Wigan Athletic Finances 2022/23

Love It If We Made It

As he commented on Wigan Athletic’s financial results for the 2022/23 season, chairman Ben Goodburn hit the nail firmly on the head, when he said, “Our staff, players, loyal supporters and wider stakeholders have endured a turbulent few years.”

In fact, this was something of an understatement, given that the club had faced extinction twice in three years.

Phoenix 2021 Limited

It was not meant to be this way when Phoenix 2021 Limited, led by Bahrain businessmen Abdulrahman Al Jasmi and Talal Al Hammad, took Wigan Athletic out of administration in March 2021. Incoming chairman Al Hammad said, “We will do all we can to make sure the future of the club is a much healthier and stable one.”

However, in a jaw-dropping account of all the issues leading up to the most recent problems, Goodburn said that by May 2023, “The future of Wigan Athletic was again hanging in the balance. In just over two years, the club had been rescued from administration, with a very low cost base, presenting a real opportunity to make strides to being self-sustainable, to once again fighting for its existence.”

The chairman added, “The 2022/23 season was disappointing on and off the pitch, with relegation from the Championship, a number of points deductions, non-payment of staff and player wages under a previous ownership. Following a season of chaos and upheaval, it was almost its last.”

Indeed, as a result of unpaid bills, HMRC filed a winding-up petition of the club in June 2023, while the EFL imposed a transfer embargo until Summer 2024.

Delays In Paying Wages

The most obvious evidence of Wigan’s financial strife was the club’s failure to pay wages to its staff on no fewer than six occasions in the 12 months between June 2022 and June 2023, as funding failed to arrive from the owners.

Failed Promises

In a perfect example of the old saying that actions speak louder than words, there were numerous occasions when the club’s leadership promised funding, only for the money not to arrive.

After the second missed payment in July 2022, former chief executive Malachy Brannigan said, “The payments processes have been changed, so this will not happen again. The financial health of the club is strong and stable.”

Then it was Al Hammad’s turn in March 2023, “We had a cash flow issue which caused the delay. This issue has now been resolved and I can assure you that the late payment of wages will not happen again.”

A couple of months later, the chairman again attempted to pour oil on troubled waters, “I want to confirm that an eight-figure sum is currently being processed and is due to land in the club account imminently. This funding will also ensure financial stability for June and the 2023/24 season.”

However, a statement from board members Tom Markham and Oliver Gottmann as they departed the club in June 2023 said that their position had become untenable, when “nine different funding amounts ranging from £700k to over £20m” failed to arrive.

Mike Danson

The club’s saviour arrived in the shape of Mike Danson, a local businessman, who took over on 14th June 2023.

The club described him as “one of the richest men in the UK, and certainly the richest person to come from Wigan.” He was already involved in sport in the area, having bought a 25% stake in rugby league club Wigan Warriors in 2020.

As part of the transaction, Danson paid the wages owed by the previous owners, as well as a significant PAYE payment. Other inherited liabilities were cleared over the course of the 2023/24 season.

As a result, HMRC removed the winding up petition on 15th June 2023.