Takeover

[RaggedTrouseredPhil]

Ive read that piecemeal throughout the day so maybe Ive misinterpreted parts due to a lack of full concentration.

Despite initially being enthused a year ago in regards this takeover I am now somewhat concerned. It's clear they haven't got a clue about running a football club in England and less so about running ours.

Whilst I admire their intent and ideas to increase revenue streams ultimately they won't increase anywhere near the level I suspect they think they'll achieve to justify this purchase. Certainly not on the back of our name. The only way that happens is via promotion to the top flight and that will require a significant capital injection to improve the playing squad and even then there is no guarantee of success. I think I read they are having to take out a bank loan to cover the running costs of the entire group for the next 12 months so significant player investment seems unlikely. That said I'm certain new contracts will be on offer shortly before the assets walk out of the door.

Going forward I have significant concerns about the longevity of their interest and ownership of us. In less than a generation it's quite conceivable our club ceases to exist.

Plus what's happened to Brenda?

I wouldn't go as far as you've just described it, but maybe the vision is of a worst case scenario of making us the Peterborough of the championship? As a fan, I'd like to remain in this league with flirtation of promotion or even actual promotion to the greed league. See huddersfield, Burnley, Watford, Bournemouth etc.

 

[RaggedTrouseredPhil]

The new owners arent English? More foreigners going to the UK taking over, what was brexit for?

I think you who voted out should complain, even more than you do already about all these immigrants

£350m for the NHS. GUFFAW

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&s...CBAB&usg=AOvVaw2buDhhEBNSQixTyZBIy8qZ&ampcf=1

 

[Made in Wigan]

If that's the worst that will happen RTP then I'll take that.

A takeover of this kind should not take this long. By their own admittance they know Jack about football. Someone one tell them ownership of football club isn't a vessel to make money, it's more of a plaything. Once the debts begin to pile, they'll be off like a shot.

 

[HudWiganFan]

Give it six months before they truly realise what they’ve let themselves in for financially. Give it two years absolute tops before they’ve had enough and offer the club to every rich bloke in the Far East in return for their money back and a small profit.

If we get relegated under these lot and the banks start turning the screws on them then god help us, it’ll be bucket time all over again.

That's the spirit!

In all seriousness, I really think the axe-swinging and doom-mongering should wait until the people are at least in the door and have a chance to run things....

 

[Studds40]

I’m all for a realistic outlook. That’s not getting carried away thinking tens of millions will be pumped in to take us to the Premier League. Equally not buying into doom layden predictions. I don’t know if it’s a defence mechanism to avoid disappointment. There are always extreme reactions to a defeat or transfer news. Let alone the club being taken over. Many takeovers go through swiftly and fans are left none the wiser. Due to the nature of IEC every detail imaginable is laid out for us to comb over. The protracted nature of the deal should leave no one in any doubt what they are getting into.

I mentioned earlier we should be grateful for what Whelan has done for this club. Equally he’s old school and both Sharpe & Jackson have mentioned he often went against their advise on footballing matters. I’m sure this increased ten-fold when discussing off the field business and what’s expected of a football club in 2018. Be it fan & community relations, social media, sponsorship opportunities, marketing, staffing levels.

It’s one of the reasons I’m greatful we’re retaining so many staff. They know better than most where improvements can be made and how sensible investment can help us make big gains to improve commercial growth and attendances at the club. With FFP it’s crucial both make gains to give us a base to build on.

Even as fans we’ve walked past the empty Sharpy’s building and wondered why it isn’t being utilised. A supporters club in such a location, selling food & drink, would be a potential goldmine. As it is we’re losing said custom to local bars and restaurants. Given the size of the building it could also be used as a retail space. Goodness knows how much money is lost at the current club shop due to people not willing to queue and lack of stock.

I’ve no idea if we can ever be fully self-sufficient at Championship level. It’s quite depressing to have 8K-10K rattling around in the stadium and seeing talk about shutting stands. What I do know is many club's with Championship, even Premier League, ambitions would give their right arm for our stadium, training grounds, and associated facilities. Let’s make the most of these assets and see where we stand.

