Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has shed some light on Wigan Athletic’s appeal against their 12-point deduction from the EFL.
In early July, it was revealed that the DW Stadium club had gone into administration and was set for a 12-point deduction this season or next season depending on their finishing position (per BBC).
Having originally finished outside of the Championship’s bottom three, the deduction was triggered on Wednesday night following the side’s 1-1 draw with Fulham, which relegated the side from the second tier (per BBC).
In the latest episode of The Price of Football podcast, which was recorded prior to Wednesday’s results, though, Maguire discussed the process of Athletic’s appeal against the deduction.
He said: “There was a story in the newspapers [on Tuesday] that the potential points deductions for both Wigan and [Sheffield] Wednesday weren’t going to be applied until next season, but then the EFL put out a press release to say as far as they’re concerned Wigan’s 12-point deduction will be applied when they finish the match on Wednesday night.
“That will be applied immediately unless Wigan launch an appeal. So, Wigan have now got David Phillips QC who, on behalf of the administrators, apparently is going to launch an appeal.
“So, they’ve got 14 days from [Thursday] in which to formally put in for it and then they’ve got to wait up to another 21 days for a hearing, but I did my sums and that takes us to 26th August.
“So, we could have a crazy situation where we don’t know whether a club is going to be relegated or whether they’re going to be saved or whatever until the end of August with the season due to start in early September.
“So, it just seems that it’s getting more and more farcical.”
TIF Thoughts…
Judging from what Maguire had to say, it seems that the situation regarding Wigan may not be resolved until the end of August if they do appeal.
Should Wigan Athletic appeal against their 12-point deduction?
Yes, they've got to do
No, there's no point
As then stated by the finance expert, that would leave the DW Stadium club with little time to prepare for the new season if it does kick-off in early September.