Wigan Athletic have been given another set of points deduction for the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons, confirmed by the EFL in a statement.
Wigan will start next season, which will be in League One, on minus four points after failing to pay players’ wages on time for May and further to previous breaches of EFL Regulations.
The EFL has also announced the club has been deducted 3 points for the 2022/23 season, so finish with 39 points.
Wigan will begin next season on -4 points after failing to pay player wages on time.
The EFL has also announced the club has been deducted 3 points for this season, so finish with 39 points.#WAFC pic.twitter.com/zGgy1ESLA7
— The Second Tier (@secondtierpod) May 19, 2023
EFL STATEMENT:
Wigan Athletic will be deducted four points from the 2023/24 Sky Bet League One table after failing to pay its players’ wages on time in May 2023 and further to previous breaches of EFL Regulations.
The sanction will be applied at the start of the new league campaign with the Club also receiving an additional four-point deduction for season 2023/24, which is to be suspended until 30 June 2024.
That sanction will come into effect if the Club’s owner, Mr Abdulrahman Al Jasmi, fails to deposit an amount equal to 125% of the Club’s forecast monthly wage bill in a designated Club account, a key term of the Agreed Decision reached between the EFL and the Club in January, by Wednesday 24 May 2023.
The suspended deduction will also be activated if the Club fails to pay its players on time between now and the end of June 2024.
In addition, the Club has also had a further three points deducted from its 2022/23 Championship total for the late payment of players’ wages in March 2023 resulting in their final total being 39 points.
Mr Al Jasmi was also charged with Misconduct and fined £10,000 for failing to comply with the terms of the Agreed Decision.
Both Mr Al Jasmi and the Club have accepted the sanctions, which have been ratified by an independent Disciplinary Commission, and have agreed to pay all associated costs.
In January, the Club was charged with Misconduct after it paid its players late on three occasions in June, July and October 2022. Accordingly, it was sanctioned with a suspended three-point deduction and entered an Agreed Decision with the League.
The suspended sanction was activated in March when the Club failed to meet its contractual obligations with its players and breached the terms of the Agreed Decision when Mr Al Jasmi failed to deposit 125% of the Club’s forecast of its monthly wage bill into a designated account.
The decision by the independent Disciplinary Commission can be viewed here.
Wigan Athletic accepts the sanctions from the EFL and intend to fully comply with the conditions. A detailed statement will be made public once owner, Mr Abdulrahman Al Jasmi adheres to the terms of the Agreed Decision and deposits an amount equal to 125% of the Club’s forecast monthly wage bill.
This is how fans reacted as Wigan Athletic have been given ANOTHER points deduction…
@Jordan_wafcV2: Won’t be the last points deduction either.
@MrTestosterone3: English Football is a humbler. Look after yourselves in the EFL and the Football League.
@MidgecatFootie: EFL loving a point deduction at the moment aren’t they
@EddieBarnes23: Any more Hollywood actors out there fancy buying a club?
@John_Eccles94: I bet Al Jasmi is bricking it (again)😴 .. So lazy from the @EFL instead of keep bashing the club with points deductions all the time, why don’t you actually deal with the problem in hand & improve how you monitor ownership of clubs and your methods of safeguarding clubs? #wafc
@KENIRLRN: Maloney is mental if he stays working for these clowns #wafc
@samf012321: so an 8 point deduction then. get these jokes out of my club, we’ve been let off lightly there as well that’s the scary thing #wafc
@LilyRoseWorth: We’ve been braced for this #wafc
@stevetannWAFC: Got 3 more paydays to go before our League 1 campaign starts When the owners CBA to pay those wages on time, Lord knows how many deductions it’ll be #wafc #nowayback
@Alex_Cathie: Total embarrassment and I think we’ve got off quite lightly there. Sort your shit out of get out of our club #wafc
@emwafc_27: So we start next season on -4 points with another -4 suspended until the end of next June? So once again the players, staff and fans are punished for the owners incompetence? Sound. Love that for us 🥴🙄 #wafc
@faz42: Cheers efl for doing us a favour and knocking 3 off last season…. People won’t be happy but they’ve genuinely done us a favour here #wafc
@laticsfan1985: “Wigan will never enter admin ever again” he’s right…. the plan is to dive down a league at a time till we are “sustainable” Bye bye EFL!! #wafc #sellup #letdown #Incompetence
@GaryOwen69: The most unlucky club in world football having the two biggest fuckwits as owners, no way we start with -4 points, they won’t do what they have been told to do by the 24th and then they will fuck up the wages 100% before June 2024 everyone knows this #wafc
@DJWiggyC: Points deductions only hurt the fans & the players who already aren’t being paid! Fit & proper tests approved by the EFL & then punish us for when they can’t afford wages. Punish the owners only! The fine is tiny for them & a joke, this is what will actually punish them! #wafc
@PeteMillward79: Feels like everyone but #wafc’s ownership are being punished by yet another points deduction. The last points deduction stung fans like mad but didnt seem to deter the ownership from repeating their trick. I agree there needs to be punishment but it feels a bit blunt instrument
You must be logged in to post a comment Login