Please don't withdraw Wigan Athletic donations - Supporters Club

After initially raising £200,000 to help ensure the club fulfilled its fixtures last term, the fans group then set up a different fund to 'give our supporters the strongest possible voice in the future of our club'.

The second effort currently stands at an incredible £660,000 but, with a takeover still seemingly no nearer, some fans have questioned what the cash will be used for.

Supporters Club chair Caroline Molineux, though, insists the money being held remains a crucial back-up plan if all else fails.

"We would ask that fans do not withdraw their money at the moment," she said.

"Obviously that remains their prerogative, but we are still in a situation where we may need to step in and save the football club.

"I can categorically state we are not going to use that money for any other reason than what it was intended.

"We will not be going to the administrators tomorrow with £500,000 and telling them to pay the wages - because that's not what it was raised for.

"The second Crowdfunder was to provide rewards for our fans in a new football club - not for bills or anything like that."

Ms Molineux also confirmed the Supporters Club have not been celebrating the collapse of the proposed Spanish takeover, despite not feeling able to commit their financial backing when the bid was first accepted.

"I've seen a lot on social media saying the Supporters Club didn't want the Spanish, and wouldn't go in with them because we wouldn't get a seat on the board," she added on the 'Progress With Unity' podcast.

"It's just not the case that we didn't want the Spanish.

"All we want is for Wigan Athletic to be pulled out of administration by credible owners.

"The fact is the Supporters Club are the custodians of more than £800,000 of other people's money, and we take that very, very seriously.

"It's very easy for people on social media to say 'do this, do that, hand it over'.

"But of course if you have even the slightest doubt about what you're doing, it's not right to do it.

"We always said we would speak with the Spanish once the deal had gone through, and the Spanish said that as well.

"All we were saying was we didn't have enough information at that time to be able to commit, the timescales just weren't right.

"In actual fact we were contacted by the Spanish very recently, telling us it was still going through, and wanting to meet with us once it had gone through.

"There was never any animosity between us and the Spanish, at any stage of the process."