Wigan Athletic shouldn't just be sold to the highest bidder, urges MP Lisa Nandy

A consortium led by Warriors chairman Ian Lenagan has contacted administrators to make them aware of their interest.

He wants both the town’s clubs to come together under one banner – Wigan Sporting Partnership – playing out of the DW Stadium.

The administrators are pushing for the best offer.

But amid concerns Latics’ considerable assets may be sold off by the new owner, Nandy wants to ensure ‘best’ is not simply the biggest sum of money.

She met with administrator Gerald Krasner at the DW Stadium yesterday.

“It was a constructive meeting and I impressed the importance of securing the long-term future of the club,” said Nandy, who also urged they did everything to ensure there are no further redundancies.

Opinion: Why Ian Lenagan wants to buy Wigan Athletic“Not just, ‘Sell us off to the highest bidder’ – the potential for a local deal is grounds for optimism. They are aware of a local deal (being prepared) and what that means.

“It gave me cautious grounds for optimism that if a buyer is secured we will be able to put the club back together again."

She continued: "We have to get a buyer in. But we also need to make sure that we're not just sold off to the highest bidder to someone with no interest in football, Latics and Wigan.

"We want to secure the long-term future, someone who cares about football, cares about the town. The administrator - it's not that they're against it - but their primary focus is getting a good price for the club.

"We don't want to be like Bury, where one bad deal was replaced with another."

Krasner suggested last night his preference for the new owner would be someone who is local.

"What we're looking for is someone really local, with money, if necessary Wigan supporters," he told BBC Five Live. "That would be acceptable to me, to Wigan and to everyone else. We may in my opinion get three or four serious bidders."

He hopes the potential bidder is keen on buying all of Wigan Athletic - it is split into five different companies - and says their No.1 choice will need to deposit £100,000 into a solicitor's account to show they mean business, which will be lost if they walk away.

Lenagan, chairman of Warriors since 2007, is working with his advisors to find other investors with the intention of “making a bid in due course” for Latics, who have been in administration for the last seven days.

Reacting to his interest, Makerfield MP Yvonne Fovargue said: "This is encouraging news and I will get behind the bid with the knowledge that under local ownership the strong ties to the local sporting community and wider borough would be retained and enhanced."