Re: Boston stand no more : Tue Oct 19, 2021 10:44 am  

DannyT wrote:

The council seem to have relinquished their 15% share so I’m wondering what they can actually do to enforce both clubs to remain to the stadium.

To whom have they sold their 14.9% (£4.9 million) share?

Re: Boston stand no more : Tue Oct 19, 2021 11:03 am  

Ruddy Duck wrote:

DannyT wrote:

The council seem to have relinquished their 15% share so I’m wondering what they can actually do to enforce both clubs to remain to the stadium.

To whom have they sold their 14.9% (£4.9 million) share?

Apparently they relinquished it to support get the Bahrani deal over the line!
Another joke in itself....essentially gave up on about £5m quid of tax payer investment to gift it to a rich overseas consortium who now has complete control. Puts us into the same boat as latics where the ground is only secure for as long as the Bahrani's keep interested (which is probably a max of 3-5 years before we go through this whole cycle again!).

Re: Boston stand no more : Tue Oct 19, 2021 11:13 am  

Ruddy Duck wrote:

Perhaps. this new owner who is not even a resident of our country needs to be educated on what the name of Boston and a joint Stadium means to the people and the town of Wigan.

This is exactly the issue though!
As i said elsewhere, the only intel (sic) they get in respect of the town is from latics fans...the majority of whom have a chip on their shoulder and perpetuate untruths and hyperbole to make us out to be the enemy.
The bahrani's seem to be lapping this up without questioning....perhaps because it reinforces their beliefs about what rugby is (undoubtedly viewing us as a union club and not recognising the distinction).

So what we see is them being intentionally antagonistic, which only raises their stock with the numpty latics fanbase, which drives more and more problems. Unfortunately I think its a case of strapping ourselves in and rolling with the punches for the next couple of years until the Bahranis lose interest in the same way as the Chinese lot.

Ultimately, the only way of breaking this nonsense cycle that ties us to the 'boom and bust' of wigan latics is making a successful play for the ground next time they enter administration. Its just a shame the admins wouldn't release the ground for more than the Bahranis actually paid for the whole lot! (£3.5 mil was lenegans offer but he sensibly didn't want the football club as he would have needed to commit to 6mil of future losses).
If Lenaghan had been successful both clubs would be in a much better position IMO. Latics would have a fair and reasonably long lease at the stadium, there would have been no acrimony and only a desire to work together as partners, and Latics would have been more likely to find a community / UK owner who could help them become stable as a sustainable L1 club.

If only eh!
A real sliding doors moment which would have been much better in the long run for both clubs, and would have done a lot to cut the nonsense and acrimony

Re: Boston stand no more : Tue Oct 19, 2021 11:32 am  

afootingmiracle21-12 wrote:

This is exactly the issue though!
As i said elsewhere, the only intel (sic) they get in respect of the town is from latics fans...the majority of whom have a chip on their shoulder and perpetuate untruths and hyperbole to make us out to be the enemy.
The bahrani's seem to be lapping this up without questioning....perhaps because it reinforces their beliefs about what rugby is (undoubtedly viewing us as a union club and not recognising the distinction).

So what we see is them being intentionally antagonistic, which only raises their stock with the numpty latics fanbase, which drives more and more problems. Unfortunately I think its a case of strapping ourselves in and rolling with the punches for the next couple of years until the Bahranis lose interest in the same way as the Chinese lot.

Ultimately, the only way of breaking this nonsense cycle that ties us to the 'boom and bust' of wigan latics is making a successful play for the ground next time they enter administration. Its just a shame the admins wouldn't release the ground for more than the Bahranis actually paid for the whole lot! (£3.5 mil was lenegans offer but he sensibly didn't want the football club as he would have needed to commit to 6mil of future losses).
If Lenaghan had been successful both clubs would be in a much better position IMO. Latics would have a fair and reasonably long lease at the stadium, there would have been no acrimony and only a desire to work together as partners, and Latics would have been more likely to find a community / UK owner who could help them become stable as a sustainable L1 club.

If only eh!
A real sliding doors moment which would have been much better in the long run for both clubs.

A problem which needed not to have happen but for Whelan moving the finances of the stadium from his Whelco Holdings company to his Wigan Athetic company in order to get a bigger profit for himself from the sale of his football club with the stadium included.

That's how much Whelan cared about the people of Wigan!

Re: Boston stand no more : Tue Oct 19, 2021 11:54 am  

Ruddy Duck wrote:

A problem which needed not to have happen but for Whelan moving the finances of the stadium from his Whelco Holdings company to his Wigan Athetic company in order to get a bigger profit for himself from the sale of his football club with the stadium included.

That's how much Whelan cared about the people of Wigan!

Agreed....only done to realise £22m out of the sale of latics he would have otherwise been lucky to get a million quid for. Shrewd man but screwed over wigan royally (latics included). As much as latics see the ground being owned by the same bahrani consortium as a good thing, it is really not. Our prime sporting venue in the town is owned and operated upon the whim of its overseas owners. As soon as they get bored, latics and the stadium will be plunged into chaos again whilst we have no option but to go along for the ride.

