Wigan Warriors aim to buy troubled football neighbours Wigan Athletic

The rugby league club Wigan Warriors have announced their intention to buy their troubled neighbours Wigan Athletic. The Super League side, who share the DW Stadium with the Championship team, plan to bid to purchase the football club, who were placed into administration last week.

The Warriors’ bid is being led by their chairman, Ian Lenagan, a former chairman of the English Football League, and has the local council’s backing. “We strongly believe that Wigan Athletic is better being locally owned,” the Warriors’ statement said. “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.

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“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.”

The leader of Wigan council, David Molyneux, said it would be “very supportive of the initiative”, with more details of the Warriors’ bid expected in the coming days.

Lenagan, a native of Wigan, confirmed last month that he had invested £500,000 of his money into the rugby league club to help them through the coronavirus pandemic and ensure they finish the Super League season, which is due to restart next month.

The football club’s administrator revealed on Tuesday that non-disclosure agreements have now been sent to 50 potential bidders and said they would appeal against the 12-point deduction set to be imposed by the EFL for entering administration. Paul Cook’s side are six points clear of the relegation zone with five games remaining.

“The initial appeal has already been made by our solicitors,” one of the administrators, Gerald Krasner, said. “We have before Friday this week to put in a substantive defence as to why the 12 points should not be deducted. That will be done on time, it will cost the club and administrator costs which have to be incurred. I’m giving no guarantees, but we’re working on a strategy if we have a successful sale. I want to see the club go forward without any points deduction.”