surely this goes against the original planning permission? isnt it also part owned by the council?

So you rent from a football team, not ideal.



At least when it was DW he had a slight interest in what was best for Wigan RL. Now every single decision outside of the terms of the lease regarding the stadium will be made by the football club in their best interests.



I personally would be very worried about this, what if Wigan Athletic get relegated and find themselves in financial difficulties? It's easy to say someone else would buy the stadium, and yes I'm sure they would, but would they be housebuilders?



I find this all pretty sad

They'll sell the ground to the rugby club for £3.60

Jobs a good 'un!

people said i was mad to build a castle on a swamp

In all seriousness when Whelan pops his clogs and they have to stand on their own 2 feet they'll be needing every penny they can get and that can only be a good thing for Wigan RLFC.



They'll be desperate to keep the money coming in from Wigan RL and if anything will possibly give them more of a say in the ground then what we have now.



Now if Latics got another big money owner................................

It was on Rock Radio as well.



The story went something like this - Whelan wants to 'unite' the town by saying that, as Wiganer, we should ALL support both Latics and Wigan RL.



In the next breath they say that he stadium is being GIVEN to the Latics FOR FREE, and that Wigan RL have a 50 year lease to play there (I thought our lease was 99 years, but hey...)



However in a 'peace move' to Wigan RL, he's naming one of the stands after Billy Boston. But not without opposition - oh no. He's had 'loads' of emails and letters saying that the stand should not be named after ANY rugby players. So, evidently, he's doing us rugby fans a favour.



If it's true, it stinks. Personally, I don't really care who owns the stadium. Whether we own it or not, we should feel privileged to be able to play our home games in a state of the art, clean, modern facility.



But it's clear where Whelan's loyalty lies. His talk of wanting to unite the town is tosh - his actions have spoken far louder than his words, here.



The top and bottom of it is this; Latics get everything that matters, whilst we get nothing except meaningless token gestures. Personally, if I was Billy Boston, I would tell Whelan to shove his token gesture up his backside.

I imagine both Latics and Wigan RL have contributed similar amounts to the upkeep of the stadium since it was built, in which case it's a bit of a kick in the b*lls that Latics now get the whole shaboodle for free while Wigan have to pay them rent to play there.

Why are people surprised or concerned?



Wigan Athletic already virtually owned it. Whelan WAS Wigan Athletic.



We were second-class customers before. The situation is no different.



In fact, in some ways it's better. As someone has already said, if Latics start to struggle financially or get relegated, they'll need us more than ever.



I would agree though, that yet again he's been caught spinning a yarn. When IL took over, didn't Whelan make some kind of public statement to the effect that he'd be giving the stadium to 'the people of Wigan'?



However, to be fair I must admit to having been told that the terms of Wigan's lease at the JJB are very favourable to us.

It is a bit, I agree. That said if Wigan are paying a fixed sum in rent (I don't know this, I'm just presuming) then it's actually not too bad, as Latics will have to meet all their own costs in running the stadium. Being fair to Latics, even though they won't have to pay to buy the stadium, it will be far frmo a free ride for them.

I'm genuinally not bothered. The only thing that I'll admit hurts slightly is my pride, knowing that the towns Football club owns the facility that Wigan Rugby play at each week. But in reality, I've known that for years and this weeks news is just confirming it.



For me the JJB stadium is simply like the Telstra in Sydney. A big stadium that can be used to hold spectators and generate business, that's it. It isn't our spiritual home, there is no passion for the place and it's not a stadium that we can be proud of. It's just a nice structure with seats and very good facilities that the club can use on matchday.



This is where I think Wigan would beneift from having a Leagues club/museum type place. A building with Wigan RL and Wigan supporters in mind. The club is big enough to afford, finance and attract people to such a place...More importantly, we deserve our own dedicated place space just for Wigan Rugby League.

Brilliant idea.