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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.
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.
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.
I disagree that we’d be better off in the Championship. It’s better to wallow mid-table in the Premier League than to do the same in a lower league. If you aren’t aiming for promotion, what is the point of playing in the Championship? If you want to be ambitionless, surely it’s better to do it in the top league?
I, and others, have posted these links before – so have included them again for the benefit of those who skip over the facts to spin a good yarn.
See below for the football debt per club (That’s where all the money goes…):http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009 … eague-debt
Or TV and prize money per club (Where’s the £60 million we receive per season?):
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/Pr … 5323882.jp
Blackburn are not dissimilar to Wigan in terms of budgets, and although they had a trust fund set up by Jack Walker, players’ salaries and transfer fees have rocketed since then, and therefore the interest received from this is no longer sufficient to keep the club solvent and competitive in the Premier League. Unless there’s someone willing to top-up a Whelan bequeathed trust fund for the club on a yearly basis (to ensure it still provides sufficient return to keep the club in a healthy position) – and let’s be honestly, that is highly unlikely – the same would happen with Wigan.
Yes he did go with Pompey and one or two other prem sides had a look at him. He is recovering from an injury and they were all concerned about his fitness level so made no offers.
Forgot to include that in my little rant :lol:
But yeh.. had nothing to do with him not being good enough, was just concerns over his fitness![/quote]
That’s utter bull with regards to Pompey. Can’t comment on the other clubs, but he didn’t perform well enough for Pompey in pre-season to warrant a contract. Perhaps it was due to him not being 100%, but their refusal to sign him was on performance, not a niggling little injury as is reported in the press (if you were his agent, wouldn’t you come out with a line like this?)
On Pompey issues, I’m always 99.999% accurate. Don’t ask me why – just trust me as there are reasons for this. With regards to other clubs, I’ve no idea of the ins and outs. Perhaps he had picked up an injury following the trial with Pompey, but when he flew out to Porto with them, he was considered fully fit, and did not sustain an injury whilst out there.
I’ve always been a glass half full type of supporter, but if this lad turns out to be a decent signing, I will be very surprised. Considering Pompey are broke, rather than get this lad on the free, amongst others, they went for Browny.
It smacks of a signing for signing-sake, just to appease the restless natives.
This lad went out to Portugal on the pre-season wtih Pompey.
They chose not to sign him, and took Eugene Bopp instead (released by Crewe!)
Not great news.
Whelan wont give a reply, hes more interested in giving other clubs his wisdom.Like you are with everyone else on this board?
Loudmouth, I agree that morally, Whelan should come out and say why xxx has been sold, or why xxx was not signed, but high morals aren’t a trait of Mr Whelan (see the decline of Orrell RUFC for reference, or the Mike Ashley shirt-gate scandal). If it was someone like Steve Gibson – who is the local hero – doesn’t take a salary from the club etc – yes, that would happen. But it is Whelan, and whether anyone who pays money to watch the club likes it or not, it’s a case of shrugging the shoulders, and shouting ‘Come on Wigan!’ (Can anyone smell cheese?)
Although I wouldn’t go as far as standing, saluting and singing the DW corporate song, our ‘Generous Benefactor’ (who bailed us out of our Hard Times) has used his business interests and ego to get valuable support and recognition for the club, and has actually put himself, JJB and more importantly Wigan Ath on the map.
Here’s a little example – which is 100% true. I was on an evening train back from London a couple of years ago and a group of kids and their teachers got on somewhere along the line – Watford I think. Anyway, as the train gets to Warrington, one of the kids pipes up ‘Warrington? Where’s that? We must be in Scotland by now.’ A few other kids agreed. So they haven’t got a clue where they are, and fully believe they are in Scotland – as you’d expect from little southern types who consider Luton to be in the Orkneys. The train gets to my stop: ‘Wigan? We’re nowhere near Scotland. It’s where JJB is and Wigan Athletic.’ (Not even a hint of Rugby League)
They then mentioned two names: one was Emile Heskey and can you guess who the other was?
Yes, that’s right: Branda Spence
(It was actually Whelan, but thought the tale needed a punchline.)
As long as Whelan has an ego and a sports retail business, we’ll still be in the public eye, and until a multimillionaire Wigan fan with standing orders for the Cats’ Protection League and Amnesty International comes along, let’s leave the morally deficient, cantankerous owd git to keep us there.
Amen (keep the faith etc)
—————–After reading that, it struck me that a sports retailer with every football fan in the country as a potential customer would probably be best advised NOT to associate itself too closely with ONE team.
After all, we’re a fickle bunch us supporters. We tend to be loyal to one team, no matter what. Well, some of us are, but maybe not all?This loyalty is usually to the exclusion of all others and even shows itself as hatred of some rival teams. How do you think the average Bolton fan felt knowing that if he spent his money in JJB then it would benefit Wigan Athletic?
