Matt Maher: Wigan's fall into administration leaves EFL in very tight spot
Yesterday’s news Wigan Athletic had entered administration came as a shock but sadly the Latics are unlikely to be the last club to experience financial trouble in the months ahead.
The economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic is beginning to bite hard and football is far from immune.
On Tuesday night there were reports several of Sheffield Wednesday’s players had not been paid on time while EFL chairman Rick Parry’s warning of a £200million “black hole” in clubs’ collective finances remains very real.
“Obviously the suspension of the Championship season due to Covid-19 has had a significant impact on the recent fortunes of the club,” said Wigan’s administrator Gerald Krasner in a statement.
Then again, the closer you look at this particular case the less the Latics appear victims of the virus and more the latest club to be affected by the EFL’s inability to effectively vet new owners.
It is, after all, only four weeks since the league signed off on the takeover of the club by Next Leader Fund (NLF), a limited partnership headed by Hong Kong businessman Au Yeung Wai Kay.
It replaced IEC, a Hong Kong-based, Cayman Islands registered company which owns a hotel and casino in the Philippines and which bought Wigan from long-time owner Dave Whelan for £15.9m in 2018.
Like any other new owners, NLF and Au Yeung were required to pass the EFL’s owners’ and directors’ test, which should have included providing evidence of having sufficient funds to finance the club for the rest of this season and the whole of next.
All of which begs the obvious question as to why, less than a month later, Wigan suddenly find themselves in such a dire situation?
Yesterday the EFL were quick to confirm the Latics will be subject to a 12-point penalty which puts their chances of avoiding relegation from the Championship in serious doubt.
The league might be better served overhauling its own processes and protocols for assessing prospective club owners which have been proven, over and again, not fit for purpose. If not, then perhaps it is finally time the responsibility was taken off them?
With trouble on the horizon for many clubs, the need for more stringent checks on people seeking to buy them has never been greater.
Football is rapidly running out of time to police itself.
