Wigan fans View on the Appeal

My memory is sketchy about what an example of a strict liability offence is, but it strikes me that a football club going into administration is analogous to it.

The administration happens and, whatever the reason for it, you get 12 points deducted. That's it. Whatever caveats, abnormalities or exceptions there are don't matter. Administration means administration.

 

Being relegated last Weds I could have coped with. It’s the possible false celebration that we’ve gone through only to maybe end up with egg on our face.
Of all the clubs to end up in this situation it has to be us. The sheer confidence of Wigan about this appeal and the fact they’re stumping up £500k to make it is very worrying. I do fear the worst here.....

 

We can’t appeal but the EFL can

 

The club is appealing that the club put itself into the hands of the administrators?

 

wigan fans have really got in a flap over us being allowed to make a statement, i'd guess it will only a brief 2 minute talk anyway reiterating what we've already said,
and tbh, it may help wigan as we've constantly slagged the efl off, then we're going to say to an independent panel that basically these guys can't run a pi55 up in a brewery!
i'd sooner our wifi packs in (assuming it's been done via conference calls)

 

There could be an argument to say us being there is a negative for us.
What if the EFL are not confident of winning and their thought process is if we let BFC attend they will be less likely to take further legal action?

 

Get a grip

 

A representative of the club is arguing that the decision of someone else at Wigan to put the club into administration is, for whatever reason, force majeure.

 

I was replying to bit about not being declared insolvent.

 

It’s got nothing to do with what efl have done or how competent they are, it’s about what Wigan have done. They are the ones in the ‘dock’, not us not the efl - Wigan

 

headlines next week
"ruled force majeure ........ goodnight oooohhhhhh vienna"
i'll get mi coit

 

That’s what I was thinking although perhaps the QC will argue that as these are the EFL rules they can imply some element of state of mind (mens rea) into the act of going into administration. Or that they should imply that. I’m hazy on this too but then there’s the issue of equity. What is fair in the circumstances to the parties involved.

 

I only know what I read, I am not a lawyer, and I would not be able to make sense of Wigan's accounts even if I saw them.

If you want details of what constitutes insolvency, I ain't your man: the comments I have made are based only on things I have read, and not from my own knowledge.

 

No expert either, it read to me as the club was appealing against the fact it put itself into admin, which seemed odd.

 

Another way of looking at it is, which argument would you rather defend, the EFL’s or theirs? Definitely ours so the odds are they’ll lose. If they don’t, they don’t and we’ll have to live with it.

 

If I was Paul Conway, I would be taking copies of the last Wigan Athletic AFC Ltd accounts along with me to the meeting on Friday. They cover the 13 months to 30 June 2019, but they were not signed off by the auditor util 26 February 2020. I would point out what the auditors had to say in their Audit Report (pages 9 and 10), and I would point out what those accounts say about accounting policies, and particularly those concerned with the "going concern basis" of accounting (pages 18 and 19). It turns out that the auditors were assured in February 2020 that the owner would continue to support the club for at least the next 18 months.

I know that accounting matters are generally regarded as being as dull as ditch water, but if an auditor raises the topic of "going concern basis" in his auditors report, it means that the company is technically insolvent and it cannot continue in business unless the owner is prepared to fund that process by introducing new cash. If the owner is not prepared to do that, the auditor must qualify his report more pointedly, or rarely, insist that the accounts are prepared on a different basis. What the auditor is saying in these notes is that he is not sure, and anyone dealing with this company should know about his concerns, and be cautious about his dealings with the company.

Given this background, and also the auditor's worries about the impending change of ownership that he also sets out, he has set off multiple alarm bells. All of these matters suggest that

a. Wigan's problems go back further than the start of the Covid 19 crisis.
b. Wigan's problems go back beyond the start of this ownership

 

they are said to be using a whole batch of arguments 1 that the efl's fit & proper ownership test which they say the efl failed them by allowing the takeover without really vetting them, which is probably true, can they prove it? do the efl have documents saying how much money the buyer has/had for collateral?
i'm saying we may go in saying that the efl really don't know what they're doing as a whole, the other pending cases are how old and still on-going?
thus may influence the panel to go against them as they're a bunch of clowns

 

It will be fine. Their owners have screwed them, but the fact they are in administration means 12 points are docked.

 

^^ This. I must admit I thought they would have pulled the plug on the appeal by now. Starting to get nervous

 

I am pleased you exist. Your words are reassuring!