Lucas Danson outlines Wigan Athletic plan - 'We are heading in the right direction...'
Wigan Athletic director Lucas Danson insists the club is 'heading in the right direction'...and that there is 'great potential to get this club back up to the Championship in the near future'.
Danson, whose dad Mike owns both Latics and Wigan Warriors, was speaking to Sky Sports in the build-up to Saturday's 2-0 home defeat to Leyton Orient.
When asked how his family's 18-month ownership of Latics had been, he replied: "It's been an amazing experience so far.
"When we joined, we were starting last season on minus eight points, there was a transfer ban, some players' contracts became null and void because the previous owner hadn't paid their wages…
"So there was plenty of fire-fighting in the first year, but we're really shifting towards our long-term strategy, and we're heading in the right direction. It's a real rebuild, but it's been a fantastic journey so far.
"We've had a long-term investment in the Wigan Warriors, but we also feel this is a fantastic town with a fantastic football club with a great heritage.
"This is one of the few clubs to have won the FA Cup, it has a great fanbase, we want to add to that, and there's great potential to get this club back up to the Championship in the near future."
Danson was also keen to stress his family's involvement was not just about matters on the field.
"The three big pillars of our investment were performances on and off the pitch, and we want to build infrastructure that means we can leave the club in a better place than when we found it, and make this a seven-days-a-week venue," he said.
"And there's also the community, we've launched a women's team for the first time, and we've got a free ticket scheme for kids aged 7-11 to come to watch the football team and the rugby team."
Danson senior became a billionaire on the back of data analytics, which Danson junior believes can provide Latics with 'an edge over our competitors'.
He added: "We've made a massive push to really try to find an edge in areas where we can. I think 98.5 per cent of recruitment in the EFL is done in the British Isles, so there's obviously great scope to scout abroad.
"We've made a real push to build our game model, find out what works in League One, and look at off-the-ball, physical data as well, which will hopefully give us another edge over our competitors.
"If you look at the success of clubs in this league, it's all underpinned by strong recruitment, so it's a massive area for us to really build and grow the club forward."