What will Danson do for us?

[DaveO]

I am not sure I follow the distinction people are making.
Our owner owns the ground. That was not the case before.
When Saints say they own their ground they mean that their owners own the ground.
We now own our own ground.
People are drawing some distinctions around whether it is a Latics asset, but they are, in my opinion, entirely spurious.
As far as the rights and duties of the rugby and football clubs are concerned, they are all Danson’s to do with whatever he likes. He decides who plays, and when, he keeps all of the revenue, he decides how to deck out the ground and what to call it.
Our position is clearly vastly improved.

Danson does not personally own the ground. A company will own it or own a % of it. Previously that company was the company that owned Latics. We were paying rent to that company as tenants. We might still be unless Danson has structed things differently and that is what people are on about.

[Exiled Wiganer]

Danson does not personally own the ground. A company will own it or own a % of it. Previously that company was the company that owned Latics. We were paying rent to that company as tenants. We might still be unless Danson has structed things differently and that is what people are on about.

You have missed the point. Who is the “we”? All of those companies are now “we” (or none of them, if you prefer). Our owner owns everything. So, if we associate ourselves with the owner of our club, as is standard when people talk about “our” club, then we own the ground. Otherwise the only people who could ever talk about their clubs as “we” would be the ultimate owners.

All that matters now is what Danson decides to do - he can do whatever he wants with the 2 clubs and the ground he owns. He is the new “we”. Hence we own our ground.

[doc]

What he should do is have a separate stadium company to maximise income to maintain the stadium. First thing he should then do is sell the naming rights to the stadium as neither club has benefitted from any sponsorship due to Whelan getting free publicity for his companies. After that, maximise usage outside of a sporting context for functions, conferences etc. Maybe bar staff that actually make an effort to serve you as quick as possible would help increase takings as the SS bar and the bars on the concourse have some of the slowest staff I have come across. They are even slower than 'spoons.

[DaveO]

Danson does not personally own the ground. A company will own it or own a % of it. Previously that company was the company that owned Latics. We were paying rent to that company as tenants. We might still be unless Danson has structed things differently and that is what people are on about.

You have missed the point. Who is the “we”? All of those companies are now “we” (or none of them, if you prefer). Our owner owns everything. So, if we associate ourselves with the owner of our club, as is standard when people talk about “our” club, then we own the ground. Otherwise the only people who could ever talk about their clubs as “we” would be the ultimate owners.

All that matters now is what Danson decides to do - he can do whatever he wants with the 2 clubs and the ground he owns. He is the new “we”. Hence we own our ground.

The DW is majority owned by the company that owns Latics, a company called Phoenix 2021 Limited, with the Warriors a tenant. Phoenix 2021 Limited was incorporated in 2021 having acquired Latics after they went bust back then. At that time the administrator refused to sell the ground as a separate entity:

https://www.thestadiumbusiness.com/2020 ... istrators/

Which shows you it was whoever owns Latics owns the DW it so when Phoenix 2021 Limited bought Latics they also got ownership of the stadium.

The majority shareholder of Phoenix 2021 Limited is now another company called Community Holdco 2023 Ltd, owned by Danson. https://find-and-update.company-informa ... ng-history

Phoenix 2021 Limited does not own Wigan Warriors. At this point in time Danson does not yet own Wigan Warriors personally or via any other company as can be seen here: https://find-and-update.company-informa ... nt-control

So currently we are still tenants of the DW and Phoenix 2021 Limited the landlords. Until we know how Danson will acquire control of the Warriors we cannot say if the Warriors will have shared ownership of the ground or not.

I would imagine he will want to keep Wigan Rugby League Club Limited and Phoenix 2021 Limited as sperate entities and if he does that then he would have to make a major change to Phoenix 2021 Limited to give Wigan Rugby League Club Limited a stake in the grounds ownership.

If on the other hand he uses Phoenix 2021 Limited to acquire Wigan Rugby League Club Limited then by default Wigan RL Ltd becomes part of the company that owns the ground but I really don't think he will do that because if Phoenix 2021 Limited went bust again it would take down not only Latics but the Warriors.

[Sutty]

Things are already massively different in terms of the stadium and how we can use it. Previously, we weren't allowed to use it at all, apart from game day, however, since the purchase by Danson, Rad's has spoken to the stadium "manager" numerous times and told him that Harry Smith is going to be going over and practicing his kicking. This is something that would have been unheard of and not an option prior to Danson buying it.

[Exiled Wiganer]

I didn’t want to clog up the thread by quoting DaveO’s latest post, but looking at companies house makes absolutely no difference to the point I am making: Wigan Warriors’ owner owns the ground. We - via our owner - own our own ground. There is nothing that prevents Wigan Warriors doing whatever it wants with the ground in the sense that we all understand it - if our owner decides to do something he can do it without anyone else’s permission.

The shareholdings within the group are entirely irrelevant.

[DaveO]

I didn’t want to clog up the thread by quoting DaveO’s latest post, but looking at companies house makes absolutely no difference to the point I am making: Wigan Warriors’ owner owns the ground. We - via our owner - own our own ground. There is nothing that prevents Wigan Warriors doing whatever it wants with the ground in the sense that we all understand it - if our owner decides to do something he can do it without anyone else’s permission.

The shareholdings within the group are entirely irrelevant.

No they aren’t and at this point in there isn’t even a “group” because Danson has not yet acquired the Warriors and we, as in Wigan Rugby League Club Ltd, do not own the ground. Phoenix 2021 Limited owns it. Which bit of that do you not understand?

And whether you agree or not, there is still a legal agreement in place between Phoenix 21 Limited and Wigan Rugby League Club Ltd which defines the terms of the lease Wigan RL have on its use of the DW. That didn’t evaporate because Danson announced he’s going to take over from IL in November.

What is more unless he does something to charge the ownership structure of the DW Wigan RL won’t get any credit for owning the stadium with the IMG criteria because they won’t own it.

[MrAlex]

Bit of a random question, but what happens with private individuals that have 'minority' shares in either club?

[Crossy210]

I didn’t want to clog up the thread by quoting DaveO’s latest post, but looking at companies house makes absolutely no difference to the point I am making: Wigan Warriors’ owner owns the ground. We - via our owner - own our own ground. There is nothing that prevents Wigan Warriors doing whatever it wants with the ground in the sense that we all understand it - if our owner decides to do something he can do it without anyone else’s permission.

The shareholdings within the group are entirely irrelevant.

It is an asset for the football club therefore the rugby have no ownership of said ground. Damson just owns two companies that share the same ground. If he sold latics the ground would be sold with them. Unless he splits the ownership between both clubs we will still technically be tenants

[Wiganer Ted]

Although Wigan RL under IL's ownership the club was financially stable the same can't be said of the Latics.
Danson has already brought financial stability to the three bodies, us, Latics and the DW.
I'm sure all three will improve in the not too distant future.