Stadium should have gone to the council with small interests to each club, exactly how the huddersfield situation works - which also elimiates the whole nonsense arguments about the stadium. If we could get to a position where Wigan athletic is owned by a local or UK group and the stadium shared, it would be much better for the whole town.

The whole nonsensical thing about the bahraini offer was the admins insistence upon it. They had nearly a million quid in the supporters funds, plus leneghan fronting 3.5m for the stadium. Surely the better and more sustainable option would have been for latics to become a community club run by a consortium of intelligent fans (needle in haystack i know), and the stadium owned locally. The problem was the EFL 5/6m guarantees, but you would have had a mill to start from the supporters and surely they could have cut cloth accordingly to diminish those projected losses?

Re: Boston stand no more : Tue Oct 19, 2021 1:01 pm  

afootingmiracle21-12 wrote:

Agreed....only done to realise £22m out of the sale of latics he would have otherwise been lucky to get a million quid for. Shrewd man but screwed over wigan royally (latics included). As much as latics see the ground being owned by the same bahrani consortium as a good thing, it is really not. Our prime sporting venue in the town is owned and operated upon the whim of its overseas owners. As soon as they get bored, latics and the stadium will be plunged into chaos again whilst we have no option but to go along for the ride.

Stadium should have gone to the council with small interests to each club, exactly how the huddersfield situation works - which also elimiates the whole nonsense arguments about the stadium. If we could get to a position where Wigan athletic is owned by a local or UK group and the stadium shared, it would be much better for the whole town.

The whole nonsensical thing about the bahraini offer was the admins insistence upon it. They had nearly a million quid in the supporters funds, plus leneghan fronting 3.5m for the stadium. Surely the better and more sustainable option would have been for latics to become a community club run by a consortium of intelligent fans (needle in haystack i know), and the stadium owned locally. The problem was the EFL 5/6m guarantees, but you would have had a mill to start from the supporters and surely they could have cut cloth accordingly to diminish those projected losses?

There are plenty Latics fans with sense (just as there are rugby fans) so the little petty jibes only put you on a par with the minority who are entrenched. I’m glad to see the conversation has at least turned back to what I said a few pages ago that all roads lead back to Whelan anyway. The chief executive running Latics at the moment and the UK-based team are fully aware of the rugby and its history believe it or not. Using the easy trope of the Bahrainis being fed only lies by Latics fans simply isn’t true, not least because I’ve spoken to Mal Brannigan (chief executive) a good few times so at least I can guarantee one voice (and some family members) have explained the good (and bad) of how the relationship has been in the stadium for the last 22 years. Can only go at the moment on face value about what is being done behind the scenes and the plans they’ve laid out but as I’ve said previously, I hope it is all amicable in the end.

Re: Boston stand no more : Tue Oct 19, 2021 1:42 pm  

DannyT wrote:

There are plenty Latics fans with sense (just as there are rugby fans) so the little petty jibes only put you on a par with the minority who are entrenched. I’m glad to see the conversation has at least turned back to what I said a few pages ago that all roads lead back to Whelan anyway. The chief executive running Latics at the moment and the UK-based team are fully aware of the rugby and its history believe it or not. Using the easy trope of the Bahrainis being fed only lies by Latics fans simply isn’t true, not least because I’ve spoken to Mal Brannigan (chief executive) a good few times so at least I can guarantee one voice (and some family members) have explained the good (and bad) of how the relationship has been in the stadium for the last 22 years. Can only go at the moment on face value about what is being done behind the scenes and the plans they’ve laid out but as I’ve said previously, I hope it is all amicable in the end.

Being realistic mate, I think there are some, and i know personally of a few decent level mined Wigan latics fans. That said, there are huge swathes of their fanbase (much more than there are not IMO) who are pretty unintelligent and carry a ridiculous chip on their shoulder. It was demonstrated perfectly in the position they adopted against the administrators, and the ongoing feud with Wigan RL which there is no real substance or grounds for.

You only need to look at social media sites such as the twitter and facebook accounts of Wigan today and Wigan Athletic etc to see it.
Thousands of unnecessary and ridiculous anti rugby statements spoken as fact which are never replicated or voiced by Rugby fans against the football. Idiots claiming that rugby fans reveled in their administration and wanted the club dead, when a quick look on forums like this demonstrate that rugby fans overwhelmingly wanted the best for them, despite many of us not carrying much interest. Most strikingly, look at the comments from large parts of the fan base across social media channels and fans forums when their savior was confirmed....there were as many ''right now kick the rugby out'' comments as there were of jubilation and relief! Many are as obsessed about us as they are with the success of their own team.

There are definitely those on both sides who are petty and childish mate, I am not denying that Wigan RL saldy have them, but the difference is they are in the minority within our fan base and are often called out and challenged, yet much the opposite in the blue half of the town.

