interest in sport and particularly those in the east of the borough who have little love of Wigan RL or Latics. Ten years of Tory cuts has seen their budget cut by over 40% and it struggles to provide essential services as a result. You want the Council to lash a few million quid around it hasn't got at the expense of Children's Services or Care Homes. Typical lazy attack on a Labour controlled Council. You want to direct your ire at Westminster pal.

Non-gameday use is a huge income generator at Leeds - it's basically an events business with a Rugby League club bolted on to it. Not quite the same in St Helens and Warrington as they don't have the same local business markets but they will make tidy amounts that help to pay for the stadia and support the club. Certainly the grounds aren't money pits.

Obviously right now that's not a good place to be, but in the long run having supporting income streams like this is the best way to support the RL club's own core finances.

you also have to remember cost, Warrington didnt pay for thier stadium, it was part of the deal with tesco, stains got the land free and help to build again from tesco

if the DW costs 2.5 million to buy its a bargian, but as has been stated by people with much better knowlegde of the club than me it needs upwards of £4m spending on it, 6.5-7m is a huge whole to fill with weddings and other events

It's business meetings and conferences that generate the real money rather than weddings. But you also have the saved rent and full operational control of your future.

I'm not sure it's a great meeting or conference venue either though. Not that near a motorway junction or train station and competing with Manchester and Liverpool.