Now, I only gave this about 30 seconds thought and maybe 2 mins to type it. Hope it’s not drivel.——————
No your point is not drivel in fact you have hit the nail on the head,but the picture is much bigger than an odd noblot fan.
That was the reason whelan gave for not buying manchester united, because every man and his dog(except man u fans)hate them,and he thought that would effect his business.
Now with wafc it was different we were an insignificant poxy little club who nobody gave a hoot about,people just saw the way a little club was making good and apart from the odd jealous fan,everybody loves a fairytale,and whelan and the jjb empire exploited this to the full, which i fully support.
Look at that first premiership season,we were everybodies favourite second team,who gives a toss about a few bolton or preston fans that hate us when 99% of lower division teams fans saw the story unfolding and wanted there own david whelan,they loved him for it,they loved us and they loved JJB,we were the media’s darlings and as i said before a marketing mans dream come true.The whole point i have made throughout this ‘whelan love or loathe topic’ is, in general terms whelan and his then jjb company had millions and millions in free publicity and marketing and the sums whelan has ‘invested’ in wigan athletic pales into insignificance when this is taken into consideration.
I have always maintained david whelan has had an agenda/motive for every thing he has ever done in life and the latics ownership and investment sat easily in that plan.The question / point i am trying to get across now, is does he need wigan athletic anymore?
It now no longer fits into his business plan as neatly as it once did, the evidence is there for all to see,his drastic cost cutting measures,and requirement to pay back its debts(albiet to himself) has led to the most inexperieced squad we have had in our short premiership tenure,and i for one want to know why.
You’re right in a lot of what you say, and although I‘ve disagreed with some of the anti-Whelan comments and opinions on here recently, I agree with the principle of this argument.
Whelan isn’t The People’s Champion, growing up on the terraces of Springfield Park, and returning as a local hero to save his beloved club, and I fully agree that his primary motive for buying the club in the first place was more than likely to make money – whether that be directly through the club, or to use as a vehicle for advertising JJB.
The only thing bigger than Whelan’s bank balance however, is his ego, and I’m sure it didn’t take him long to realise that it is nigh-on impossible to run a club like Wigan and make a profit, however, it did ensure that no longer was he Dave Something-Or-Other who owns a chain of sports retailers, he suddenly became Dave Whelan, football club chairman, pictured and quoted in the national press and on tv.
I still maintain the opinion that the club’s policy of buying low-selling high is to manage debts, rather than to merely line Whelan’s pockets, but it is his club, and he was the one who stumped up the millions to buy it and save it from administration, so if he does make money on it all, so be it.
As long at the club exists, I’ll still pay my money to watch, and as none of us have shares or a financial interest in the club, we don’t technically have the right to ask Whelan to explain himself.
I believe Whelan does still need the club, not for financial motives, but to service his ego, and until another multi-millionaire Latics fan appears on the horizon, I’ll pay my dues to what he has done and support him for as long as he is involved in the club.
As bad as King is, it would be total dereliction of duty to leave us with just 2 recognized strikers.
so mr 1% you actually class jason scotland as a regogmised striker ?
methinks you are in the 99% bracket.[/quote]Scotland is a ‘recognised’ striker. He might not be recognised in the Premier League, but he is a striker – something we are desperately short of.
I’d still rather play Scotland than King, and dare I say it, even Kapo.
As bad as King is, it would be total dereliction of duty to leave us with just 2 recognized strikers.Agree, but perhaps Martinez views Kapo as an alternative (when he’s fit) and possibly Koumas.
Maybe Scharner has now decided he’s actually striker.
I’ve changed your squad around a bit, added a few different players, and I think it gives a different slant on things.
My team would contain all 11 of this season squad.GK: John Filan or Chris Kirkland*
DF: Leighton Baines or Maynor Figueroa*
DF: Pascal Chimbonda or Mario Mechiot*
DF: Arjan DeZeuuw or Titus Bramble*
DF: Matt Jackson or Paul Scharner*
MF: Jimmy Bullard or Mohammed Diame*
MF: Graham Kavanagh or Charles NZogbia*
MF: Lee McCulloch or Hendri Thomas*
MF: Gary Teale or Jason Koumas*
FW: Henri Camara or Scott Sinclair*
FW: Jason Roberts or Hugo Rodallega*I’d go with that. My only debate would be with the two fullbacks.
I also heard this but I thought he could thrown a punchline in to liven it up a bit.
‘Are you Dave?’
‘Yes..(trembling lips) are…you..my (sob)….dad?’
‘No you daft pr1ck. Your dad got killed in an air-raid on Tuesday, and I’m just on my way round to tell your mum.’
What? It’s not really free? They don’t get paid to play do they?
Christ, no wonder football clubs are in debt if you have to pay transfer fees, AND pay the players to play for you.
Bloody rubbish Whelan, get it sorted. Get your hand out of your pocket and find us players who will never ever leave, and who will pay us money for the privilege of playing.
