Wigan Athletic To Be Sold
The ownership group of EFL League One football club Wigan Athletic has agreed to sell the club to a ‘new buyer’ amid financial difficulties.
The news follows a turbulent weekend for the Lactics, which saw two club directors resigning amid the financial crisis.
Wigan will start its 2023-2024 League One campaign on minus eight points after failing to pay wages in the 2022-2023 season in which it finished bottom of the Championship.
The club’s current owners, led by Bahrain-based Abdulrahman Al-Jasmi, claim the new buyer has ‘committed to resolving all outstanding liabilities at the earliest opportunity.’
On Sunday 4th June, directors Tom Markham and Oliver Gottmann resigned after funds ‘promised by the ownership group’ and due to be paid by 2nd June had not materialised.
This means of the initial board of directors put in place when the club exited administration in 2021, only chairman Talal Al Hammad remains.
With money owed to HMRC, there was a growing feeling a winding-up petition could be issued in a bid for find out whether the owners are willing to continue funding the club, with the emergence of a buyer at the last-minute set to stave off that scenario.
In 2020, Wigan was put into administration by owners who refused to invest any more money into a club that, like many in the English Football League, loses money.
There were fears Wigan might go out of business again and on Friday as fans called for Wigan’s current owners to sell the club.
It looks like their wish may have been granted, with ‘further updates’ on the sale process to ‘follow in due course’.
