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Wigan Athletic FC ⚽ - Scandal…
How far would you go to win a bet?
My brother mentioned this to me during the week and I honestly figured it was too ludicrous to be true, but I might be wrong…
As of yet, almost two weeks since this all surfaced, I have not been able to find any further update, although I understand it is being keenly investigated.
Wigan Athletic, for the non-football fans, is an English football club playing in the second division EFL Championship.
What happened:
At the very end of May, the club was bought by the ‘Next Leader Fund’.
Just a month after being bought by the new owner the club was put into administration…
As is the league rule for clubs that become insolvent, they were then dished a massive 12 point penalty, causing Wigan to end up in the bottom three, now facing possible relegation.
All a bit unusual as is.
Image: Sky News
Scandal:
Normally insolvency is a gradual and unwelcome process, flagged by taxes or wages not being paid etc, but in this case, it took everyone by surprise.
MP Lisa Nandy (local to Wigan) wrote to Oliver Dowden, the Secretary of State for Sport, calling it a “major global scandal”.
She also called for the EFL (English Football League) to rescind the 12 point reduction and to launch a full inquiry.
Allegedly, this is all linked to a bet in the Philippines on Wigan being relegated, this was leaked as the chairman of the EFL was secretly filmed discussing it with a fan.
“Parry cannot be seen in the video, which only shows a pair of feet, but the EFL confirmed in a statement that their chairman was covertly filmed while speaking with a Wigan fan who lives in the same area.”
(read more - Independent)
Au Yeung, Hong Kong based, is the new owner as a part of the Next Leader Fund.
“Au Yeung, at first in partnership with Choi, apparently spent £41.5m buying the club, then opted to throw that money away immediately by putting the club into administration. His explanation that it was due to the coronavirus crisis looked bizarre – he bought the club on 4 June, during the crisis itself, taking full control on 24 June, after the Championship restarted. He put the club into administration on 1 July.”
(read more - The Guardian)
Nothing seems to add up.
An inquiry is underway.
“In respect of the challenges at Wigan Athletic, there is clearly a number of important unanswered questions that require urgent attention and the EFL welcomes the move made by the Administrators to launch an investigation as to what has led to the Club being placed into Administration just a matter of weeks after the Next Leader Fund (NLF) took ownership of the Club.”
(read more - Official EFL Statement)
Imagine having so much money invested in a bet that it was worth your while to buy the football club in question, have it voluntarily put into administration, only to then (deliberately it seems) receive a 12 point penalty putting them in danger of league relegation…
Nothing is confirmed yet, but it is absolutely mad right?
Saved 📷
Watch 👀
I would highly recommend checking out this video by VOX, on the policies which allowed police departments to receive decommissioned military equipment during the fighting and following the exit from Afghanistan.
Now in 2020, despite lots of these programs slowing down, officers have become used to having such overkill gear on hand, and given that their big budgets, police departments are now buying armoured trucks and military spec equipment brand new…
Think 🌊
We talk about half and quarter hours but never third hours, even though it's a nice, even 20 minutes.
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