Wigan Athletic Football Club has officially been sold this week after administrators struck a deal.
The buyers are Phoenix 2021 Limited – a consortium led by Bahraini businessman Abdulrahman Al-Jasmi.
The purchase is still pending approval from the English Football League board – with a final decision expected before the end of the month.
The club said they were hoping the sale would bring some “much needed stability both on and off the pitch.”
The Latics have been plagued by financial problems for many months – with the club being placed into administration in July 2020.
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After suffering relegation to League One, it was feared Wigan would be unable to take part in the 2020/21 campaign, with administrators Begbies Traynor setting a deadline of August 31 for the club to find half-a-million pounds.
Football fans around the world quickly cobbled together more than £652,000 as part of a fundraising campaign – ensuring the Latics survival.
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😃🇧🇭💙 A statement from Phoenix 2021 Limited, the UK-based company owned by Mr Abdulrahman Al-Jasmi, that, subject to EFL Board approval, will become the new owner of Wigan Athletic Football Club.#wafc 🔵⚪️
One previous takeover attempt by a Spanish consortium was blocked in December.
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Wigan’s new Chairman, Mr Talal Al-Hammad, admitted he knew that he would “have to earn [fans’] trust through actions rather than words.”
He also said he wanted to “help restore pride and belief with everyone associated with the Club.”
The Chairman added: “To Latics fans everywhere, we can only guess at the amount of hurt and distress you have felt since the Club entered administration and it is now our focus to stabilise its future and to illustrate why we believe we are the best ownership group for the Club.”
MP for Wigan Lisa Nandy welcomed the takeover news and said it was her “cautious hope that we can finally close the door on the nightmare of recent months and begin a new chapter for Wigan Athletic.”
“It is my cautious hope that we can finally close the door on the nightmare of recent months and begin a new chapter for Wigan Athletic.”
A club statement said: “It is anticipated that the EFL Board approval and all other ownership-transferral matters will be formally completed by 31 March 2021.”
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Wigan currently sit in the relegation zone in League One – picking up 33 points from 34 games.
Manchester United in talks with Disney over ‘multi-million-dollar documentaries’ deal
Danny Jones
Manchester United are said to be in talks with Disney over a potential deal to create a number of “multi-million-dollar documentaries”.
Just a week or so after the first trailer for their upcoming 99 series on Amazon Prime Video, which will follow their iconic treble-winning campaign – and only a couple weeks after Manchester City dropped their own over on Netflix – it looks like we’re getting more Manchester football media.
As per the report by The Athletic‘s Adam Crafton, the discussion between the footballing icons and entertainment giants centres around the proposal to make multiple documentaries about the club, with a specific focus on Sir Alex Ferguson and the legacy he left behind.
With Disney+ now the third biggest streaming service available, boasting more than 150 million subscribers according to the most recent estimates, and Man United still one of the most instantly recognisable brands on the planet, it goes without saying that the viewing figures would be huge.
NEW: Manchester United in multi-million dollar negotiations with @Disney over a deal to make documentaries. Initially with a view to create content about Sir Alex Ferguson’s era of success, including fresh extensive interview access to club’s former coach. https://t.co/VfKOlDdpH0
Man United and Disney are reportedly exploring a collaboration for multiple documentaries.
The article goes on to detail how the prospective documentaries would also ideally involve “substantial interview time with Ferguson”, the now 82-year-old former manager and footballing legend who won a total of 38 trophies in 26 years as the Man United boss.
Disney would reportedly also be given access to the club’s wealth of archive footage along with key ambassadors and figures from their rich sporting heritage, including former captain Bryan Robson, goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel and more.
We’d be surprised if you didn’t see plenty of David Beckham, Gary Neville and other Class of ’92 members involved as well, sitting as arguably the most iconic and foremost serial winners in their history.
As the plans are still in their infancy, Ferguson and his former players would need to formally agree to be part of the documentaries and United would have their say over final edits.
It is said that the current deal on the table is “in the low seven figures” and is actually lower than the terms originally offered to the club when the idea was first floated a couple of years ago.
There is still no indication as to how many projects could be in the pipeline or when we might see the first released if/when a deal is agreed upon.
As for out on the pitch itself, it’s been a turbulent season for the Red Devils, to say the least, but they have still managed to secure a place in the FA Cup final for the second year running following a game they made difficult for themselves against Coventry City.
Set to be just the second Manchester derby final in history, kick-off has once again been moved to an earlier start time to aid with travel issues and potential crowd problems.
FA Cup final confirmed for 3pm kick-off time as Metropolitan Police stress safety for fans
Danny Jones
The start time for the 2023/24 FA Cup final has officially been confirmed with holders Manchester City and challengers Manchester United set to kick off at 3pm on Saturday, 25 May.
It’s a Manc final for the second year running and yet another Manchester Derby this year as City beat Chelsea on penalties to try and defend one of their trophies from last season and Man United did just about enough to scrape through against Coventry City this past weekend.
Logistics and travel arrangements for the conclusion of last year’s FA Cup proved problematic, with the Metropolitan Police stressing that they needed the schedule brought forward to try and help curb crowd trouble – the first time the final had been reverted back to a traditional 3pm start since 2011.
Kick-off times for the knockout tournament have varied for the last three finals, having taken place at 4:45 and 5:15pm in the two years prior to 2023’s first-ever all-Manchester final, but it looks as though the same rationale has been put in place once again.
The kick-off time for the FA Cup final has been confirmed for 3pm.
As per an official statement by the FA, the final has now been officially confirmed as 3pm BST which has been agreed with local authorities, members of the Safety Advisory Group and broadcasters, as well as with the clubs who must take the time needed for fans to travel to and from Wembley into consideration.
While pockets of fighting broke out before and after the game last year, it was deemed that this time would still be the best kick-off time for all parties involved and there will, of course, be an increased police presence in London for the game next month.
Although prioritising safety comes as welcome news, it’ll no doubt prove to be a blow to broadcasters who prefer later kick-offs when eyeing up peak audience numbers; the game is also set to clash with ITV’s coverage of the rugby as the Investec Champions Cup final is also due to start at 2:45pm.
With last season’s historic FA Cup final being the first time the two sides had met in the final in the entire history of the oldest competition in all of football, it rounded off a massive year of viewing figures for the tournament which has continued to hit record numbers in 2024.
The game will once again be shown live on BBC One, BBC iPlayer and ITV1; ITVX, UTV, as well as STV, and there will no doubt be huge screenings of the game all over Greater Manchester, where an increased police presence is also expected.
The Manc -
16th March 2021 
