del capo

And there is another Phil Johnson , a police officer and Director of Rugby down at Devon Sharks ARLFC. Don't know if he is a referee though.....

Phil Johnson is a fairly common name. The only Phil Johnson I would immediately recognise is the Barla Lancashire County Chairman and Barla Board member ( if it is him and he still belongs to Barla )

Agreed. If it's going to happen it will be a consortium. If Whelan , the Ainscough's and Lenegan do get together ( and they have had business dealings before ) then they certainly have the financial muscle. Martin Ainscough's crane hire group has to be worth the better part of £ 500 million alone......

I believe you are right. Wigan Warriors will not be taking over the Latics. Exposure to risk is not in their interests. Ian Lenegan with considerable soccer experience ( he saved his other local team Oxford United from oblivion) is looking to put together a consortium with the aim of keeping Latics going . That is clearly in the interests of Wigan RL - both clubs need the stadium and the stadium in turn needs them both to avoid becoming a white elephant. But the clubs will if ( big if ) the deal stacks up remain totally separate with mutual interests. Daryl Eales chaired Oxford United ? Gary Speakman a Wigan accountant once sat on the Latics Board ? Amongst his various volunteer roles Speakman helped put together the highly successful Wigan Youth Zone which involved investments from more than one of Wigan's multi millionaires. Shares Lenegan's passion for educating kids as well. Potential rays of sunshine...…….

The Stadium can only be made profitable by increasing revenue sources , which in reality means hitting the fans through the football clubs. That's simply not going to happen. Why would Wigan RL move from a secure tenancy with pre determined costs to one of ownership and then try to collect rent off a soccer club that is bankrupt , in a downward spiral towards Div 1 and with the vultures already circling around to pick off their better players. ? The Administrators remember are going to have to sell something and quickly..... And that's before you factor in the capital outlay to buy the place.... I hear the Chinese shuffled the assets around via loan arrangements between themselves securing up to an 8% interest payback - check on the cross code forum where the Wasps are in real danger of becoming history next year with only 6.5% interest to pay for the Ricoh, a stadium that makes an absolute fortune for them with their city based off the field activities... The stadium lost £1.5 million last year. with everything in full flow. Unless you are saying that was deliberate or down to terribly poor management it doesn't strike me to be a structure offering an 'incredible business opportunity ' in the current climate...….

I agree . I thought rugby league had learned a while ago that putting pins on maps wasn't necessarily the best way forward...…….

Just a query - Don't know the answer myself - maybe another one for Padge If the Stadium company as Wigan RL's landlords cannot meet their obligations to actually run the stadium - meeting the bills for hospitality ,stewarding , heating and lighting, field maintenance , the bars and fast food outlets , even keeping the toilets clean ( the administrators say that £ 6 million is owed to non soccer related creditors ) would and could Wigan RL step in to meet those bills to get games on ? The security of tenure to play is one thing - actually getting games on an entirely different matter. A number of ventures ended up cancelled at the Reebok when the Wanderers went bust.....

And strong rumours that the Chinese guys are casino operators , very high rolling poker men and that a massive bet in the Phillippines was placed on Latics getting relegated . Came from the EFL Chairman no less. A 12 point deduction would clearly come in handy ! Administrators have launched an enquiry through their lawyers . Andy Burnham and shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy , the local MP , have also got involved .Former Latics Chair and Dave Whelans grandson says the stadium is too big for pro soccer in Wigan so given the necessary overheads could be hard to sell anyway. The training grounds could be the real jewels. Other explanations for these strange events may come out ,from the plausible to the ridiculous …. tax write offs or even money laundering anyone ?

And at much less than the £22 million he is reported to have sold it for ?

Latics lost an important rates appeal last October . Only reported last December and then only in a limited way Can't dig out the link direct ( that skill is far above my now non existent pay grade ) but if you google Wigan athletic Holdings v Wayne Cox it gives you UPPER TRIBUNAL ( LANDS CHAMBER) Click on that for a decent if convoluted , technical read. Para 9 and 29 are interesting. Basically Latics Chairman pleaded and it was accepted by the Court and the Rates people that Wigan RL could not be treated as potential alternative tenants as their business model was entirely different to the soccer one , that the stadium overheads were too high for them, and that the average SL stadium was 12k - 20k capacity. DW therefore too big for Wigan crowds on a regular basis. The Court noted that Wigan RL were at the top of their game in SL so could not significantly draw much bigger gates ( as opposed to Latics ) and that the added capacity was therefore not such a plus as to make them likely alternative tenants if the ground ceased to be a pro soccer outlet...…..

