BELEAGUERED English Football League (EFL) club, Wigan Athletic, already suffering from ongoing financial woes that have resulted in reported non-payment of wages to their senior team and some support staff, received another blow when directors Tom Markham and Oliver Gottman resigned last night.
The club was relegated to League One at the end of the 2022-23 EFL Championship and will start next season on minus eight points after failing to meet an EFL funding deadline last month.
In a statement, Markham and Gottman said the ownership group had promised that funds would be paid by June 2 but they had not materialised.
“With no visibility of when funds will arrive…” Markham and Gottman’s position was untenable, the statement added.
Wigan Athletic is owned, since 2021, by Phoenix 2021 Limited, a consortium led by Bahraini businessmen, Abdulrahman Al Jasmi, the ultimate owner, and Talal Mubarak Al Hammad, currently the club chairman.
The departure of Markham and Gottman means that only Al Hammad remains from the initial board of directors who came into place when the new owners took over two years ago.
Last month, recently appointed manager Shaun Maloney flew to Bahrain to meet in person with Al Hammad and Al Jasmi where he was reportedly given assurances about funding.
In an open letter addressed to fans and supporters which was published on the club’s website last month, Al Hammad lavished praise on Maloney.
“… Now, we now have the right manager in charge in Shaun Maloney,” Al Hammad wrote.
“That has been clear in his short time with us. Shaun and his staff have worked extremely hard and although we did not retain our Championship status, we have all seen the improvement in the squad and individuals.
“His knowledge of Wigan Athletic and desire to succeed has brought the connection between the manager, players and fans back to this club.”
Al Hammad also addressed the payments issue and stressed that Wigan Athletic’s ownership was fully committed to the club.
“There have been many questions about the owner’s commitment to the club,” Al Hammad wrote. “He is fully committed to Wigan Athletic.
“As an ownership group and board, we recognise we have a lot of trust to rebuild and this starts again now. I will also be in attendance more regularly this season and the communication from the board needs to be much clearer in this new era.
“We will start next season with a points deduction and that we truly regret and apologise to all fans and stakeholders. This is a culmination of the struggles of the past season. We cannot change the past, but what we can do is look to the future. We recognise we must rebuild trust with you.”
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