Rumours that Super League Chairman will buy stadium shut down

After a difficult season former Premier League club Wigan Athletic have now been relegated to League One.

There is now reported financial pressure on the club and subsequent talk that Wigan Warriors Chairman Ian Lenagan could buy the stadium the two clubs share.

However, Wigan Today’s Wigan Athletic journalist Paul Kendrick has shut down these rumours on social media saying:

“At the risk of the messenger coming under fire from all angles…understand this is absolutely not the case and ‘no discussions have been had whatsoever’. Another question on the list for the chairman.”

This is not the first time this has been suggested. In 2020, Lenagan wanted to become owner of Athletic with the following statement made:

“Being born and bred in Wigan, Ian Lenagan and Gary Speakman understand what both clubs mean to the local community.

“We strongly believe that Wigan Athletic is better being locally-owned.

“As sustainability and ownership of the stadium is equally important to both clubs, we are currently working with our longstanding advisers KPMG and talking to external parties.

“Our intention is to identify other investors quickly and start due diligence on the football club with the intention of making a bid in due course.

“We have made the administrators aware of our interest and hope to explore this with them further over the days ahead.

“Wigan Warriors and Wigan Athletic are both local sporting institutions and it is our belief that this is a unique opportunity here to bring the ownership of these two great clubs together under one roof, each operating independently as before, but under a Wigan Sporting Partnership banner.

“It is envisaged that each club would retain all its training grounds, management and facilities.”

It seems a re-release of these comments by an account on Twitter looking to stir things up sparked these rumours which have now categorically been disproved.