- This topic has 37 replies, 10 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 7 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
We are probably the smallest club to ever compete in the Premier League (13000 home fans for a game against Manchester United, 11000 season ticket holders paying 250quid???) and when we got here , 99% of us thought we would do what loads of others have done and stick around for a year before going down.
Our aim has always been and as far as I can see always will be staying up. The anti Whelan brigade saying he should go are living in a dream world because without him, or someone else like him anyway, putting money in every year we would be in a similar position to Leeds or Southampton…but with an average gate of about 8000.
We can’t build something long term in the Premier League because we can’t afford to. We can’t offer the likes of Palacios and Valencia and Cattermole what they can get elsewhere, and to be honest if by doing so it puts the future of the club at risk then I’d rather we didn’t.
Its ok saying we have all this money to spend…I’m afraid we don’t. The sales of the players over the past 6 months should have made serious in roads into the 60 million debt we have but then we have to keep reinvesting in the squad so its catch 22. Forget the Sky money in terms of a profit because its goes straight against the 38 million wage bill we are carrying.
Simple question is; how long can a club go on losing money every year??
To me it looks like the board, or Whelan alone, has sat down and looked at things and thought we have to change the way we are operating because long term it’s not sustainable and to my mind that’s the reason Steve Bruce left. We now have a young manager who appears to want to be here long term, hopefully Whelan will stick with him so let’s give him time to build something.
I’ve been posting similar for weeks Springfield, but to no avail. There is still the school of thought present on here that maintain that Whelan pockets all the money received from transfers, and his miserly ways will be the downfall of this club.
No matter what you say, there is a minority that will disregard the facts because they’ve interpreted something they read in The Sun.
But, who in their right mind would buy Wigan at present? We’re not exactly the average billionaire’s dream play thing?
If the debt gets erased, then yes, we are a more attractive proposition, but even then, I can’t imagine a stream of Rolls Royces with Arabic number plates vying for a parking space outside the stadium.
That may even be Whelan’s plan. Get the club debt free, then sell. If that is his plan, I would openly applaud the man.
I said at the time and il say it now the only reason that lindsay was brought in was so that if anything happened to Whelan someone could step straight in and take over the reigns.Then if you tally up the dates of him thinking he was ill and Lindsay coming in it makes more sense.
Im sure somewere theres a little piece of paper that says “If im ever declared unfit of mind, or unable to carry out my duties. Or when i pass awaythe club will be passed to Maurice Lindsay as executor with the sole intention of running it until either a. a buyer can be found or b. probate has been completed.Signed Mr D Whelan”
Duncan Sharpe was always the plan to take over however things made that impossible and with no other heir interested in football im beginning to come around to the idea that nows the time to either set up a trust or find a new buyer before he passes away and his family kill what he achieved with our club.
Agreed.
After digesting the statistics in Standish Walkers links, it is plainly obvious that should anything happen to Dave Whelan before he sorts out any kind of sale or at least a contingency plan, we as a club, could be in dire straights.
We could end up with Lindsay immediately taking over the reigns and basically running us into the ground saying “well, we’ve got no money”. before you know it, we can’t pay the wages, administrators are in, The Premier League suspend our fixtures, and the Match Of The Day team briefly discuss what’s gone wrong, before Lineker coughs and it’s on to Aston Villa versus Arsenal.And hey-presto, Wigan Warriors have their own ground. :( :( :( :( :(
with the Springfield Stand being renamed “The Maurice Lindsay Stand” :evil: Not that there would EVER be a possibility of Maurice letting things get that bad, of course……. :roll:
Quote SPRINGFIELD BLUE: “Simple question is; how long can a club go on losing money every year?? ”
I’m wondering the same thing, and that’s why I don’t think it would be such a bad thing to actually go down, get the parachute payments and go for promotion again. Negative? In a way, yes. But it would give us some moeny in the coffers. A risky game? Yes. But isn’t operating as we are at the moment?
You’ve also said that the anti-Whelan brigade are wrong because if he went we’d be like Leeds or Southampton. Yes, you are right, SB. Spot on.
The only way I would want Whelan to go is if he actually had a buyer with money to invest. I certainly wouldn’t want him turning round today or tomorrow and saying “I’ve had enough, I’m going”, leaving Brenda Spencer at the head of things.Youd be surprised how attractive to businessmen a club like wigan would be. Especially if we clear the debts then are allowed again under someone else to run those debts back up, well i say debts but we all know that they are directors loans.
As for the lindsay scenario i dont think hed be able to run it down so badly however it wouldnt surprise me if he came out with “taking the club down to a level that it could better sustain itself at”
Yeah but Standish from what i understand the jack walker trust was set up on the condition that the club made a small profit not taking money from the fund every year hence why they never make big money signings. Have no star players in terms of wages and contracts and sell their top players without replacing them year after year.From people that ive just spoke to regarding them being for sale their understanding is that the people in charge of the trust have made bad financial desicions over the past year which has affected the funds available.
