Wigan Warriors-led bid for Wigan Athletic revealed
WIGAN WARRIORS-LED BID FOR WIGAN ATHLETIC REVEALED
7 Jul 2020 North West Business, Deals
A consortium including the owner of rugby league giant Wigan Warriors is lining up a rescue deal for Wigan Athletic.
Paul Stanley, Gerald Krasner and Dean Watson from Begbies Traynor were appointed as administrators to the Latics on
1 July.
They currently sit 16th in the table after enjoying a good run of form.
Now, a consortium led by Wigan Warriors owner Ian Lenagan, alongside experienced finance executive Gary Speakman and Darryl Eales, a former chief executive of private equity investor LDC, has outlined plans to rescue the club.
"We strongly believe that Wigan Athletic is better being locally-owned," said the trio.
"As sustainability and ownership of the stadium is equally important to both clubs, we are currently working with our longstanding advisers KPMG and talking to external parties.
"Our intention is to identify other investors quickly and start due diligence on the football club with the intention of making a bid in due course. We have made the administrators aware of our interest and hope to explore this with them further over the days ahead."
They added: "Wigan Warriors and Wigan Athletic are both local sporting institutions and it is our belief that this is a unique opportunity here to bring the ownership of these two great clubs together under one roof, each operating independently as before, but under a Wigan Sporting Partnership banner.
"It is envisaged that each club would retain all its training grounds, management and facilities."
David Molyneux, leader of Wigan Council, has confirmed that the authority "would be very supportive of this initiative".