IMO the roads do actually lead back to Lindsay in the 80s, yet the ridiculousness of that is that ONE crass comment from over 30 years ago causes so many latics fans such issue! Who really cares, it has had no impact upon where either of the clubs are today and is completely irrelevant.

You are right that whelan has done much more damage to both of the clubs in more recent times, including stoking the fires though. Yet you can't say that in the blue half of the town, he is still a demi-god! As for the other comments - I wasnt aware they had a UK based team effectively running the club. If that's the case it reduces some of my concerns that there may still be some voice of reason within the Latics camp. But the actions of blue seats, removing the name of a wigan (NOT rugby or football) legend off the stand, and screwing the rugby club for every bit of rent possible seem to be provocative actions IMO which are led by the new owner (Talal?) and encouraged by a significant number of their fans

Re: Boston stand no more : Tue Oct 19, 2021 6:09 pm  

afootingmiracle21-12 wrote:

Most strikingly, look at the comments from large parts of the fan base across social media channels and fans forums when their savior was confirmed....there were as many ''right now kick the rugby out'' comments as there were of jubilation and relief! Many are as obsessed about us as they are with the success of their own team.
:

A frighteningly large number spend more time wishing ill-health on other sporting clubs, mainly Wigan RL & Bolton Wanderers. I genuinely believe that so many of them get less joy watching wafc than they do in the occasional misfortune or demise of WWRL & BWFC.

I like a rivalry at much as the next sports fan but fans of wafc make me absolutely despair. I’ve long since stopped even engaging with them - be it in real life or on social media.
It’s such a strange mentality when 95% of your time as a sports fan seems to be focused on other teams, hell even those in others sports! I honestly have never come across a fan base - in any sport - even close to them.

Just support your team and crack on. I honestly couldn’t be a*s*d!

Re: Boston stand no more : Tue Oct 19, 2021 8:31 pm  

post wrote:

Now is the best time to borrow money to build a stadium with interest rates so low.

We can build a stadium somewhere where it doesn't flood or get boggy, somewhere with good transport links especially rail links.

We can have concerts at the stadium, internation rl games etc.

I've heard a few rumours though, 1 is that the Council won't allow another stadium in the Town and another is apparantly Whelan blocked us building a stadium near Wincanton at Marus Bridge, any truth in these or is it purely a money issue?

If its a money issue how much is a stadium? Ideal place would be where Orrell St James play right next to a railway track and the proposed new link road connecting the M6/M58 junction to Leopold St/Lamberhead Ind estate then purchase somewhere else for OSJ.

Good luck finding a financial institution that will lend money to an insolvent company to build an asset that is worthless on the open market

Re: Boston stand no more : Tue Oct 19, 2021 8:52 pm  

Azul wrote:

afootingmiracle21-12 wrote:

Most strikingly, look at the comments from large parts of the fan base across social media channels and fans forums when their savior was confirmed....there were as many ''right now kick the rugby out'' comments as there were of jubilation and relief! Many are as obsessed about us as they are with the success of their own team.
:

A frighteningly large number spend more time wishing ill-health on other sporting clubs, mainly Wigan RL & Bolton Wanderers. I genuinely believe that so many of them get less joy watching wafc than they do in the occasional misfortune or demise of WWRL & BWFC.

I like a rivalry at much as the next sports fan but fans of wafc make me absolutely despair. I’ve long since stopped even engaging with them - be it in real life or on social media.
It’s such a strange mentality when 95% of your time as a sports fan seems to be focused on other teams, hell even those in others sports! I honestly have never come across a fan base - in any sport - even close to them.

Just support your team and crack on. I honestly couldn’t be a*s*d!

You're so right mate! It's right not to tar them all with the same brush, as there are some levelheaded latics fans (I know a handful), but they are very much the exception and sadly significantly outnumber the voices of reason.
There is a sizable majority as you and I both describe. Unfortunately a large proportion are unintelligent and there is a very clear bonehead mentality, to an extent you just don't see across Wigan RL fans or any other teams.

I recognise why a number of individuals underplay it on here and attempt to challenge people who level any criticism of latics as engaging in the same idiotic vitriol. I also get why some claim it is small fractions of each of our fan bases - as they want to appear open minded and not unreasonably critical, distancing themselves from the nonsense, .
But the reality is it just really isn't.....as you say, i have also never come across another fan base like it.....for a good number there is definitely a greater focus on reveling in the difficulties of other teams than there is on themselves.
You see it even in their new fans who become indoctrinated by it....lads in their 20s banging on about Lindsay and the 80s when they weren't even born at the time - its cringe-worthy, but sadly not sure how it changes as their voices of reason are so outnumbered and its effectively ingrained in the culture of being a tics fan.

I have literally no axe to grind against wigan athletic. I am indifferent to them simply as football in general bores me. But if they were a little bit more open and less insular it would have such a positive benefit for them in terms of greater fans and interest, but also cutting animosity in the town. It really is time to grow up.