 

[jeffs right]

Yip we have Sharpies, New Springfield, Christopher Park, Euxton and a paying tenant contributing a little towards running costs.

 

[Kenny Morris]

Probably the same one that me a load of bollocks about their investment six months or so back.

Bottom line is they aren't awash with cash and we don't generate enough to sustain a mid table championship club consistently. They have no bond or allegiances to the club. Given that when the reality dawns they're endless pissing money up a wall in some indistinct town in northern England they'll bugger off far quicker than what it took them to buy the club in the first place. I'll be surprised if we aren't in administration in the next 5 years.

"Always look on the bright side of life"

 

[king_dezeeuw06]

G

I’m all for a realistic outlook. That’s not getting carried away thinking tens of millions will be pumped in to take us to the Premier League. Equally not buying into doom layden predictions. I don’t know if it’s a defence mechanism to avoid disappointment. There are always extreme reactions to a defeat or transfer news. Let alone the club being taken over. Many takeovers go through swiftly and fans are left none the wiser. Due to the nature of IEC every detail imaginable is laid out for us to comb over. The protracted nature of the deal should leave no one in any doubt what they are getting into.

I mentioned earlier we should be grateful for what Whelan has done for this club. Equally he’s old school and both Sharpe & Jackson have mentioned he often went against their advise on footballing matters. I’m sure this increased ten-fold when discussing off the field business and what’s expected of a football club in 2018. Be it fan & community relations, social media, sponsorship opportunities, marketing, staffing levels.

It’s one of the reasons I’m greatful we’re retaining so many staff. They know better than most where improvements can be made and how sensible investment can help us make big gains to improve commercial growth and attendances at the club. With FFP it’s crucial both make gains to give us a base to build on.

Even as fans we’ve walked past the empty Sharpy’s building and wondered why it isn’t being utilised. A supporters club in such a location, selling food & drink, would be a potential goldmine. As it is we’re losing said custom to local bars and restaurants. Given the size of the building it could also be used as a retail space. Goodness knows how much money is lost at the current club shop due to people not willing to queue and lack of stock.

I’ve no idea if we can ever be fully self-sufficient at Championship level. It’s quite depressing to have 8K-10K rattling around in the stadium and seeing talk about shutting stands. What I do know is many club's with Championship, even Premier League, ambitions would give their right arm for our stadium, training grounds, and associated facilities. Let’s make the most of these assets and see where we stand.

Great post Studds

 

[Made in Wigan]

I’m all for a realistic outlook. That’s not getting carried away thinking tens of millions will be pumped in to take us to the Premier League. Equally not buying into doom layden predictions. I don’t know if it’s a defence mechanism to avoid disappointment. There are always extreme reactions to a defeat or transfer news. Let alone the club being taken over. Many takeovers go through swiftly and fans are left none the wiser. Due to the nature of IEC every detail imaginable is laid out for us to comb over. The protracted nature of the deal should leave no one in any doubt what they are getting into.

I mentioned earlier we should be grateful for what Whelan has done for this club. Equally he’s old school and both Sharpe & Jackson have mentioned he often went against their advise on footballing matters. I’m sure this increased ten-fold when discussing off the field business and what’s expected of a football club in 2018. Be it fan & community relations, social media, sponsorship opportunities, marketing, staffing levels.

It’s one of the reasons I’m greatful we’re retaining so many staff. They know better than most where improvements can be made and how sensible investment can help us make big gains to improve commercial growth and attendances at the club. With FFP it’s crucial both make gains to give us a base to build on.

Even as fans we’ve walked past the empty Sharpy’s building and wondered why it isn’t being utilised. A supporters club in such a location, selling food & drink, would be a potential goldmine. As it is we’re losing said custom to local bars and restaurants. Given the size of the building it could also be used as a retail space. Goodness knows how much money is lost at the current club shop due to people not willing to queue and lack of stock.

