Wigan could be wound up like Macclesfield: administrator

(Reuters) - Wigan Athletic are struggling to find investors due to the COVID-19 pandemic and there is a danger they could be wound up like Macclesfield Town, one of the third-tier club's administrators has said.

Macclesfield were relegated from the fourth-tier of English soccer this year and were wound up in the High Court over debts exceeding 500,000 pounds ($647,600)

Wigan went into administration in July, less than a month after being taken over by a partnership headed by Hong Kong businessman Au Yeung Wai Kay, and were handed a 12-point deduction that saw them relegated to League One.

Paul Stanley, Gerald Krasner and Dean Watson of Begbies Traynor were appointed as joint administrators of the Latics, who spent eight seasons in the Premier League before they were relegated in 2013, the same year they won the FA Cup.

"The pandemic certainly isn't doing us any favours," Stanley told the Guardian. "Wigan are similar to Macclesfield in some ways, and Bury and Bolton for that matter.

"They are all just a bit too close to the big teams in Manchester, and were finding it hard-going financially when their grounds were still open to fans.

"Macclesfield ... could have been saved had an investor come along with as little as 150,000 pounds or so. The club could have been bought for that price, but evidently no one wanted it."

(Reporting by Arvind Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)