Not the football clubs fault but the people running it and the financial climate at the moment.
Faz, that’s what I was touching on.
Have a read of this.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008 … tworkfront
Unless there’s someone saying ‘Hang on, the money from that trust isn’t even paying the wage bills anymore, we’ll have to top up the payments to the club’ there will always be shortfall year on year unless the increase in players’ salaries falls in line with inflation.
With Blackburn, £30 million was set aside. This is now small potatoes in the grand scheme of things.
It’s not the club’s fault, or the trustees – it’s the investors of other clubs inflating the transfer market and wage expectations.
Whelan’s grandson who is mid 20’s and runs Vizwear attends every game? My bet would be that he will be on the Board of Directors in the near future.
Youd be surprised how attractive to businessmen a club like wigan would be. Especially if we clear the debts then are allowed again under someone else to run those debts back up, well i say debts but we all know that they are directors loans.As for the lindsay scenario i dont think hed be able to run it down so badly however it wouldnt surprise me if he came out with “taking the club down to a level that it could better sustain itself at”
Again Faz, I said we’d be a more attractive proposition if we cleared the debt.
With debt, we are not attractive.
There are not that many rich men around who want to buy a football club, and there are more clubs than there are buyers.
I’m glad to see this thread going to show some of our supporters what the club is up against money wise .
It should be put on all latics site’s to shut the anti-Whelen brigade up .
Ahh see i and other people were all under the idea that the Trust was set up primarily for the football club with 30mil and that its plan was every year it would make a small profit which could be spent on charitable donations.
Thats very interesting. Apart from the chris ronnie bit!
Ahh see i and other people were all under the idea that the Trust was set up primarily for the football club with 30mil and that its plan was every year it would make a small profit which could be spent on charitable donations.Thats very interesting. Apart from the chris ronnie bit!
But wouldn’t that be irony at its finest?!
CEO of the company Whelan founded buys the club he used to play for.
Or maybe it’s more than mere coincidence. (Let the conspiracy theories begin…)Ahh see i and other people were all under the idea that the Trust was set up primarily for the football club with 30mil and that its plan was every year it would make a small profit which could be spent on charitable donations.
Thats very interesting. Apart from the chris ronnie bit!
But wouldn’t that be irony at its finest?!
CEO of the company Whelan founded buys the club he used to play for.
Or maybe it’s more than mere coincidence. (Let the conspiracy theories begin…)[/quote]Hmmmnnn…..interesting stuff.
Didn’t Chris Ronnie used to be a top dog in Diadora UK? Seem to recall him sponsoring games in the 90’s. Bit of a ‘plump’ bloke, if I recall.
So he’s CEO of JJB now, eh? But how much does Whelan still have to do with them, apart from buying the health suites?
My error. Chris Ronnie got the boot from JJB earlier this year.
There goes the conspiracy theory then.
Chris Ronnie was on our board of directors in the mid 90’sYes, he was actually. I remember seeing his sponsors pic in the programme as well, though.
We are probably the smallest club to ever compete in the Premier League (13000 home fans for a game against Manchester United, 11000 season ticket holders paying 250quid???) and when we got here , 99% of us thought we would do what loads of others have done and stick around for a year before going down.Our aim has always been and as far as I can see always will be staying up. The anti Whelan brigade saying he should go are living in a dream world because without him, or someone else like him anyway, putting money in every year we would be in a similar position to Leeds or Southampton…but with an average gate of about 8000.
We can’t build something long term in the Premier League because we can’t afford to. We can’t offer the likes of Palacios and Valencia and Cattermole what they can get elsewhere, and to be honest if by doing so it puts the future of the club at risk then I’d rather we didn’t.
Its ok saying we have all this money to spend…I’m afraid we don’t. The sales of the players over the past 6 months should have made serious in roads into the 60 million debt we have but then we have to keep reinvesting in the squad so its catch 22. Forget the Sky money in terms of a profit because its goes straight against the 38 million wage bill we are carrying.
Simple question is; how long can a club go on losing money every year??
To me it looks like the board, or Whelan alone, has sat down and looked at things and thought we have to change the way we are operating because long term it’s not sustainable and to my mind that’s the reason Steve Bruce left. We now have a young manager who appears to want to be here long term, hopefully Whelan will stick with him so let’s give him time to build something.
Sorry but I have to disagree. Most of the large football clubs owe money to the banks. Hopefully the young manager you refer too will improve the way the team are playing or we will be relegated and then we will see who the real fans are. I will give the manager until Christmas to improve things or else he will be on his way. It is time that the club did something serious to improve the crowds – £20 season tickets for all unde 16 year olds would be a start and keep this going for the next ten years or so, and this will help to increase the fan base because they will bring their parents along, and lets be honest it is better to have a full stadium rather than one which is half empty. Supporting football is an expensive business when you have two or three childrens season tickets to buy. Come on Wigan get the commercial department to come up with some good packages.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