I’ve no idea if we can ever be fully self-sufficient at Championship level. It’s quite depressing to have 8K-10K rattling around in the stadium and seeing talk about shutting stands. What I do know is many club's with Championship, even Premier League, ambitions would give their right arm for our stadium, training grounds, and associated facilities. Let’s make the most of these assets and see where we stand.

Of no doubt we aren't maximising the potential of our assets, so yes there is scope to increase revenue. The revenue increase may help with sustainability but it won't be game changing - though is encouraging they wish to knock the club into shape.

I admire the principle of developing the academy to develop and ultimately make profits on players, but we've said this for years and is easier said than done. Clearly PL riches would help, for the obvious and ancillary reasons for the wider company. Problem is it's difficult to get there and without a big injection of funds unlikely. It seems there is no pot of cash to invest if they are taking out loans so that aim of PL football is very difficult to achieve. The likelihood is that when iec realise the club is affecting the profitability of the company the sensible solution will be to cut their losses, that's just the reality unfortunately and as such isn't difficult to see how this will play out.

 

[king_dezeeuw06]

For those saying they don't think the new owners realise what they are getting themselves into - how realistic is it that they wouldn't realise the financial implications when they looked into our accounts? Sharpe said it would be a 10m loss this year, the academy and recruitment network will take time and investment, it's a huge investment for them - they surely must have studied the numbers long and hard and be coming in with their eyes open.

They even say in the document about the spiralling cost of football at this level on transfers and wages and say that they cant match the levels of spending other clubs do so we need to become more efficient in youth development and smarter in recruiting - which is exactly right. I'd be much more worried if they were very naive thinking we could get back to the Prem quickly on our current budget or were going to risk FFP violations to do it.

Like mentioned above the idea is clearly to try and become more like Peterborough or Brentford for signing cheap unknown gems and selling for hefty profit and trying to produce players through our academy. Unless you are in the Prem or have a owner willing to absorb massive loses and dance with FFP breaches this was always where our club needed to end up. Under Whelan we understandably prioritised the playing squad with all of our budget going into signings and wages, but it meant we havent been able to put any into the academy. The scouting system in recent years has been proven time and time again to be sub standard by our poor ratio of success to failures in recruitment. With the Prem money gone and Whelan not willing to absorb future multi million annual loses it would be hard for him to invest even more money to invest in the academy and scouting overhalls and that is what these new owners are willing to do and if our club is to have a strong future those are the 2 areas that we need to exploit.

I think becoming self sustaining is achievable if we can get our scouting system and academy to function efficently. It will take time and it is easier to say and harder to do. But this was the inevitable next step that our club had to take, it's a shame that we couldn't have made it under the Whelan family and it is undoubtedly a risk having new owners like this. No one is burying their head in the sand saying 'it is certain to be great' but like Studds said in another post it feels like there is a self defence mechanism of speculative negativity - assuming the worst off the bat so we can't be disapointed down the line. Remember the alram on here towards the end of preseason saying how bad everything was going and a week later we turned in an amazing performance to beat Sheff Wed. If anyone woud've predicted after the Rangers friendly after about a quarter of the season we'd be 2 points off the play offs and feeling we easily should've had more points - i think most would've said it was a silly prediction - yet here we are. It just shows how football is so unpredictable and how things can changes so quickly.

Our reality is there is no staying with the way things are, Whelan wont fund us anymore, there are no other buyers waiting in the wings, and IEC are our only choice. The concerns are understandable and may turn out to be right in the end, but equally they may not and IEC could turn out to be great for us - we just dont know. So let's not get down on them before they've got in the door, assuming they must be naivee and stupid to buy us or incapable of executing their plans. Without trying to be horrible to the Whelan family they haven't been able to make the most of the 3 main things IEC identify; academy, commerical and recruitment - maybe a fresh set of ideas and expertise can help us to tackle those areas more succesfully, if they can it will go a long way to making our club sustainable and competative. Without them coming in i fear we'd end up in a much worse position than if Whelan was forced to stay in charge and unwilling to subsidise us any longer. No one is saying everthing will definetely work out or anyone's concerns are baseless, but we've all moaned that we haven't sorted our our academy and our recruitment process is rubbish for years - they are coming in promising to fix them - so they are doing what we've been crying out for and have the right strategy. Let's just give them a chance.

