Pinned atop of Wigan Athletic’s Twitter feed is a message incongruous to the mood of the League One club. “Believe in our town. Believe in our club. Believe in Wigan Athletic,” it reads in a rousing April post designed to drive season ticket sales for 2023-24.
That is easier said than done. Wigan are in trouble after sinking deep into another financial hole. Relegation from the Championship, confirmed in late April, has become the least of their concerns.
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A club that was dragged to the brink as recently as 2020 is back on the slide under owners who promised the same would never be allowed to happen again.
Phoenix 2021 Limited, an ownership group based in Bahrain, might have delivered the League One title during their first full season in English football, but that success has been bookended by suffering. Wigan are back in the mire, battling the woes they hoped never to see again.
The drip, drip, drip of financial mismanagement has filled the sink and without a takeover this summer, there are fears of the water spilling over and flooding the DW Stadium. Debts owed to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) are understood to stand at £2.5million ($3.14million).
Anxiety is on the rise and trust in the owner, Abdulrahman Al-Jasmi, and his son-in-law and chairman, Talal Al Hammad, left town long ago.
Wigan have failed to meet wage obligations to players and staff on six separate occasions since last summer and, as of last night, Shaun Maloney, assistant Graham Barrow and his first-team squad had gone 10 days without pay.
Those repeated delays brought two separate three-point deductions from last season’s total, removing any hope of avoiding relegation from the Championship, before further financial shortfalls, including a failure to meet the EFL’s request to see a £2.35million deposit (equivalent to 125 per cent of wages) placed in a club account, ensured next season will begin with Wigan on minus eight points.
That will see the 2023-24 campaign start on a back foot, but it is the immediate weeks that bring the greatest dangers. Despite promises from Al Hammad on May 26 that an “eight-figure sum” was being processed and due to land “imminently”, there has been no sign of the financial injection needed to restore stability.
Those close to the club have little hope of it ever arriving from Bahrain, especially after it was announced on June 4 that a deal had been agreed to sell to “a prospective new buyer, subject to EFL approval”.
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Phoenix 2021 want out, that much is clear. But the identity of one would-be buyer is offering scant encouragement. Sarbjot Johal, who has spent the past six months attempting to convince the EFL he was a suitable owner of League Two club Morecambe (though he hasn’t been able to prove the source or sufficiency of his funds), has made big promises of funding, but the approval required to buy Wigan is considered to be highly unlikely. Last week, Johal was said to be sending over a seven-figure sum to cover the outstanding player wages, but the money has so far failed to arrive. He did not respond when asked for comment.
There is other interest, though. The Athletic has been told local businessman Mike Danson, who bought a 25 per cent stake in rugby league club Wigan Warriors in 2020, has held constructive talks with Phoenix 2021 in recent days and has proposed a takeover that would include buying the DW Stadium, an asset that is seen to be key in the deal.
Danson is the millionaire owner of GlobalData, an analytics and consultancy firm, as well as the left-leaning political magazine The New Statesman. The EFL, concerned by events, are thought to have a preference for Danson, who The Athletic attempted to contact. There is hope he can bring the salvation urgently needed.
Federal Sports Alliance, a Florida-based sports and property investment firm, has also been keen to find an English club, but it is unclear if Wigan fit their model. Their only investment to date is in a semi-professional team, the Sarasota Paradise. They did not respond to a request for comment.
Lisa Nandy, Member of Parliament for Wigan and a prominent figure in the crisis, indicated on Friday night that “constructive meetings” had brought “concrete progress”, but there is a growing sense of urgency to Wigan’s plight.
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Staff are exhausted by the broken promises and the mood around the DW Stadium grows increasingly strained. Many of the employees fighting fires are the same that lived through the last financial meltdown and they see familiar problems mounting.
Money owed to HMRC since April is the most obvious threat. That is known to be £2.5million and Wigan’s failure to keep up with payments has brought further punishment from the EFL. Wigan were placed under a transfer embargo at the end of May for a breach of “Regulation 17: HMRC Reporting”.
New rules, set at the EFL’s AGM in Chester last week, say non-payment of HMRC debt for 30 days inside a 12-month period will bring spending limits for three consecutive transfer windows.
