Wigan Athletic Football Club has entered administration due to the “significant impact” of the Coronavirus pandemic on the club’s finances.
Wigan Athletic are currently 14th in the Championship and have achieved seven straight clean sheets in the league, beating Stoke City 3-0 last night at the DW Stadium.
Off the pitch though, the club’s finances have been hit hard by the Coronavirus pandemic, causing them to enter administration on Wednesday. The club has become the first English professional club to enter administration since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Paul Stanley, Gerald Krasner and Dean Watson from Begbies Traynor have been appointed as joint administrators and are now seeking out interested parties who could rescue the club. In a statement, Mr Krasner said:
“Our immediate objectives are to ensure the club completes all its fixtures this season and to urgently find interested parties to save Wigan Athletic FC and the jobs of the people who work for the club.
“Obviously the suspension of the Championship season due to COVID-19 has had a significant impact on the recent fortunes of the club.
“Wigan Athletic has been a focal point and source of pride for the town since 1932 and anyone who is interested in buying this historic sporting institution should contact the joint administrators directly.”
The football season has been heavily disrupted during the lockdown, causing some smaller clubs to struggle financially. Games in the Premier League and Championship are now taking place behind closed doors, meaning that clubs are not receiving revenues from fans who may usually attend.
Photo Credit: Reading Tom via Flickr under licence (CC BY 2.0)