 

[hindleymonwafc]

I love DW to death and he no doubt saved us from extinction but we do seem to have stagnated these last few years roughly corresponding to Dave pulling the financial plug ( who can blame him though ). Our marketing and merchandise sections have been poor to say the least.

Lastly I know it's only a small issue but I haven't been able to buy a car sticker since the fa cup win. You look at Bolton ( spits loudly on floor ) and they have dozens of car stickers that warriors fans love sporting on their Chubb mobiles.

 

[Studds40]

Listening to the PWU Podcast and they say IEC have paid £41m in total. £22m for the club assets, £15m for Whelan’s shares, £4m to pay off the Barclays loan.

 

[truelatic4eva]

I take it there was no British interest at fifty quid then.

 

[ZAKKY]

I have read through all the comments on here since the announcement and it seems most feel this is a bad deal and there will be little investment. I just ask why would DW sell to people who he thought would bring a bad deal to the club ?

 

[Soccerates]

IEC Takeover


I've read through the document a few times and wanted to drill down into the details before I posted.


The Club Valuation

The Net Asset Value, adjusted for the Bank Loan and Whelan Family Loans, as of May 2018 is £25,133,058.This incorporates all the liquid and non liquid assets of the Football Club, from property to players to other intangible assets held within the club. . The Sales Shares Consideration is the value of the shares held in the club by the Whelan Family, Wigan Council and other minority shareholders. This is valued at £13,490,000. The total value of the shares, plus the Adjusted NAV is therefore £38,623,058. The bank repayment amount of £4,000,000 is an early settlement agreement with Barclays.



The Board


As it stands, IECorp will keep the board members of the Club the same, with the exception of Gary Cook (hired as a non-executive director, with the remit of seeking investment - this is a role he fulfilled with the Ultimate Fighting Championships to broker a deal to sell to Endeavor(Formerly WME-IMG) by Zuffa LLC - https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/sport/2016/jul/11/UFC-SALE-4BN-DANA-WHITE-WME-IMG) and David Sharpe, current Chairman of the Club. Additionally, IECorp announced the decision to hire Joe and Darren Royle as members of the Board. Joe Royle's last role was as a 1st team coach at Everton, Darren Royle has an extensive background in Football Data Analysis, most notably with ProZone - https://uk.linkedin.com/in/darren-royle-b933b37. As such, it would be assumed that Joe Royle would be hired as a Director of Football, Darren Royle as a Director of Analysis/Recruitment.

IECorp has no other plans to hire anyone to the Board, therefore the CEO, Jonathan Jackson will be responsible for the day-to-day operation of the Club, with the remaining board members fulfilling their original remits as outlined in the circular. IECorp have also made clear that they have no experience of Football Operations and the hiring of Joe and Darren Royle will offer a tangible and intangible service to IECorp which would probably prove invaluable to them.



The Business Model


The future Business Model of IECorp is twofold - to restructure and streamline the inner working of the Club and to have a clearly defined structure for the playing operations of the Club -

Newworth Ventures


This is, in effect, the Holding Company for IECorp, which would be submitted to and listed upon the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKSE). The circular, submitted to HKSE will show Newworth Ventures Ltd as a standalone business, which would operate Wigan Athletic Football Club Ltd and Stadco (who would be registered in England and Wales).


Wigan Athletic Business Model

The flowchart of Wigan Athletic looks very straightforward, with clearly defined inroads for the way the club would be financed. The key area of the business model will be to increase revenue streams and profitability. The Club, in their most recent accounts (as highlighted by BDO) showed modest losses and financial gains in the last three seasons, of around £90,000. This is a decent starting point from which to build - Manchester City, for example, have pledged to operate on a break-even model after being hit by FFP rules. How the FFP rules could affect Wigan Athletic are that the club cannot post more than a £15,000,000 loss for the period of this season. The Club has spent approximately £5,000,000 on transfers this season (an estimate from various sources). The income of the Club on its own ought to cover that, should the Club finish in the top half of the table, have an FA Cup run to the 4th/ 5th Round, receive the requisite 10% gate receipts from Wigan Warriors and receive the transfer fee for Dan Burn from Brighton and Hove Albion.


