Wigan Athletic have been on 'accelerated decline' since key figure departed

That's the view of football finance expert Kieran Maguire - author of 'The Price of Football', and co-host of the podcast of the same name - who says the former Latics chairman and owner broke the mould.

Whelan stepped down as chairman towards the end of the 2014/15 campaign, handing over the reins to his grandson, David Sharpe.

And he handed over full control in 2018 when selling the club to IEC - which kicked off the most turbulent period in the club's history.

"I used to know someone very senior in banking who was connected to football," said Maguire.

"And he said Dave Whelan was THE best person to work with in the whole of the English game.

"He knew where every penny and every pound was going, he was gruff but he was straight, and he was fair.

"And there has been a slow but accelerated decline since he left with Choi Stanley, Au Yeung, the conduct and arrogance of the administrators, and now with Phoenix 2021."

Latics were taken over on Wednesday afternoon by Wigan-born billionaire Mike Danson, who already owns a 25 per cent share in the Warriors.

Outstanding player wages – almost a fortnight late – were immediately settled, which means Latics can look forward with optimism after the carnage of recent weeks and months.

"We're talking about people, and jobs, and the ability to recruit over the summer and be competitive in the future," Maguire said.

"To a large extent, they're practically relegated already...who would want to go to a club in that position?

"It's an absolute mess, and you feel for the fans - and the staff - who have been constantly lied to, with the excuses given."

The situation at the end of the Phoenix 2021 Limited era was in total contrast to this time last year, when Latics were basking in the glory of winning the League One title - as it turns out, spending way beyond their means – before it hit the fan.

"All clubs are losing money," explained Maguire. "So therefore, if someone comes in with ideas, who thinks they know how to run a football club, who thinks 'I can get it sorted in a year', 'I can then be challenging to get into the Premier League, because I'm good, or I'm arrogant'.

"If that doesn't manifest, and all of a sudden you're writing cheques for millions of pounds a year, you can understand the owners saying 'hang on, that's not what it said on the tin'.

"The chairman's thinking 'when I put forward this consortium, the other guys - who aren't putting their own money in - didn't say it was going to be like this'.

"And you end up in the position we're in today.”

Former Liverpool, Spurs and England defender Steven Caulker - who spent the second half of last term with Latics - hit out at the EFL for their role in clubs suffering hardship.

Maguire, though, says it's not as simple as that.

"I will stand in the EFL's defence, in respect of this," he said. "They were shown the money by Phoenix 2021 Limited, when the deal went through (in 2021).

"Just because the owner has the money, doesn't mean he is going to transfer that money over to Wigan.

"Should there be a rule when somebody takes over a football club, where they have to put down some sort of deposit, the same as if you were renting an apartment?

"Possibly, yes. But that makes the job of the administrators that much more difficult, from a cash-flow point of view.

"I can understand Steven Caulker's point of view - he is a professional footballer who is expecting to be paid - and it's even worse for the office staff.

"I have to say the EFL have upped their game considerably, compared to what it was like under Shaun Harvey.

"I still don't know what else they can realistically be expected to do, if people lie, and people break promises.

"If someone shows you they have £10million in the bank, and you manage to validate that, but don't transfer it across, what can they do?

"The only way change will happen is if owners of EFL clubs vote to change the rules.

"And owners won't vote to change the rules if it damages their chances of selling their own clubs.

"I know of at least 20 owners who are trying to flog their clubs, and it makes it that much more difficult if you vote to reduce the pool of people who are willing to buy those clubs."

Earlier this week, Latics were hit with a winding-up order by HMRC, with a hearing set for the end of July.

Danson’s takeover hopefully means all debts will be settled before then.

And Maguire was never worried Latics were in danger of following north-west neighbour Bury out of the EFL.

"I don't see any similarities with Bury," he added. "Steve Dale bought Bury for a pound, and tried to make money out of the property and the assets.

"I don't think this was the case here. I'm not saying the situation was good, but I didn't see those parallels."