Wigan Athletic's proposed Spanish takeover has fallen through

A statement from the joint administrators, issued this morning, reads: As of 11 am today, the Administrators have broken off negotiations with the Spanish bidder. The facts are that as late as Christmas Eve the Bidder indicated that they wanted to complete the deal immediately and had wired money from Spain to their UK solicitors.

This was confirmed as being received by their solicitors over the Christmas period. The sale contract was agreed, the documentation had been signed in relation to the assignment of the leases with the Council (Stadium) and College (Training Ground) and completion was planned to take place in between Christmas and New Year.

However, over this weekend we received a letter from the Bidder reducing the bid by almost 50%. This would not allow us to pay non-football creditors the required 25p in the £ to avoid further sanctions against the Club. This would result in a 15 point deduction and would effectively relegate the Club to League 2.

The Purchaser was insistent on offering the reduced price but was not prepared to conclude the deal unless the 15 point deduction was waived. Under the EFL insolvency policy, this is not possible and the deal is therefore unable to be concluded.

We have informed the EFL and are now starting to talk to other bidders who have expressed interest and will provide an update when there is any definite news.

Coun David Molyneux, leader of Wigan Council, said: "I am shocked and disappointed by this news because we as a local authority have done our best in terms of what we can do to support the bid. I do know that the EFL had some concerns about it and these appear now to have been borne out.

"I also know that there have been up until recently other interested parties and I hope that the administrators can now act very quickly to look at alternatives.

"The worst case scenario is if there aren't any bidders there. We as a council will have to work with the supporters' association and do all we can to make sure the club survives.

"Wigan Athletic is a very important part of my life personally too and will do anything I can to help it towards a stable and successful future."

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