Wigan Athletic - Spanish Exclusivity Ends On Friday

 

Well the saga continues at the Latics, it is now over six weeks since the ‘Spanish Bid’ was accepted and received exclusivity by the Wigan Athletic administrators, Begbie Traynor, an exclusivity that is now on its second extension.

 

There are rumours flying around as to why the EFL haven’t yet provided approval to the bid, from proof of funding not being shown, to the EFL 'hate us and want to see us fold', and everything in between.

 

Whatever the reason(s) are, it is a worrying scenario, Gerald Krasner announced back on the last day of September that he’d accepted a bid and fully expected completion before the end of October, now we find that they have been given a final extension to their exclusivity which will run out on Friday 20^th November at 5pm, what then?

 

Can the rival bidders re-submit their proposals, will someone else be given a shot or, God forbid, we sit through another period of another final extension whilst the club edges closer to the brink.

 

Rival bidders?

 

Well, rumours abound that there are at least two more serious contenders, the Ranson/Royle bid and the Wigan-led bid.

 

The Ray Ranson and Darren Royle partnership was mooted a couple of weeks back on social media, they were spotted at the Latics v Northampton game and it is considered a serious player in the quest to save the club. Apart from that I know little about it.

 

Also waiting on the sidelines is the Wigan-led bid, to be honest I was sceptical as this had been under the radar and sounded too good to be true, but a little bit of digging and a couple of phone calls later and I have it confirmed that indeed there is a bid led by a Wigan born businessman.

 

Speaking directly with the bidder, he informed me that he had sought to have exclusivity back at the end of September but this didn’t get granted, that a formal bid was submitted to the administrators on the 22^nd October just six days before the initial exclusivity period was due to end and that the bid still stands, he is waiting for clarification if that bid is acceptable or needs any further enhancement or discussion.

 

The due diligence is complete and he is ready to proceed if the EFL knock back the Spaniards or their exclusivity does not get renewed on Friday of this coming week and opens the door to rival bids.

 

I fully understand that nothing is guaranteed and that these rival bids may in fact not be acceptable, but there are obviously issues with the Spanish bid and the dragging on of the situation is far from ideal, it is leaving myself and many other supporters uneasy.

 

What would I like to see happen this week?

 

At the very least end the exclusivity and allow other bids to be looked at by the EFL and relevant parties, we are in a situation where time is of the essence and the coffers are seriously running down, it needs sorting sooner rather than later.