Sport Today

On the news on GMR at Lunchtim was the news that DW wants to buy Wigan to make
one large Wigan sports club.

He also seemed to ckaim that he already had quite a bit of the debenture stock.

It is to be put to the shareholders at a meeting 7/3/98.

Still looks to be a case of meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
--
Paul Matthews                          
http://www.triton.u-net.com

The board are going to recommend acceptance of the bid.

What a surprise this all is (not).

Dave
--
Wigan RLFC - getting back to being Simply the best -

(remove the letter t from clarat if replying via email)

He also confirmed what I have often said - if he puts money in he wants
control.
--
Paul Matthews                          
http://www.triton.u-net.com

It seems obvious to me it was his aim to get control all along.

First he puts in a ***offer for CP the board has no option but to reject.

Then he won't talk to the old board when they have sold the ground to Tesco
about sharing Robin Park.  As a businessman he could have easily come to a
ground share deal if he had wanted, but that would have prevented him from
obtaining control.

The old board get forced out and lo and behold we end up with Whelan in control
(by his own words from just about day one of the new regime) and the club
moving from CP (just what SAC were set up to fight against).

I have been waiting to see what the final deal for sharing Robin Park would be.
Would it be good terms for Wigan RL?  Well the terms are Wigan RL is sold to
Whelan for 2 million quid. Not a bad investment for him with the remainder of
the Tesco cash to come.

If he keeps putting his cash into the club its fine by me but I think quite a
few people have been led up the garden path on this one.

Dave

--
Wigan RLFC - getting back to being Simply the best -

(remove the letter t from clarat if replying via email)

Sorry I have not quoted any original mesages but I lost the original
and not too sure who said what.

Anyway  as a former member of SAC I believe all members new that
Whelan would be behind any deal invoving a takeover of the club, and
would find  it very hard to believe any different. As i remember the
Tesco deal was eventually worht 7M but thats by the by now.
         IMO Whelan has the KNow how and the will to make Wigan the No
1 in the game once again, and can't believe that anybody is totally
against his methods as he has always stated that he wants to be in
charge of Wigan RL.
        If Whelan has gained Wigan for  as quoted 2M then that proves
his shrewd buisness sense, something the last board never had.
        And secondaly if he has bought it for peanuts then how come
nobody else was interested in the club?
On Sat, 14 Feb 1998 09:40:01 GMT, "Michael Hollick"

I think we need to wait and see what the financial and legal setup will be,
but I'm sure Dave W knows if he takes over and pockets the 7 / 9 / 12
million or whatever is left from Tesco then he will be run out of Wigan for
good. I think we all know it's a weird share setup at the club and the 2m
offer for the 16000 shares does not buy the whole club.

If he can get the club back to the top and in good shape financially then
I'm all for it. He can obviously run a business or has people who can and
that's what's needed IMO.

Mike

PS. come on you Fev'

On Sat, 14 Feb 1998 09:40:01 GMT, "Michael Hollick"

If you think about it the main thing  that started the campaign to oust the old
board, the sale of CP, has not been prevented and IMO Whelan was a mojor reason
why it went ahead.

Dave
--
Wigan RLFC - getting back to being Simply the best -

(remove the letter t from clarat if replying via email)

As a former member of SAC, how do you feel that the man who effectively forced
the old board to sell CP to Tesco looks likely to end up in control of the
club?

Will SAC be organising demos outside the HQ of JJB demanding CP be saved?

It was he who put the old board in an impossible position with a ***offer.
With hindsight I am sure he was very pleased with SACs successful efforts to
remove the old board.

His offer to buy the shares comes with the rider that if the shareholders don't
sell to him at this price he will walk away and remove *all* his financial
backing from the club.  What a fine chap obviously with the interests of the
club at heart.

BTW I seem to recall one of the (many) reasons for getting rid of the old board
was to put the shareholders back in charge of the club once the issue of
debenture shares had been sorted out.  Indeed I thought the new board were all
in favour of this and it was one of their major "selling" points.  

Now they are recommending the shareholders accept the (what is IMO) "blackmail"
offer and give up any say in the club.  No shareholder meetings anymore, Whelan
gets total control.

I wonder how many of them (who may or may not have been members of SAC) are
more than a little pissed off about this?

In the end if Whelan had put in a straight bid for the club up front when all
the shit started months back then IMO that would have been much more preferable
than what appears to be behind the scenes dealings.

Dave
--
Wigan RLFC - getting back to being Simply the best -

(remove the letter t from clarat if replying via email)