Wigan deducted four points for next season after failing to pay players’ wages

Wigan will start the League One season in August with minus-four points after the English Football League issued its latest sanction against the club for a failure to pay players’ wages.

The EFL said a further four-point deduction was suspended until the end of the 2023-24 season.

That suspended sanction will kick in if club owner Abdulrahman Al Jasmi fails to deposit an amount equal to 125 per cent of the club’s forecast monthly wage bill into a designated account by May 24.

The additional four-point deduction would also be activated if the club fail to pay players on time at any point between now and June 2024.

The club’s 2022-23 season points tally has also been reduced by three points, even though the Championship regular season is already over.

The requirement to deposit an amount greater than the club’s monthly wage bill in a designated account was part of an agreed decision between Wigan and the EFL reached in January.

Al Jasmi has also been charged with misconduct and fined £10,000 for failing to comply with the terms of the agreed decision.

The club were first charged in January after missing wage payments in June, July and October last year, with the agreed decision including a suspended three-point deduction should the club again fail to pay wages.

The suspended sanction was activated in March with another failure to pay wages on time and a failure by Al Jasmi to make the requested deposit.

Wigan chairman Talal Al Hammad apologised to staff earlier this week for the stress caused by the latest delay to wages being paid, and said all May wages had now been paid.

The club’s statement on Tuesday accepted investment had not been directed to “the right areas” and promised a board and staff restructure.

It also said the club’s ownership group, Phoenix 2021 Limited, had committed “a substantial seven-figure sum” to the club to secure Wigan’s immediate future, and that the EFL had visibility of that amount.