www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sp ... doubt.html

www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sp ... doubt.html

This is not news, anyone on here knows that IL's money has not been replaced and that we are on skid row until it is. I presume DL is covering the losses, big pockets has DL! It could be worse, we could re-locate up north has Celtic have had to do! In some ways the Celtic crisis is a good cover for us, the RFL can't afford two teams to go belly up at once, it is just a question of who is first at the moment as I can't see Celtic thriving in Wrexham.

And to be honest I'm getting towards the end of my tether, my pockets are only so deep.

Er, this isn't about money, but how he has to reduce his shareholding under RFL ownership regulations and would appear not to have done. Perhaps it should be Quins AND Wigan's future in doubt

Indeed - it appears to be IL's problem and his reluctance to flog the shares for a poor price.

IL owns 65 shares with a nominal value of £1 each. If there's no ready buyer at a higher price, then it would be a pure formality for DH to buy him out.

I can't see the Crusaders making it in Wrexham! add to that our problems, watch out for Leigh Fans in the weekly RL press demanding they are Widnes are put into Super League.

There are more than us and the Crusaders with problems!! Murdock will be laughing he has the game over a barrel now, why increase coverage fees when no one is really interested, IF viewing figures collapse and he ever chooses to drop us Pity Help The Game!

The Leigh fans who write into RL Express each week never fail to irritate me. The fact that they should be in Championship One next season, yet they believe they have a divine right to be in SL is, frankly, hilarious.

I seem to remember that when the Broncos went tits up four weeks into the season a few years back, David Hughes was banned from being a director of the club in future. It was part of the deal Richard Lewis managed to get through to allow the club to see out the season before the Quins rebranding despite the anger of the northern clubs. That seems to have been ignored by the RFL so maybe they'll let this slide as well?

Either way, I think those people talking about a Supporters Trust last year need to dust off their plans.

One teeny weeny little local difficulty faces anyone seeking to either buy the club outright or to buy out IL's 65% share: at 30/11/08 the club owed £2.5m to Lenaghan and £1.9m to Hughes.

That was 12m ago, so who knows what the situation is now?

Of course, it is possible that one or both of them have written some or all of those loans off - like the £0.84m that they wrote off in 2007.

But otherwise, anyone buying the shares takes on a technically insolvent (and how...!) business funded by subordinated loans from the current owners. Will those current owners be happy for that situation to continue under new ownership when they lack control?

And if the "new ownership" happens to be a current owner's son, then would the substance be that nothing has really changed?

It ain't working, guys.

Er...it is though. See my post above re the loans.

Oh, and I agree that this ownership issue should impact on Wigan just as much as on Harlequins. Maybe he will be told he has to divest himself of his Wigan holding >25%

Won't happen though, surely? The RFL must be pooing their pants right now over the financial state of Crusaders, Harelequins and quite possibly one or two other SL clubs, as well as any number of lower league clubs. No way will they be able to stand up to an owner who threatens to pull his funding and bring club down IMO.

David Hughes wrote off another £1.5m when the Broncos went under. Worth remembering those figures the next time the usual suspects start moaning about our board not spending enough money.