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New troubles at Wigan

Wigan are a club whose owners no longer regularly pay its players and staff on time. For the fourth time since promotion to the Championship was wrapped up last spring, salaries did not arrive on the scheduled payday last week. An EFL charge is in the post and a three-point deduction is seemingly unavoidable. The Professional Footballers’ Association, too, are monitoring the delays.

Wigan’s supporters are anxious, angry and, ultimately, conflicted. An ownership group that saved the club is giving cause to worry. They no longer have a presence at the DW Stadium and long-term motives are being questioned.

The rawness of Wigan’s last financial meltdown exacerbates their plight. Less than three years ago, the club was placed in administration after a Hong Kong-based consortium, Next Leader Fund (NLF), saw no other option available within a month of taking over from International Entertainment Corporation (IEC).   The new owners had passed the EFL test which is supposed to establish that there are sufficient funds going forward.

A 12-point deduction from the EFL, the mandatory punishment for a club in administration, effectively condemned Wigan to relegation from the Championship in 2019-20 and began a torturous, protracted search for new owners. Only when Al-Jasmi stepped forward to sign off his takeover, under the banner of Phoenix 2021 Limited, was security found in March 2021. 

Yet it did not take long for the warning signs to appear. Wages were paid late three times between June and October, incurring a suspended three-point deduction from the EFL.

A £7.7million loss was recorded this month for the 2021-22 season, a sum marginally less than the club’s overall turnover of £8.3million. A wage bill of £13million was the equivalent of 157 per cent of turnover. Those heavy losses of last season were part of Wigan’s ambitious plan to get back into the second tier. 

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