You would forgive Wigan Warriors fans for panicking a bit this morning.

After a difficult season, former Premier League club and Wigan’s roommates at the DW Stadium, Wigan Athletic have now been relegated to League One.

There is now reported financial pressure on the club and a potential takeover of the club.

Wigan Athletic own the Stadium and the last time there was a takeover there were fears that Wigan could lose their home.

However, Wigan Council are the land owners and effectively the landlords and there is a lease agreement in place, which has existed since 1999, that states both clubs will play at the stadium.

So, even with this transfer of ownership, Wigan Warriors will still be able to play at the DW Stadium.

This all comes after talk that Wigan Warriors Chairman Ian Lenagan could buy the stadium.

These were entirely shut down at the time but was 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.”