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Lion of Vienna

Wigan Athletic

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Hope you don’t mind me coming on your forum, I just wanted to bring up the subject of Wigan Athletic. Not a club that is anyway close to my heart, to be perfectly honest I don’t really care much for them or their supporters.

I’m a Bolton fan and we’ve never taken these relative newcomers to the Football League very seriously, they have an intense dislike of us as a club and a minority of their supporters took great delight when we came close to being liquidated a year ago.

The shoe is now very much on the other foot, but it’s not a time to rejoice at a fellow clubs demise.

Having lived through the crisis at my own club, the not knowing whether you will have a team to support tomorrow is not something that I had ever given serious thought to, until it happened,  and having been through it , it is not to be wished on any supporter of any club.

That was very much brought home when as we celebrated survival, our near neighbours Bury FC folded.

And that is why I am here – to make you aware of Wigan fans attempts to save their own club … the fans are trying to raise £500k by Monday  via a crowdfunding scheme and are well on the way to reaching that target with assistance from fans up and down the country. (If the money raised is not used as set out and another buyer acquires the club it will be refunded)

You can find details here

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/save-wigan-athletic/comments?page=2#start

If you can help, as one or two of your fans already have, please do so, do it for Wigan, so they can continue to regard my team as their most bitter rivals, and do it for the greater good of the game. They won’t be the last club to find themselves in this position.

Thanks and best wishes for the coming season

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Norwich fan in Bolton here. It's fair to say Bolton have had a really grim time of it with that *winker* Ken Anderson, then it looked like Laurence Bassini was taking over which is like getting Nick Leeson in place of Gerald Ratner - frying pan into fire isn't enough of a description. Here's hoping that the Wanderers start to thrive again. It was fun watching them rattle a lot of media darling cages under Allardyce, who is a far better manager than the media paint him as, and that Bolton team proved it.

I suppose both Wigan and Bolton had a bit in common with local wealthy men who came good trying to work their way up - obviously Dave Whelan at Wigan and the late Eddie Davies at Bolton. Bit of a warning for many teams - what happens if they go / the money runs out?

We can only hope they are saved, and that it took Bury's regrettable fall to focus a few minds.

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6 hours ago, City fan said:

Let them fold, not interested. 

Disgraceful attitude.

This is a football club who have been absolutely shafted by greed and unscrupulous owners. Every football fan should do what they can (if they can) to help.

If the shoe were on the other foot, I'd be devastated.

I've donated 👍

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12 hours ago, City fan said:

Let them fold, not interested. 

 

12 hours ago, ged in the onion bag said:

City fan, not a football fan then!    That’s a truly crap response.    You let the club down there!   

 

1 hour ago, Dr Greenthumb said:

Stop following football please 

Whilst I don't quite agree with the insensitivity of the first post and I do sympathise with their fans, I do agree with the sentiment. If football is to be treated as a business, which it clearly is, it should be bound by the same rules. If it is run badly to the point of collapse, then it should collapse. If clubs are continually propped up, and there are no consequences then this cycle will never end.

(I say all of the above with very little actual knowledge of the Wigan situation! It's more of a general point rather than being aimed specifically at Wigan.)

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38 minutes ago, All the Germans said:

 

 

Whilst I don't quite agree with the insensitivity of the first post and I do sympathise with their fans, I do agree with the sentiment. If football is to be treated as a business, which it clearly is, it should be bound by the same rules. If it is run badly to the point of collapse, then it should collapse. If clubs are continually propped up, and there are no consequences then this cycle will never end.

(I say all of the above with very little actual knowledge of the Wigan situation! It's more of a general point rather than being aimed specifically at Wigan.)

Football has never been a business as far as fans are concerned.    That’s poor to try to justify the comment.   The game has been taken over by finances (lazy owners  who often don’t give a toss).   That’s not the fans fault.
 

Unfortunately, most clubs try to buy success.    Aren’t we lucky to have owners who love our club first and foremost and are trying (and succeeding) to thrive by scouting, developing and giving opportunity.    

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1 hour ago, All the Germans said:

 

 

Whilst I don't quite agree with the insensitivity of the first post and I do sympathise with their fans, I do agree with the sentiment. If football is to be treated as a business, which it clearly is, it should be bound by the same rules. If it is run badly to the point of collapse, then it should collapse. If clubs are continually propped up, and there are no consequences then this cycle will never end.

(I say all of the above with very little actual knowledge of the Wigan situation! It's more of a general point rather than being aimed specifically at Wigan.)

