All Wigan Athletic bidders are still 'in the game', reveals administrator

Just 24 hours after the 21-day period for potential owners to show their hand expired, the frontrunner failed to complete the first stage of exclusivity – leaving the second bidder now in pole position.

However, with Latics fans worried the No.1 choice has now slipped by the wayside, Stanley – of Begbies Traynor – says it’s nothing to be unduly concerned about at this stage.

“I think it’s just one of those things that happens,” he told Wigan Observer. “We set down conditions for people to meet.

“If they meet them all, everyone’s happy. But inevitably if they don’t meet some of them, we move on to the next bidder down.

“And when one of them gives us what we want for exclusivity, we’ll go exclusive.

“But at the minute they’re all still in the game. Even the one who didn’t come up with it last time is still in the game.

“If they want to come back to us and make it exclusive, then they can.

“You’d never write off anyone in these kinds of negotiations.

“We’re asking them to put money in, and they haven’t done it yet.

“While we’ll go to the next one down, it doesn’t mean they can’t come back to the table.”

Having been in the industry for over three decades, Stanley has learned to roll with the punches in the ‘up and down’ nature of administration – especially in football.

“There’s a lot of information and a lot of big numbers involved,” he acknowledged.

“And I can understand that from a purchaser’s point of view, they need to know what they’re getting into.

“Running a football club is not as simple as picking 11 guys to play on a Saturday.

“There’s so much going on in the background, and so many things you need to have a control of.

“There’s things on lease, staffing issues, redundancies, issues relating to maybe using one training ground instead of two...so many permutations.

“There’s also a wage bill that equates to being in the Championship – when at the minute we’re in League One.

“We’ll know more regarding that on Friday (after the hearing which will determine whether Latics’ 12-point penalty for entering administration stands), but there’s something like £6million difference in TV money between the two divisions.

“Again, a purchaser is looking at that, and asking whether they’re buying a Championship club or a League One club.

“The answer, at the moment, is that we just don’t know.

“You can understand why some of them don’t want to commit to putting non-refundable money in the bank, before finding out what they thought they were buying is not in fact what they were buying.

“For me, it would be perfect if they would just put in the money and play to the rules we set.

“Having said that, I can understand why some are maybe thinking they wouldn’t mind taking it forward, but they don’t want to write out a big cheque they might lose.

"I fully get – much as it’s frustrating from my point of view – why some people don’t just want to write a cheque to people who haven’t got answers to the questions they have.

“That doesn’t mean they’re not interested, because they are, and we’re still pumping data out to them.”

The administrators released a short statement on Monday to update supporters on how talks with the second bidder – now the ‘Preferred Bidder’ – were progressing.

“The joint administrators would like to inform Wigan Athletic supporters that discussions with the preferred bidder have continued on a positive note over the weekend and today, though at this stage there is no exclusive agreement,” the statement read.

“The joint administrators will further update supporters on Saturday following the appeal hearing on Friday, which is expected to take all day.”