Probably not a 1am read but

https://www.footballlaw.co.uk/articles/wigan-athletic-fc-takeover-to-administration

 

Crucial paragraph:

"Considering Au Yeung Wai Kay’s comments reported in Wigan Today and quoted above that place blame on Covid-19 for WAFCL entering administration, it is this author’s opinion that WAFCL would face difficulty in establishing that that was a force majeure event. NLF acquired NVL and took control of WAFCL as Covid-19 was happening. It is reasonable to have expected WAFCL’s officials (i.e. WAFCL’s directors, employees et al at the time of WAFCL entering administration) to have used due diligence to avoid WAFCL entering administration in such circumstances. Further, it would be difficult to argue that Covid-19 was ‘directly’ responsible for WAFCL entering administration considering the full accounts referred to above and the considerable ‘business risks’ they identify with WAFCL."

 

Exactly

 

Krasner, the Leeds weirdo, also undermined their case as he explicitly stated that Covid was not responsible for the financial situation.

 

Force majeure is a term used in accountancy, less so in legal terms. If it is used in legal terms, it is available to both sides, not just one. Eg Barnsley could argue that they too suffered under lockdown but kept cash reserves back as an hedge against unforseen circumstances. Wigan didnt but should have done.

 

Something else that doesn't make sense is, if Wigan had avoided relegation tonight, they would have withdrawn their legal action, therefore accepting their 12 point penalty for next season.

 

English common law does not automatically apply force majeure principles to contracts. Parties to English law contracts who wish to have force majeure relief must spell out what constitutes force majeure in the contract itself. [6] Failure to do so means that a supervening event which prevents performance of the contract will not (and cannot) be caught as a force majeure event, so as to provide relief from performance – because it has not been named as a qualifying event in the contract.

Do the purchasers of a football club sign a contract with the EFL or just with the vendors? Seems to me a Force Majeure could only apply in a contract between Wigan and the EFL and Covid 19 impact would have to be stipulated in that contract.

 

Even if the pandemic is considered a force majeure, it has applied to all clubs equally. I don’t see how one team could be singled out for special treatment.

 

As they’re in admin they can’t spend money unnecessarily. Appealing when there’s no financial benefit in doing so would fall foul of this so they quite rightly wouldn’t do it.

Don’t read too much into it....

 

They’re having a good stab at it to the tune of £500k

they must have a more subtle argument than force majeure

 

I read somewhere yesterday that their appeal is not COVID related but because nobody at the club could have foreseen what the owner did.

I’ve no idea whether this will stick it sounds far fetched.

 

Sounds completely bizarre. Employee or owner, they all are responsible when it comes to company liability. Corporate liability is just that. The buck stops with the management/owner.

Not exactly a like for like analogy but.....So if a coach company mechanic services a vehicle incorrectly because management reduce the time scheduled for various processes leading to errors or omissions which then crashes due to a mechanical fault arising from negligence and people are injured or killed, WAFC's view is then that the coach firm have no liability because nobody could have foreseen what the mechanic would do. Yeah!.....OK!!
The rules are clear... admin means 12 points deducted, whatever the reason for admin. End of!!

 

If the Wigan owner had wanted to put millions into the club, they would have been licking his boots. Now, because he's done something that they're unhappy about, they want to distance themselves from him. Wigan don't have a leg to stand on and they know it. They're clutching at non-existent straws.

 

I agree with most views above but this is the EFL we are talking about. They have a proven track record being toothless wimps so we shall see if they can begin to redeem themselves.

 

Conway fired his warning shot a few weeks ago with that letter.

The EFL will be wary of that too - which is probably harder to defend against.

 

For the season just gone we sold 11,000 season tickets at full price. For the forthcoming season we've sold 7,000 season tickets at half price. The income from that won't last us the season. It won't get anywhere near.
I don't know what's happening at Wigan, it all sounds bizarre. But Covid-19 has had a huge impact on all football clubs. Many are going to be in lots of trouble, it just hasn't happened yet.

 

It would have been applied this season regardless. It wasn't conditional on whether it relegated them or not.

The only circumstance in which it would apply next season is if they were already relegated without it.

 

That is very true and the restrictions on fans in the stadium might drag on for a lot or even all of next season. Not many clubs will be able to sustain that.

There needs to be some form of financial support available because this will probably affect the clubs without rich owners more than the ones with.

It’s going to be very interesting seeing how this affects the way the clubs that do survive operate. I can’t help but feel it’ll have a huge impact on transfers, players out of contract and the wages they can command.