It’s the pure ignorance of the statement. It’s nearly happened to our club on a couple of occasions. Imagine if people stated that about Norwich. Would the same thing be said about us? 

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1 hour ago, ged in the onion bag said:

Football has never been a business as far as fans are concerned.    That’s poor to try to justify the comment.   The game has been taken over by finances (lazy owners  who often don’t give a toss).   That’s not the fans fault.
 

Unfortunately, most clubs try to buy success.    Aren’t we lucky to have owners who love our club first and foremost and are trying (and succeeding) to thrive by scouting, developing and giving opportunity.    

Fans are wrong. It is a business and has been for years. I agree that it shouldn't be, but that doesn't change the fact that it is. I agree wholeheartedly about our owners. They may not be rich enough to plough multiple millions in, I respect and I am thankful for them. As any sensible fan is.

1 hour ago, Dr Greenthumb said:

It’s the pure ignorance of the statement. It’s nearly happened to our club on a couple of occasions. Imagine if people stated that about Norwich. Would the same thing be said about us? 

I do not defend the statement, I have sympathy for the fans. I do share the sentiment though, probably for different reasons, not apathy to their plight but a desire that actions ultimately should have appropriate consequences and bailing teams out is not fair to teams who are run properly (again, this is not particularly based upon the Wigan situation, as I have very little knowledge of it).

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3 hours ago, All the Germans said:

If football is to be treated as a business, which it clearly is, it should be bound by the same rules. If it is run badly to the point of collapse, then it should collapse. If clubs are continually propped up, and there are no consequences then this cycle will never end.

The whole point is that Wigan weren't run as a business. They had what many supporters on this board want for us - a "Sugar Daddy." However, unless the Sugar Daddy has many billions, it doesn't work. Clubs become dependant upon a flow of cash that can't be maintained. When this dries up, the chaos takes over.

I feel very sorry for Wigan fans and hope that they manage to raise the cash so that they can survive - football is the lifeblood of many communities and the idea of clubs folding is abhorrent to me. However, football has to learn the lessons - most of the wild financial gambles fail.

For some fans who call for the club to spend more than it can afford to be so blase about clubs failing is revealing about their depth of their understanding imo.

 

https://lionofviennasuite.sbnation.com/2018/1/10/16711264/mankinds-refusal-to-learn-the-lessons-of-history

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53 minutes ago, All the Germans said:

Fans are wrong. It is a business and has been for years. I agree that it shouldn't be, but that doesn't change the fact that it is. 

Supporting a team is more like an emotion!    Maybe not for glory hunters (who don’t really count) but for fans of most clubs like Wigan or Bolton or Norwich it’s a  lifelong passion, a sense of belonging and togetherness.   Business doesn’t come into it.    Fans can’t be wrong in that sense.  
 

When the larder has been raided, do you expect fans just to let the club die and trot off to support someone else?      Will never work like that.    Your point fails on all levels!    

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The fault lies with those who supposedly run football and are supposed to vet potential owners. The management of the Premiership, EFL and FA leaves much to be desired and I suspect that they have failed to develop or buy-in the skills required to be running football in the current financial world.

They act as if they are bedazzled by the riches of Premiership football and the top clubs, and show a serious lack of vision or any plan to make football in this country sustainable. If they saw the need for a long term plan they would be seeking ways to funnel money down through the different leagues and to support "grassroots" football. They would also be more professional in controlling who takes over ownership of clubs. 

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They have reached thier target and its currently at £509,211. I still don't know exactly what the money is to be used for.

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On 30/08/2020 at 04:46, Badger said:

 

For some fans who call for the club to spend more than it can afford to be so blase about clubs failing is revealing about their depth of their understanding imo.

Amen to that!

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On 30/08/2020 at 13:28, KiwiScot said:

They have reached thier target and its currently at £509,211. I still don't know exactly what the money is to be used for.

Looks like they've changed their target to £750k, lol.

 

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Preston have bought Wigan's training ground now which strangely enough they bought from Bolton during their struggles.

Edited by KiwiScot

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7 hours ago, KiwiScot said:

Preston have bought Wigan's training ground now which strangely enough they bought from Bolton during their struggles.

This may be the ideal analogy for those Clubs struggles. If a teams training ground is close enough to be of use to more than one other Club, then unless they are all huge clubs , there will be issues of support base etc. These three Clubs are also very much in the Shadow of the Big Mancs.... I can see no real way that they can all survive and prosper long term. Maybe if assimilated/annexed by one of the local giants and become essentially Man u/ City u 23 and reserves....not sure if this is even allowed.   

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