Potential Partnerships


IECorp made a significant acquisition with the partnership between themselves and the Stars Group, one of the biggest online Poker series in the world (Poker Stars) and their mention in the appendices of the circular should not go unnoticed -

It is worth noting that the principle sponsorship deals for Wigan Athletic expire at the end of the current season -

It is reasonable to assume that PokerStars may become our principal sponsor and possible stadium sponsor.




The Academy


Currently, Wigan Athletic operate a Category 3 Academy. Whilst few players have seen playing time for the First Team, a few of those players have secured contracts elsewhere. The Club also has a few players within the youth and development teams that have been named in their respective National Team squads (Owen Evans, Joe Gelhardt, Jensen Weir, Callum Lang). As part of the business model, the Club will look to secure the futures of players and offer contracts to young players, to protect them as saleable assets, taking advantage of the tribunal system and bridging the current gap between the youth and first team by becoming a Category 2 Academy.


Below are a list of current Category 1 and 2 Academies in England -

• Category 1 -

• Category 2 -

We can see that this would put us into a group of teams who have developed 1-2 players for their First Team at the very least. The Club would stand to get approximately £1,000,000-£2,500,000 per year to assist in the operation of the Academy.



Investment


IECorp have announced that there'll be no initial investment into the Club. IECorp subsequently intend to achieve promotion into the Premier League and to create a self-sustaining business model, utilising the adjacent property, expanding commercial revenues at the training grounds, stadium and sponsorship deals. Greater community outreach is also mentioned and IECorp have also stated the average attendance of the Club during the Premier League years was 17,000.


The Club currently sit 12th, in a division where a win would take the Club towards the Playoff places. IECorp will have invariably recognised that the Club will be looking to consolidate the position within the Championship and will have determined that no further investment will be necessary to ensure that happens.

 

[Studds40]

From Evening Post:

There’s no mention in the document of David Sharpe or Garry Cook, who has been acting in an advisory role in the takeover process, although the Wigan Post understands that is because they are not current ‘senior management’, and does not necessarily mean they won’t be part of the club going forwards.

“The Company does intend to recruit other professionals to strengthen up the board and the management team of the Target Group after Completion,” the document revealed.

Read more at: https://www.wigantoday.net/sport/football/latics/wigan-athletic-takeover-nears-completion-1-9387858

 

[bickymon]

So no investment make do with what we have do these guys have any money last i read about iec it was losing money
Really not sure about this takeover now

 

[Soccerates]

From Evening Post:

There’s no mention in the document of David Sharpe or Garry Cook, who has been acting in an advisory role in the takeover process, although the Wigan Post understands that is because they are not current ‘senior management’, and does not necessarily mean they won’t be part of the club going forward

“The Company does intend to recruit other professionals to strengthen up the board and the management team of the Target Group after Completion,” the document revealed.

Read more at: https://www.wigantoday.net/sport/football/latics/wigan-athletic-takeover-nears-completion-1-9387858

The Company intends to out two people on the board - Joe and Darren Royle, clear as day in the circular. I don't get why that's not clear.

 

[Studds40]

The Company intends to out two people on the board - Joe and Darren Royle, clear as day in the circular. I don't get why that's not clear.

Because A. Kendrick knows more than he can reveal publicly and B. In the circular IEC say they’ve not finalised the board or senior management positions.

“The Company does intend to recruit other professionals to strengthen up the board and the management team of the Target Group after Completion,” the document revealed.

 

[Soccerates]

That's directly from the document, which then goes on to name the board members from CEO down. I think something else has been inferred from the document, although I do concede that Kendrick may know something else.