Wigan Athletic’s joint-administrators say they are “quietly optimistic” that the EFL will grant the crisis club permission to start the League One season on Sunday when they are set to face the Blues in a live-on-Sky behind-closed-doors clash at Portman Road.
The Latics were relegated from the Championship in July having been deducted 12 points after going into administration shortly after Next Leader Fund had completed a takeover from another Hong Kong company, International Entertainment Corporation.
Since then, the Lancastrians have sold the likes of former Blues striker Kieffer Moore to Cardiff, left-back Antonee Robinson to Fulham, centre-half Cedric Kipre to West Brom, striker Joe Gehardt to Leeds, winger Jamal Lowe to Swansea and midfielder Josh Windass to Sheffield Wednesday, while a number of other players have also departed leaving them with a very depleted squad.
As a result, it’s likely to be a very long side which faces the Blues, assuming the game goes ahead as planned.
Paul Stanley, Gerald Krasner and Dean Watson of Begbies Traynor were appointed the joint-administrators of the Latics on on Wednesday 1st July and set a deadline of Monday 31st August for the club to be sold, which passed last week.
Talks have been held with a number of bidders, among them the Wigan Athletic Supporters Club which has raised more than £640,000 as they seek to save their club.
"The joint-administrators recently met with representatives of the EFL for permission from them to start the season on 13th September 2020,” a statement on the official Wigan website reads. "We are informed that the board of the EFL are meeting later this week and one of the items is to consider this request.
"We have kept the EFL informed of the progress of selling the club and we are quietly optimistic that this permission will be given. An update will be given once the board of the EFL have written to us.”