Football (Soccer) Thread

[The Larch]

Just read (thanks to the always brilliant David Squires' footie cartoon: https://www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2020/jul/07/david-squires-on-wigan-athletic-going-into-administration) about the dire situation of Wigan Athletic, which just went into administration and is on the verge of dropping from the Championship to League 1 because of this. If the league doesn't investigate the very likely shenanigans that have gone on they should be ashamed of themselves.

Short summary:

- Wigan Athletic is a humble English football club, which in the last few years has bounced between the Championship (England's 2nd division) and League One (England's 3rd division), after a golden age between 2005 and 2013 in which they played at the Premier League (England's 1st division) and even won the FA Cup in 2013.
- It used to be owned by the Whelan family, having been bought by patriarch David Whelan in 1995, when the team languished in the Third Division (England's 4th tier at the time).
- In 2018, the Whelan family sold the club to a Hong Kong based company called International Entertainment Corporation (IEC), headed by Stanley Choi, a businessman and professional poker player. In late May 2020, IEC sold the club to another Hong Kong based company, called New Leader Fund (NLF), that had been created at the beginning of the year and is apparently also partially owned by Stanley Choi. In the process, Wigan ended up saddled with a high interest 24 million pound loan by IEC.
- As soon as NLF gained full control of Wigan by the end of June, they withdrew funds and put the club into administration (which carries a 12 point penalty, which would surely doom Wigan to relegation) officially claiming that it was due to the financial impact of the COVID crisis and Brexit, with players' wages going unpaid, making staff redundant and putting the club for sale.

Whoever vets prospective new owners in the EFL should be fired (from a cannon, if possible).

[Sheilbh]

It's absolutely insane and apparently the old new owners have connections with gambling businesses in Asia and there are rumours of significant movements in the betting markets on Wigan's relegations. Who knows.

The local Rugby League team, the Wigan Warriors (Wigan is one of those towns were football probably isn't the biggest sport), have stated their intention to make a bid. Hopefully they succeed as they at least seem well run and honest

Edit: And there is an issue here with the 12 point deduction not hurting the people who caused this. And I'd be astonished if there wasn't a lot of legal action over this because it's just insane behaviour. There's no reason without something very shady going on for an owner to behave like this.

[The Larch]

It's absolutely insane and apparently the old new owners have connections with gambling businesses in Asia and there are rumours of significant movements in the betting markets on Wigan's relegations. Who knows.

The local Rugby League team, the Wigan Warriors (Wigan is one of those towns were football probably isn't the biggest sport), have stated their intention to make a bid. Hopefully they succeed as they at least seem well run and honest

Yeah, apparently IEC, the old new owners, have gambling interests in the Philippines, and rumours point to that being the place where bets on Wigan's relegation would have allegedly been made.

Edit: And there is an issue here with the 12 point deduction not hurting the people who caused this. And I'd be astonished if there wasn't a lot of legal action over this because it's just insane behaviour. There's no reason without something very shady going on for an owner to behave like this.

It truly deserves to produce a deep review of governance rules at the very least. A ban on ownership change for a number of years after a takeover that ensures that any new owner is in for the long run and not to make a quick buck would be desireable, as well as a tightening on leveraged operations that saddle the clubs with unreasonable amounts of debt that hasn't benefitted the club at all.

[Liep]

Larch, are there any signs of Celta forgiving Sisto or is he on his way out?

[Josquius]

The Wigan situation is a worry, not least for the threat of a similar meltdown hitting Sunderland, especially after being cheated out of an end to this season.
The whole financial system of British football is seriously screwed up. Instability is the norm in the championship and lower reaches of the Premier league in the pursuit of the vast riches of premiership stability.

[The Larch]

Larch, are there any signs of Celta forgiving Sisto or is he on his way out?

All signs point to the club being absolutely fed up with him and looking to offload him this summer. Our current coach really wanted to recover him, but leaving the country during quarantine didn't exactly help him out reputation-wise.

[Liep]

I had hoped to see him play for Celta in September for the new season. Planning on visiting Galicia if there's continued positive development with the virus. (Latest breakout is noted. )

[The Larch]

I had hoped to see him play for Celta in September for the new season. Planning on visiting Galicia if there's continued positive development with the virus. (Latest breakout is noted. )

Cool, let me know about your plans!

[Josephus]

The Wigan situation is a worry, not least for the threat of a similar meltdown hitting Sunderland, especially after being cheated out of an end to this season.

Can't wait to see it unfold on Netflix.

[Liep]

Poor Atalanta. Two hand balls both involuntary and the last was even a pass away from goal. It's not easy being a defender at the moment.

[Liep]

CAS ruled to not uphold City's two year European ban and sentenced them only to pay a small fine. Anyone surprised?

[The Larch]

RIP FFP.

[Sheilbh]

I'm slightly surprised given the case I'd heard - but from what I'm reading the main issue was that UEFA were time-barred, so basically a technicality. It feels like UEFA and other sports regulatory bodies need to beef up their legal teams (they had really good representation at CAS - as did Man City who had Lord Pannick, the QC from the prorogation case) to catch issues like this and deadlines before they get to this stage. I think arbitrators and courts will be incredibly reluctant to ignore rules like limitation periods, especially from regulators who they'll probably think should know better.

[Tamas]

I'm slightly surprised given the case I'd heard - but from what I'm reading the main issue was that UEFA were time-barred, so basically a technicality. It feels like UEFA and other sports regulatory bodies need to beef up their legal teams (they had really good representation at CAS - as did Man City who had Lord Pannick, the QC from the prorogation case) to catch issues like this and deadlines before they get to this stage. I think arbitrators and courts will be incredibly reluctant to ignore rules like limitation periods, especially from regulators who they'll probably think should know better.

Come on Sheilbh. When ManCity did wrong, they forgot to grease the proper wheels. Those wheels showed their discontent with that. Situation has been corrected, things are now back to normal. That's all there is to this one.

[Sheilbh]

Come on Sheilbh. When ManCity did wrong, they forgot to grease the proper wheels. Those wheels showed their discontent with that. Situation has been corrected, things are now back to normal. That's all there is to this one.

I don't know. From everything I've read and heard UEFA were genuinely very committed and sort of furious about this. A lot of the claim from my understanding was that UEFA brought the initial FFP breach and made a decision based on that which Man City agreed with (which was based on acting in good faith etc). It then came out through the Football Leaks that the information Man City provided was false and that they were hiding things from UEFA.

I remember hearing that Man City had basically done a cost benefit analysis of breaking the rules (and then instructing 100 best lawyers they could to fight it) v not breaking the rules. I don't think UEFA's fully ready for that yet - it's a bit like the European regulators so far very inadequate fights with the big tech companies. They're just not resourced for someone taking the decision they'll break the rules and fight it which means you need to jump through every hoop and make sure you've not fucked up on any technicality or they'll pounce.

Edit: And for what it's worth I've seen lots of recruitment ads from UEFA for lawyers in the last few months

Edit: Incidentally reading the press release - this is very much a "not guilty" rather than a City are exonerated.