Wigan

[silent majority]

Seems that the fella who bought Wigan was a bankrupt in 2004 in Hong Kong;
https://twitter.com/dylanharris/status/1280205192995233799/photo/1

This is NOT against the rules if the bankruptcy was discharged, but did the EFL know about this before he took over?

I would suggest this company, and the terribly complicated group structure that they sit in, would be really difficult for the EFL and the Owners and Directors Test to be able to detect any determined effort to mislead. It was only after the sale, which is complicated in its own right, that this character emerged.

[since-1969]

What was the reason for allowing the club to go bust if these owners were genuinely football investors or is there another plan to be played out there. 

[albie]

SM,

Yes, that is certainly true.

It does flag up the main issue here.
This means devising a system and rules which are consistent with the law, but which will guard against those looking to exploit loopholes in the football regs to seek profit.

Wigan will survive, bought out by new owners.
If they are relegated under the 12 point deduction, a rule brought in to prevent evasion of financial responsibilities will have been used to enable a betting scam elsewhere.

The basic question is one of conflicting interests.
How are the "Sporting integrity" criteria to sit alongside other commercial interests of new owners?

A prospective owner can demonstrate funding is in place (often from other sources within the same group), obtain control, then transfer those resources out of the company to another project.

As suggested by others, a bond equivalent to 5 years running costs, lodged with the EFL might be one solution.

I hope the EFL find a way to manage this risk.
Do you think the EFL is capable of preventing a similar situation arising again?

[silent majority]

albie,

To answer your last question the EFL have, on a few occasions, publicly stated that their aim, after Bury, was to ensure that changes made would stop clubs going out of business. It's only a couple of years ago that they were patting themselves on the back for not having a single administration for quite a long time. That was absolutely correct, but in recent years we've seen a spate of issues.

They made this call earlier today;

https://thefsa.org.uk/news/efl-calls-for-comprehensive-reset-of-finance-following-wigan-crisis/

Our, the FSA, proposals for change within the game have been well received by everybody, and we proved that if our approach had been followed the Bury situation would never have happened and the administration would have been stopped in its tracks. Our proposals can be read here;

https://thefsa.org.uk/news/mps-back-fsa-ideas-on-football-governance-reform/

https://thefsa.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/FSA-Proposals-to-improve-football-regulation.pdf