Wigan Warriors • Re: The Wigan Way - New Podcast - Wigans No1 Kris Radlinski

Stadium deffo being renamed
Just to dampen people's expectations so they don't get carried away thinking it will be a multi million deal with Google or something it will be a more Down to Earth type deal for naming rights etc. So on part you will get your wish that itnwont be the DW any more

Not heard anything about safe standing

The stadium revamp he only mentioned in Generic terms, however I do know a few people in another way who are involved in different capacities that link into stadium management, safety etc so that's how I know a few of these things

Pre covid the stadium alone was losing nearly 1.5million a year and was getting to the point that it needed upgrading from what i would call a modernisation point of view (a bit like me and you changing the boiler, decorating etc in our houses) but the bigger worry was that stadiums need a licence, and every stadium has to have a 20to25yr major licence I believe and the cost of this one to test basically every nut and bolt throughout the stands and the structure was going to be into the millions.
None of that was done by the Chinese, it certainly wasn't discussed by the administration, and then the Bahranis sat on it for 12 months plus and that along with the HMRC debt and the 17million losses all formed the Danson takeover

I Don't want to get into too much detail and betray confidences from other sources, but Danson wanted the stadium to align with his purchase of Wigan Warriors (if you listen to Rads and Prof Brookes in their interviews they let slip that they've been working with Danson for 2 years prior to him taking over, so don't let anyone kid you he was interested in Latics first) and when the Latics situation came to a head approx July time he was "Persuaded" to take both - and if he hadn't then there really was a chance Latics would have gone (no buyers waiting/hmrc were banging on the door etc etc etc) and everything was done in days, and things like this usually take many months.

It took 4/5 months to complete the due diligence you would normally do before hand and the things I'd been told about stadium certificates, cost to upgrade etc all came out the woodwork to Danson/Radlinksi etc and rather than throw quick money at it they took stock to look at doing 1 overall upgrade.

There are certain inherited issues like the Sodexo contracts that they won't be able to resolve immediately but I did ask specifically and was told by Rads that there's a mutual "Break" in the contract in 2025 when both parties can agree to continue or walk away, so reassuring that they will get chance to review that in 12months or so

The Ticketting system situation was also a nightmare, and let's just say that the previous system people walked away leaving issues for the new people, issues that are being legally dealt with hence the silence from the club surrounding "Why" this has happened.

Overall it will take 18/24 months to get everything into the place it should have been 2019 etc.
And Wigan Warriors/Rads will have a very big say (interpret that how you will) in what happens, so that's good news for the rugby