fbpx
Connect with us

Championship

Chaos at Wigan as players speak out, go on strike, fixture at risk and owner’s lies slammed

There is chaos at Wigan Athletic this week as players speak out, go on strike, with a fixture at risk and the owner’s lies slammed.

Latics players have now waited for their last wage payment, which they should have received two weeks ago.

But now the squad members have taken action, as they have decided to leave the training grounds until the situation is resolved.

Steven Caulker has now come out and provided an insight into the players’ perspective.

The Latics defender furiously took aim at the club’s Bahraini owners for the way they handled the ongoing saga.

In June, just as Wigan won promotion back to the Championship, the club failed to pay their players’ salaries on time. However, this was attributed to delays in banking due to the Jubilee Weekend.

In July and October, further late payments came and the club were punished with a suspended 3-point deduction in January 2023.

They were also ordered to deposit 15% of the wage bill in a separate club account to prove that the money was available to pay staff and players on time.

Yet in March, it was reported that the monthly salaries were not being paid, but this time the blame was down to ‘liquidity problems’ by Phoenix 2021 Limited.

Senior Wigan players declined a partial payment and deferral for the remainder of their wage packet earlier this month, report Wigan Today, all whilst in a relegation battle.

But now, they seemingly have no other option but to accept relegation back to League One, the situation made tougher when the EFL took a three-point deduction from their current Championship total earlier this week.

Caulker has stated that late payments are unacceptable, after players have been informed daily for two weeks that money is on its way, but where is it?! 

He also said that they have not confirmed if enough money will be available to pay players for April. That payment is due in two weeks on the 7th of that month.

SEE MORE: Wigan fans hit back as chairman speaks for first time after club are deducted points

Image

“The lies we as players have been told by Wigan Athletic are absolutely scandalous,” he wrote via LinkedIn.

“Furthermore, what is more concerning is that we are due to be paid again on the 7th April and the club are unable to confirm whether they will have enough funds for this.

“Since I arrived at this club I have seen the players and backroom staff work tirelessly to try keep this club in the championship.

“It’s really painful to now see that task become harder and harder each passing day.

“As the famous saying goes: ‘Being silent while witnessing an injustice makes you guilty of the oppression as well’

“Well, my position is clear, I stand with the honest hard working staff and players, whose mental health is now being affected by this.”

Independent Latics statement:

We’ve all seen the loose promises made by the chairman in his announcement yesterday.  Whilst it looks like things might return to an even keel soon.  We have been considering ways that we can hold him to the actions that mean he and his board will have delivered on that statement and have a plan.

We know that many of you are already considering holding back on paying for 2023/24 season tickets until the situation at the club is more stable.  We wholeheartedly support this and would like you to consider taking it one step further.  What we are proposing is asking fans to commit to not purchasing or committing to purchase their season tickets until some basic criteria are met.  Namely:

  • Confirmation from a representative of the players that wages have been paid
  •  Assurances from the EFL or another 3rd party that the other requirements of the “agreed decision” have been complied with, particularly with reference to the bank account being in place with 125% of the wage forecast being deposited
  • A clear and unequivocal statement that funds are in place for the remainder of the 2022/23 season
  • Solid assurances that plans are in place to run the club until at least the end of 2023/24, that they are costed and that cash is/will available to fund them

Whilst we do want to understand  the owners’  long terms aspirations and plans for funding the club, at the moment we recognise that work is required to build solid foundations to achieve this sort of thing.  If our immediate future involves fighting for our place in league 1, so be it, as long as plans exist that don’t bring us to this situation again.

In order to prove the strength of feeling around this, we will be asking supporters to state their intention to not purchase their season tickets until the above conditions are met, (ideally) giving their name and the number of season tickets usually purchased.  

This second bit is simply so that we can make the club aware of the financial impact of their inaction.  

You can do this on the form below, and whilst we accept that this is not a legally binding process nor can we hold you to your declaration we feel that this represents a clear way of showing the board how strongly, we the Wigan Athletic Supporters feel about the current situation at the club.  

Please feel free to share this with friends and family, the more people that see this, the better.  You can use the image at the bottom of this page to show your support.

I, the undersigned intend to not renew my existing season tickets or purchase new season tickets until the board of Wigan Athletic Football Club are able to demonstrate that the following conditions have been met.  

  1. Supporters have confirmation from a representative of the players that wages have been paid
  2.  Public assurances have been made by the EFL or another 3rd party that the other requirements of the “agreed decision” have been complied with, particularly with reference to the bank account being in place with 125% of the wage forecast being deposited 
  3. The board have made a clear and unequivocal statement to fans that funds are in place for the remainder of the 2022/23 season
  4. The board have provided solid, public, assurances that plans are in place to run the club until at least the end of 2023/24, that they are costed and that cash is/will available to fund them

This is how Twitter users reacted amid chaos at Wigan as players speak out, go on strike, an upcoming fixture at risk and the owner’s lies slammed…

@WiganStarJr: Brilliant words. 👏

@steveWAFC: @TalalAlHammad32 stop the lies and tell us fans what’s going on , this has now reached a point where we need answers #wafc

@MetePott: Brilliant to see Caulker speaking out, unacceptable that it’s had to come to this

@SuzanneWinstan3: Well sed @stevencaulker 👏👏

@GibbLancs: Wigan Athletic players are on strike. Solidarity with them. Hope they take that horrible club for every penny they have. I want them to get liquidated so much 😍😍😍 #wafc

@Terrythetic: Signings like him are why we r in this fucken mess!!!!!!!! #wafc

@danny_rose_p: Disgraceful from the owners. EFL needs to answer how people like this are allowed to own a club.

@Mason_1932: State of this 🤦🏻🤦🏻 #wafc

@IanCart59216988: With these owners not telling the fans what’s happening, it’s going to end badly this for #wafc I fear

@gatopretosafc: Feel sorry for the players and genuine fans. The business that was done in the summer before promotion was outrageous. Wigan fans at the time were saying they’d been “clever” in the market. They believed the owner in good faith.

@joannewest1980: They did 14 days longer than I would have done. I stand by every single one of them. Its totally unacceptable and theres nothing anyone can say that can justify it. Professional footballers or not this is their job and they should be paid for it, in full and on time

@Greggoo17: Goes so much deeper than this season now this, what players still under contract are gonna wanna stay, what players out of contract are gonna wanna stay, what players we wanna sign are gonna wanna join, it’s past the point of fuckin embarrassing now #wafc

@Danny_Bayliss: Fully support the players not training, they’ve done a damn sight more than I would have done without getting paid. Back the lads now more now as human beings trying to provide for their families #wafc

@pgillett2022: Good on them.. I just hope this is sorted once and for all for the sake of the players and especially the staff behind the scenes, you don’t see.

@cawthornejosh: Truly a shame to see what’s happening at #wafc. Yet again, the EFL proving they’re not fit for purpose. If they can’t protect clubs from this kind of issue, what’s the point of them at all? The English Football house of cards continues to crumble.

@GarryBanks13: Don’t blame them at all, personally I think they shouldn’t play full stop until they’ve been paid

@MatchdayPh: This has taken a turn for the worse. We’ve had salary issues before but I think this is the first time players have stopped training. #wafc

@Chris__Hart2001: Shows how bad the situation is at the club. Faith, belief and trust has been lost in every way shape and form with the fans and now the player. Club is a joke at the minute.

@_calsmeth: It’s sad to see what’s happening at @LaticsOfficial for the fans, staff, players. Hope they can resolve their issues. It just points towards yet another mismanaged football club, it’s happening too often. #WAFC

Related Topics
Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

More in Championship