Wigan Warriors hoping to strike a deal for beleagured football neighbours Athletic

IT was in 1998 that Leeds Rhinos and Leeds Tykes formed the world’s first dual-code rugby partnership.
WIGAN - RUGBY - SPORT- WIGAN WARRIORS 14-01-20
Wigan Warriors chairman Ian Lenagan

Wigan Warriors rugby league host a media day ahead of the start of the new rugby league season, at their new home at Robin Park Arena, Wigan.WIGAN - RUGBY - SPORT- WIGAN WARRIORS 14-01-20
Wigan Warriors chairman Ian Lenagan

Wigan Warriors rugby league host a media day ahead of the start of the new rugby league season, at their new home at Robin Park Arena, Wigan.
WIGAN - RUGBY - SPORT- WIGAN WARRIORS 14-01-20 Wigan Warriors chairman Ian Lenagan Wigan Warriors rugby league host a media day ahead of the start of the new rugby league season, at their new home at Robin Park Arena, Wigan.

The announcement was, quite rightly, made with some fanfare as it proved an historic sporting moment.

It was the first time one business owned both a professional rugby league and rugby union club, with the sides operating out of shared training facilities at Kirkstall and playing, of course, at Headingley Stadium.

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As bold and ambitious as that was then, it did make some sort of sense, even if it did not last.

Still, few then could ever have envisaged a similar link being developed between a top-flight rugby league and football club.

That, however, is something which could now be on the cards following yesterday’s revelation that Super League giants Wigan Warriors are looking to buy Wigan Athletic, the embattled Championship club unexpectedly dumped into administration last week.

Under closer examination, though, this potential alliance makes plenty of sense, too, not least because they already both play out of the DW Stadium and the Warriors owner Ian Lenagan is so steeped in knowledge of how football is run.

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He was chairman of the EFL (English Football League) for two years up to 2018 having previously financed Oxford United and then acted as chairman of the League Two club.

Hong Kong-based consortium Next Leader Fund (NLF) had only taken over at Wigan last month before last Wednesday’s shock development and the club is now facing a 12-point deduction (to be challenged by the administrator) that could relegate them into League One.

Local businessman Gary Speakman as well as former Oxford owner Darryl Eales are involved with the planned bid.

A Warriors statement said: “Being born and bred in Wigan, Ian Lenagan and Gary Speakman understand what both clubs mean to the local community.

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“We strongly believe that Wigan Athletic is better being locally-owned. As sustainability and ownership of the stadium is equally important to both clubs, we are currently working with our longstanding advisers KPMG and talking to external parties.

“Our intention is to identify other investors quickly and start due diligence on the football club with the intention of making a bid in due course.

“Wigan Warriors and Wigan Athletic are both local sporting institutions and it is our belief that this is a unique opportunity here to bring the ownership of these two great clubs together under one roof, each operating independently as before, but under a Wigan Sporting Partnership banner.”

Warriors have made the administrator aware of their interest, it is envisaged each club would retain all its training grounds, management and facilities while Wigan Council would be “very supportive” of the initiative as well.

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Clearly, there will be obstacles along the way and there is nothing to suggest a Warriors offer will be successful; non-disclosure agreements have been sent to 50 potential bidders.

However, the prospect of the town’s rugby league and football clubs linking in this way – a little like what has happened with Club Doncaster – is intriguing and it will be fascinating to see if a deal can be pulled off.

Admittedly, Dave Whelan, who owned the football club from 1995 to 2018, did own both clubs together before selling Warriors to Lenagan in 2007 but they were never run under one umbrella.

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