Been and gone, my friend, been and gone.

Just like a blip of light on a radar screen.

Yes they did very well - some of those achievements were incredible. I remember speaking to a few Latics fans right after their FA Cup win and subsequent relegation. They said they wouldn't have swapped the cup win for staying in the division. Although I understood why they said it I'm not sure they would hold the same view now.

I was and still am of that view as a Latics fan. We were treading water in the prem, you always are as a club of that size. Relegation at some point was a given and there’s no way of knowing what a delay in that relegation may have achieved. That day at Wembley, winning the FA Cup against a club with the resources of Man City was incredible and it cannot be taken away. In years to come people will remember that achievement but they wouldn’t have remembered an extra season or two sitting at the foot of the premier league table.

Ultimately the troubles now against that FA Cup win and relegation don’t go hand in hand. They’re many years apart and as a club Latics had millions coming in from parachute payments for years. The poor use of them via bad signings and shocking managerial appointments started the rot and the Chinese put the nails in the coffin (funnily enough at a time when on the field I think the side was in its best place since the prem days and would’ve had a shot at getting back up there this season if this all hadn’t come about).

A plot of land for sale ready for development housing/industrial use.

Would not take long to demolish a falling down stadium.

Don't talk ridiculous.

Firstly, the only use of the land can be for sporting use, under both planning and council regulation. Secondly, its hardly crumbling down. Its a modern state of the art stadium, that looks a bit tired because it hasn't been used for 12 months, nor had anything spent on it because of latics plight. Sure there would be some initial outlay but nothing beyond general repair / remediation work....few seats, panels on the stands etc and a bit of a spruce up. When you look at some other 'stadiums' in both super league and the football league, it is in a damn site better nick and practically new....20 years into a realistically usable period of between 100-150 years.

That stadium will outlive all of us so long as its used, so there's very little to worry about in that regard. Its who picks up the liability for maintenance moving forward and whether we think we can make it commercially viable. Notwithstanding comments of some, I firmly believe we could....most properly run stadiums generate a profit, its more the mis-management of the stadium thats caused the problem

The stadium made a loss on paper.

Its all about the tax

The goings on with the original planning may well take a looking at.
Desperate times ahead who knows what might happen.Its only another parcel of land that is keeping the club looking anything like solvent.Dont look like Lenagan willing to chuck any more money at it.
Time club got realistic.All lenagan has done since he arrived is cut wages.

Computer says troll

Yep. That was the bit where he ran out of credit.

They always show their ignorance in the end (or usually, as in this case, a long time before then).

All he’s done is give the most marquee contracts out. All he’s done is spend the cap each season and use every dispensation available to spend over it (legally). All he’s done is build the club back up to help us win multiple trophies. All he’s done is drive the values of the club and put pride back in the badge.

I wouldn’t rule out him ‘only’ ending up purchasing the stadium but we shall see. He isn’t on his own anymore in terms of funding the club, with him having brought in a couple of wealthy shareholders so we’ll see what they can do. As a supporter of both clubs I’d ideally like to see the ground in the hands of somebody who will do their best for both clubs.

Edited for accuracy.

Shalom

Where have you been Nish?
So good to hear from you.
Oh you make me laff so much.
You’re humour is so unique and funny you should be on the bbc

The ones I know personally from Cockney Latic and Latics Speyk (inc their SLO who's commitment to supporting his club over the years has been recognised nationally) would give any history just to see their club playing football. They dont really care if they play at a latics-owned DW or latics-rented DW. They want to see their club playing football at their home stadium, and the standard doesnt matter. I feel their pain and hope that however this pans out, those lads still get to do on a Saturday what they have done for 40+ years.

There are of course others who would rather see the club die than pay in a Leneghan-owned stadium. I suspect their doppelgangers are the ones that stormed the US Senate this week.

Yes a member member of my family was sacked many years ago by Whelan, but has never looked back since as a result of getting a better and more well paid job with a more reputable local employer.

As for joe public running a stadium, perhaps you should asked the numerous Councils who own Stadiums, but pay for the running costs by inviting large business companies to sponsor the Stadium in the form of naming rights like for example, John Smiths Brewey in Huddersfield, Kingston Communications in Hull, Etihad in Manchester, AJ Bell in Salford etc, etc.

Its called Franchising!

Perhaps the same kind of large sponsorship and proper naming rights should be done with the Stadium in Wigan instead of it still just having the initials of someone who no longer owns it?

Excuse me, the lack of new seating and maintenance was happening during the time that Whelan owned the Stadium and may be one of the reasons why he decided to sell it and the Latics when he saw what it was costing in maintenence, especially the cost of keep renewing the pitch due to it being built in the wrong place.

Yes, it is a good Stadium compared to many of the older stadiums in the country, but not a patch on many others, like for example the nearby University of Bolton Stadium which only cost £10 million more to build,

And if those sponsorships don't come in? Which is of course very possible with the state of the world.

thought the pitch issue was fixed 2 years ago, when the DW was built and brand new it wasnt as nice as Bolton then, look at Huddersfield, not a lot spent on it and is really starting to look its age

I wish the majority of your fellow Latics fans had the same breadth of vision. Following the saga on Twitter, there are still plenty who are firmly convinced that IL is the evil genius behind their demise.

Bolton has always been a better ground.

The main stand facilities at Huddersfield are good, but not sure on the rest of it with an outdoor concourse. Typical of a Yorkshire based ground that the away fans get sh*t on in bad weather.

Of course, Whelan being the terrible person he is built it on the cheap.

I wouldn't put it past him

Latics fans might change their mind if Ian Lenegans last interview was put on you tube he was passionate about saving both clubs .

It sure is and has more leg room among its many better facilities.

As for Whelan, he did not build the DW stadium which bears his initials as he only contributed around 20% (7 million) of the full cost of £35 million with the remainder coming from grants and a 14% (£4.9 million) share of the Council.

A short while ago, a supporter asked me how I would feel as a Council Tax Payer if the Council bought the Stadium. More than likely, the same as I felt when it was revealed that £4.9 million of Council Tax Payers money had already gone into the building of the Stadium.

When the Stadium was built, it should have been put into a trust with a covendant that the site should only be ever used for sport and never be put into the hands of any individuel to sell for a profit, especially someone like Whelan who has only ever been interested in himself and never the people of Wigan.

The council hold the key to what is developed on the land, the administrators released a statement a good while ago saying that Whelan tightened up the covenants relating to the land and that it can’t be sold on for future development of retail or housing without council say-so.

Exactly. He's already essentially done what ruddy duck wants and hasn't saddled the good people of Wigan with the debt.

Ruddy is probably one of those who thinks DW made a profit from his ownership of Latics.

This would never have happened under the gang of four.

They'd change their mind if they were a success on the field I would imagine.