Wigan Athletic administrator begins final moves of its successful appointment

Paul Stanley, Begbies Traynor

Begbies Trayor, the administrator of Wigan Athletic AFC Limited, has filed its final report in Court and at Companies House, a process which begins the move of the company into liquidation.

The administrators’ report is a statutory report to creditors which is also filed in Court and at Companies House.

It is a report which is meant for creditors but, given the nature of the business of the company as a football club, the administrators appreciate that the report will also be read by fans of the club and have released an executive summary of their objectives and the results:

  • Survival of the club (achieved)
  • Fulfil the fixtures in 2019/20 season (achieved)
  • Appeal against the 12-point deduction imposed by the EFL (English Football League) on entering administration (case brought but unsuccessfully)
  • Avoid a further 15-point deduction for not meeting specified financial requirements of the EFL (achieved)
  • Pay staff and player wages for June 2020 and deferrals from earlier months (achieved)
  • Pay staff and player wages from July 2020 until the point the club was sold (achieved)
  • Resolve position with the Hong Kong-based owner and largest creditor (debt £24m), to include waiving any entitlement to dividend to enable other creditors to be paid, and to allow other funds from connected companies (which would otherwise be paid to the owner) to be used to pay the administrators’ fees so that the football club could enjoy a free administration which would make the purchase price lower and, therefore, would ensure the survival of the club (achieved)
  • Start the 2020/21 season and either complete the season or leave club in a position where the season could be completed, avoiding relegation (achieved)
  • Pay football creditors in full (c.£7m) (achieved)
  • Find buyer for club (achieved)
  • Pay minimum 25p/£ to non-football creditors (funds ring fenced to achieve this)
  • Repay the soft loan of c.£170k made by the Official Supporters Club to the administrators which enabled emergency payments to suppliers to enable the remaining fixtures of the 2019/20 season to be completed (achieved)
  • Move company to liquidation to agree and pay creditor claims (to be actioned following release of this report)

Paul Stanley, of Manchester-based Begbies Traynor, said: “We achieved everything we said we would on day one of being appointed as administrators.

“The worst-case scenarios that were envisaged by many observers, including the death of the club, have been successfully avoided. The process of paying creditors will begin.”

He added: “Our strategy from day one was geared towards the three key objectives of saving the club, finding a buyer and leaving the club and the fans in a position to be able to enjoy good times again in the future. I’m pleased this has been achieved and we are now able to begin the formal process to pay creditors.

“Wigan Athletic was not the first football club to enter administration and it certainly won’t be the last.

“The fact that we were able to achieve what we set out to do during a global pandemic will come to be a textbook example of how to manage the administration of any historic sporting institution, let alone a football club.”

Wigan entered administration on July 1, last year, less than a month after being transferred to new ownership following the sale of the majority shareholdings of the Wigan Athletic Group from International Entertainment Corporation (IEC) to Hong Kong-based Next Leader Fund LP.

A takeover deal was finalised on March 30 this year when Begbies Traynor confirmed that Middle East group Phoenix 2021 Limited was the new owner of the League One side.

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