A look inside the Strategic Report that confirms just how close it was to no more Wigan Athletic

It kicks off with a scene-setter that leaves little to the imagination.

"The 2022/23 season was the 91st in Wigan Athletic Football Club's proud history," the report read. "However, following a season of chaos and upheaval on and off the pitch, it was almost its last.

“After the highs of the 2021/22 season, which resulted in promotion to the Championship, the 2022/23 season was beset with problems before a ball was even kicked. A season brimming with optimism became hugely challenging, testing the resilience of the club and the Wigan community."

Phoenix 2021 Limited, who took Latics out of administration in 2021, had planned to rebuild the club by placing the Academy at the centre of its vision. However, as the report details, that quickly became not the case.

Trust in youth 'had been the overarching objective of the plans submitted by Mr Abdulrahman Al Jasmi's ownership group, to the EFL as part of its bid to take control of the club from the administrators’, read the report. "The plans quickly changed as a policy ensued of recruiting experienced players in an attempt to gain promotion from League One to the Championship creating huge financial stress once promotion was achieved."

However, while the League One title was achieved, it was done quite literally at massive cost, with huge contracts and long-term deals having been put in place that were way in excess of the initial projections.

When the following season resulted in an ultimately unsuccessful battle against relegation - and two managers being sacked, at a cost of £2million - the wolves were soon back at the door.

"The future of Wigan Athletic Football Club was now hanging in the balance," read the report. "In just over two years, the club had been rescued from administration, with a very low cost base, presenting a real opportunity to make strides to being self-sustainable, to yet once again fighting for its existence.

"There was clearly no sign of any further funding arriving from Mr Al Jasmi's ownership group. Initial advice from insolvency practitioners indicated that given the severity of the amounts owed to creditors, particularly HMRC for PAYE, and the large future commitments on player contracts, administration would probably not be feasible. There was now a real possibility the EFL may be unable to include the club in the League One fixture release, only a few weeks away."

While administration was a scary enough reality in 2020, this time even that safety net had disappeared.

"The club's aging squad and its low underlying transfer value, would not provide enough liquidity to fund the losses in the short term until a buyer could be found," read the report. "The sale of young players, which had ultimately saved the club during the 2020/21 administration, would not come to the rescue of the club on this occasion. In short, the company would have ceased to trade, and any liquid assets would have been sold to satisfy creditors.

"Without funding from Mr Al Jasmi's ownership group, or a change of owner with considerable resources, Wigan Athletic would have been no more. A proud club with 90 years of history, FA Cup winners and Premier League members all within the previous 10 years, would have been consigned to the history books with a devastating impact on the local Wigan community."

While Shaun Maloney and Gregor Rioch were 'running the club on a day-to-day basis, under considerable pressure and increased media speculation over the ownership and the future of the club', the club - and town - were hanging by a thread.

Enter local billionaire Mike Danson, who had already taken a sizable - soon to become total - share in Wigan Warriors, who was persuaded to take a look at the books by desperate friends of the club in the hope of pulling off a rescue mission.

"Concerned about the club's precarious position, on 9th June 2023, Mike Danson was granted permission to commence due diligence on the club with a view to purchasing Phoenix 2021 Ltd and clearing its liabilities," read the report. "After a swift period of due diligence, and after gaining approval for a change of control from the EFL, an agreement was reached by all parties to transfer ownership of Phoenix 2021 Ltd to Mike Danson, via his company Community Holdco 2023 Ltd, on 14th June 2023."

Five days, from start to finish, to buy a football club. No wonder it’s still taking time to work things out in the boardroom.

Danson immediately cleared the tax bill and outstanding wages, but the continuing liabilities such as some player contracts - labelled 'significant' and 'not sensible' - would still be a problem.

Off the pitch, too, the previous ownership group entered into many long term supplier contracts the report warns 'may hinder our ambitions to improve some areas of the club in the short term. We have already taken steps to address some of these arrangements and we will continue to make it our priority'.

On the field, at least, things have begun to take shape under Maloney and Rioch, with the squad moving from the second oldest in the Championship last season, to one of the youngest in the whole of the EFL.

"We aim to operate a sustainable cost structure, looking to recruit, promote and develop young players, and ultimately trade these assets if offers meet our valuations, enabling the players to progress their careers," the report confirmed. "We recognise we are only the custodians of Wigan Athletic. Our ambition is to ensure it grows and flourishes, so that in many years time, we can eventually pass it onto the next owner and generation of Latics fans, in a much stronger position both on and off the pitch."

Acknowledging as 'disappointing' the operating losses - which would have been £17.5 million, save for the write back, of £4.1 million in owner loans...the largest annual loss in any filed annual accounts in Wigan Athletic's history - was something of an understatement.

However, there is some closing optimism regarding the future outlook, which at least looks as though it's been thought through, and - while recognising player sales won't be popular - a plan to move towards self-sustainability is believed to be an achievable target given the club's highly prized Academy.

"As part of the long-term player-trading strategy," the report concluded, "the transition of Academy players to the first team will help reduce expenditure on player transfers and create organic growth within our player-trading model, with the intention of increasing the strength and depth of the squad over time. We will invest in player recruitment resources, to ensure that we can attract and retain the best football talent available, within an agreed budget."

So much to take in. So much almost lost. So much to be grateful for.