Wigan Athletic football club owner Dave Whelan resolved a dispute with the authorities over the cost of policing the JJB Stadium.
The ground’s safety certificate had been under threat, according to the club, after Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said it would withdraw its service on match days as Whelan and the GMP have been rowing over unpaid policing bills of £300,000.
However, at a meeting with Wigan Council’s Safety Advisory Group the Police and the Chairman agreed a compromise. Mr Whelan described it as "fantastic news". He told the club’s official website: "This is great news for us as it means that all our remaining fixtures will be played here at the JJB Stadium. I have agreed to pay in full for the policing at each of our remaining five games to demonstarte our willingness to compromise and the police have also agreed to compromise too. They have agreed that the figure that they say that we owe can remain outstanding for now and that negotiations can take place later to sort that out. I think both sides were willing to give a little to make sure that football continues to be played here and that means that things have been sorted out for now. Hopefully we can now focus on the most important thing and that is trying to get this club into the Premiership. What I intend to do now is meet with the Sports Minister Richard Caborn to try and address the issue of policing charges across the board. It cannot be right that we are charged almost £43,000 for the match against Leeds while Preston, where it is the Lancashire Police Force rather than GMP, are chanrged only £7,700. I feel that the same tariff should be charged across the counrty so that there is a level playing field. If every football club was charged at the rate that we have been, then I fear for the health of the Football League in this country and that is why I have taken a stand on this issue. I would like to see a situation where we all work under the same tariff so that both the clubs and the Police know where they stand. I have not enjoyed my dispute with the Police but this was about a point of principal [sic] and not about the money. We could afford to pay the bill but I just didn’t feel that it was right as I felt the charges were unfair.”