Padge has previously used the word shady in relation to these Hong Kong based manoeuvres involving off sure companies based in tax havens. It does seem strange that within 4 weeks of a majority shareholder transferring 75% to a minority shareholder Latics are now in administration with ordinary creditors not likely to get much by way of their debts being paid. EFL need to be answering questions about their ' due diligence ' processes and not for the first time. Is there a danger of asset stripping here ? Euxton training grounds acquired from Bolton when they faced a similar problem was bought by Huron ( one of Dave Whelans companies I believe ) for 2.2 million a few years ago and is in the Latics portfolio . The land has 3 full size pitches and stands on what many years ago was a brownfield site. Christopher Park also has at least 3 fields and stands in a corner of Standish Lower Ground under extreme pressure for housebuilding and once earmarked by Wigan Council for such development. And then there is the newish now vacant building next door to the DW which has housed both a gym and a restaurant/ nightspot in recent times. Worth a pretty penny as it stands. Latics could always train at the Wigan owned arena next door......

It appears that the creditors are owed appro £25 million. The owners immediately prior to this Admin floated their company this January , then did the deal and got final clearance just 4 weeks ago. EFL approved as well as Hong Kong stock exchange. A number of owners / shareholders held interests in both camps. Cayman and Virgin Island registered companies - may tell us a bit . Hedge funds ? Cannot be discounted that some of the owners are also creditors ( possibly preferential ? ) Wigan Today is running an on line blog as I type. Some interesting stuff. Warriors should not be affected says the journo. Administrators want to sell the club as a whole but do not discount asset sales including land buildings and players to help cash flow. Clash flow caused the problem and payments from this ' deal ' have not landed as expected it seems …...

What if any impact will today's news that Wigan Athletic have gone into administration following the recent takeover by a Hong Kong based consortium have on the Warriors , if any. One cause for concern could be that it's not just the soccer club but related companies , including the Stadium Company itself it seems. One for Padge perhaps......

Absolutely none at all . But you haven't answered the questions. Has the World Rugby League benefitted TGG ? Far better to organise within the sport (we are little enough as it is ) than outside of it. Non disclosure agreements ? Come on …….

World Rugby League all over again ? Didn't they have the same argument ?

He is a stand out He will play first grade this year. Not immediately I agree. Only 18 but a real tearaway, The ' Raiders ' have done it again with their UK trawl - who is their scout ? ...…. definitely not a punt..... this lad will go places...

Calm down Eddie We are not talking about pro sport here but about a fun journey that would struggle to make Tier 5 in the UK. I am totally ambivalent about the paid for overall costings of this effort ( that's up to them ) but yes to send a team from the UK would cost about 10k . Glad to see that the organisers are picking that tab up in full. The ' draw ' will clearly be fixed to keep costs under control . Desperate ? Not on this issue. We hide our faces on this forum to engage in lively talk but far greater RL concerns for me as we try to help during lockdown and the aftermath.....

They throw them in quick and deep down there . Let's see.....

Why do you think they have just picked up Harry Rushton from Wigan ?

Fix the ' draw ' then , just as in the good old BARLA days. Throw in ' you can choose whether to play home or away ' and it gets even better. Eddie let me assure you that anyone who has EVER took a club side abroad for a game has had to find up to 10k outlay, with the host club picking up a near similar tab on transport hotel and hospitality etc. If you have managed to get it below that please share your info to help us all out...……..

Got to say you're a breath of fresh air on here mate

The RFL sit down every year about this time to work out the ' Calendar ' which ties in every competition , tour etc from SL to Tier 5 into a format for the following year to produce , hopefully , a clean flow throughout the game. Within that I am confident that if it is the Euro X111 organisers desire they could be encapsulated within it.

If I were to make a pitch for him my main concern would be that second shoulder operation

Even if it is bankrolled Eddie it will still cost perhaps 10k a game. The likely finances ( without input from any organisers ) were looked at pages ago. Most sponsors expect some form of return.... Not sure what you believe is a small fortune but I would love let's say 200k put into my pension pot.....

Dean Buchan is now in charge of Spain RL and can therefore pitch his sale to Government for funds as an NGB. Presumably the same for the Italians. Those Governments will have no idea as to this Comps potential or value. Will it bring extra tourists to Valencia ? Who knows exactly what the pitch has been there or anywhere else for that matter with the other investors ? Government of course runs to all levels and could well just mean the local Authority, Zilch transparency so far.... Still hope it goes well but if it doesn't then the collateral damage could be huge...….