The bill increases at the end of June and other debts are rising. It is understood Wigan need at least £5million of investment to get through to July and that is why at this stage there are concerns over administration — which brings further points deductions — or even worse, liquidation if they can’t find a buyer.
“The only thing that can save the club right now is funds going in,” says one well-placed source, speaking on the grounds of anonymity to protect relationships. “If they don’t, then it’s the patience of the staff, a creditor or the crown (HMRC) that will decide. The crown have been patient but I don’t think they’ll be patient forever. It’s just a mess.”
Wigan have staggered through the first weeks of summer and the stasis has brought casualties. Tom Markham, who had only assumed his duties after former chief executive Mal Brannigan left the club in March, resigned as interim CEO last weekend. Markham said the club had promised funding amounts ranging from £700,000 to over £20million, but failing to deliver had left his position “untenable”.
Oliver Gottman stepped down as a director, leaving Al Hammad alone as chairman. Al Hammad spoke with staff members on Tuesday in an attempt to offer updates, but it has done little to calm the storm.
Rewind to late March and there was genuine optimism that Wigan had turned a corner. Fault for the late wage payments had been accepted and the pledge was made to rectify the “cash flow issues” that had caused persistent and damaging delays.
Al Hammad visited Wigan in the week that followed and met with supporters groups, accompanied by Maloney and Markham. Two hours were spent offering reassurances in a charm offensive that included Al Hammad stressing Wigan was not up for sale. Maloney visited Bahrain, drawing up plans for a reshaped squad that could bring a promotion challenge in League One.
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A line was drawn in the sand but the tide has since washed it away.
Al Hammad has always been the front-facing chairman, but the owner and money man, Al-Jasmi, has always been a distant figure.
There is nevertheless uncertainty about how it got to this point. Phoenix 2021 were all-in when funding the promotion drive of 2021-22, admirably rebuilding a club that had been hollowed out when placed in administration by the club’s previous, opaque ownership group, Next Leader Fund, based in Hong Kong.
A return to the Championship promised to continue the climb but, in a campaign that saw the appointment of Kolo Toure backfire after no wins in nine games, there was soon a struggle to meet the budget they had set.
One well-placed source described Al Jasmi, the ultimate owner, as “asset rich but cash poor” and that would support the “liquidity issues” that the club’s board cited as the reason for late wages in March.
Wigan’s players remain unconvinced after accusing their employers of “disrespect” as recently as 10 weeks ago. “Who deemed Talal Al Hammad and Phoenix 2021 Limited competent to run a football club?” asked Steven Caulker, the defender that will leave Wigan as a free agent at the end of this month.
Maloney, alongside various heads of departments, is tirelessly attempting to hold Wigan together. The club favourite, who helped inspire an FA Cup final win over Manchester City 10 years ago, returned as manager at the end of January and helped improve results, but is struggling to prepare for a new season in League One.
Although 19 senior players remain on Wigan’s books, there is a need to move on the highest earners in the group. A slashed budget has been set and cannot be close to the £13million spent on wages when last a League One club. That represented 157 per cent of the club’s turnover going to players.
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The excess of 2021-22, a season that ended with the League One title, is what chokes Wigan. A club bruised by its previous financial woes spent and yet only managed to build the Championship’s oldest squad. The experience counted for little and the losses have convinced Al-Jasmi to rein in his support.
Relegation inevitably brings a hangover but, under Maloney, there was a genuine sense of hope even when the demotion was confirmed.
Season ticket sales were positive and supporters enjoyed the brand of football Maloney was trying to promote. Representatives of youngsters in the Premier League saw Wigan as an ideal place for their players to develop, which sounds absurd now, as the sporting objectives are a million miles away from the most pressing thoughts, as staff at Wigan do all they can to help save the club.
The money owed to HMRC is concerning because, if it remains unpaid, a winding-up order will become inevitable. The clock is ticking.
“Breaking News: Wigan Athletic Football Club Will Never Go Into Administration Again,” tweeted Al Hammad on the first anniversary of the club sinking to its knees in 2020. That eventuality, however, no longer appears quite so bad.
(Top photo: Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)