Most liked posts in thread: Wigan Athletic

Any company in administartion can potentially avoid paying their debts. How much they avoid is a matter for the administrator to deal with. As an example, City went into a second administration with around £14mill in debts. Most of that was written off with unsecured creditors receiving just 1p in the pound.

Having a points deduction for the club is one thing. But I'd extend the penalty to directors/owners on a personal basis and have them fail the Owners & Directors test which would disqualify them in the future. That might bring some sanity to football finances. It's a three strikes and you're out rule at the moment and I'd tighten that to one strike and you're out.

 

I wish you two would stop giving me the run around. I keep merging your two threads and you want to keep them going!

 

This is getting more complicated and stranger as more facts emerge. The new company (NLF) which owns Wigan is 51% owned by a guy who was a large shareholder in the company which owned it previously (IEC). And NLF is said to have already loaned Wigan £29million since it aquired it. That means that either the debts at Wigan are enormous otherwise why would the owner have to place it in administration with such a line of credit or there are still things to emerge. Maybe the loan never happened? Or maybe there are dodgier things going on?

By the way and despite what many people believe, the EFL does not have a 'Fit and Proper Person Test' (FPPT) as is used elsewhere and implies some capability on the part of the owners to be able to run and manage a football club. Instead the EFL has what it calls the 'Owners and Director's Test' (ODT) which contains absolutely nothing to do with capability and experience in football or even company management but simply that the owner and director hasn't been convicted for some specific breaches of financial and tax law such as tax evasion or fraud and isn't disqualified from being a company director. The list of conditions is quite lengthy but doesn't refer to any competence or capability being required.

That's where the EFL has gone seriously wrong for many years. It really needs a comprehensive 'Fit and Proper Persons' test to check whether those who own our football clubs really know what they are doing from a footballing perspective. Both Rupp and Rahic rightly passed the ODT but I suspect both would have failed a real FPPT!

 

The date passed some months ago for a points deduction to apply this season. I wonder how the EFL will cope if there are several clubs in Administration due to Covid 19? I don't see why it should change things.

 

It will be 12 points.

From the wording it looks like Wigan will have the deduction this season, if they are not in the relegation zone, which means that they need to be 12 points clear of the relegation to avoid the drop.

If they were relegated, to League One, then the 12 point deduction would be held over until next season.

In reality they cannot avoid the penalty..........unless the EFL change their mind, which frankly would not surprise me. Stand up Dave Baldwin!

The EFL statement, “As a result of Wigan Athletic confirming they have entered into administration, the Club will be subject to a 12-point deduction and, in accordance with EFL Regulations, the timing of the sporting sanction can only be determined once final league placings in the Championship are determined.

If in the event the Club is relegated by virtue of their final position following the conclusion of the Championship season, then the deduction will apply in League One in 2020/21. However, if the Club is not in the relegation places following the final game of season, the sanction will be then be applied to their season 2019/20 total and final league standings amended as appropriate“. https://www.efl.com/news/2020/july/efl-statement-wigan-athletic/