Wigan chairman launches attack on Newcastle chief

Wigan’s chairman Dave Whelan has launched an extraordinary attack on his Newcastle counterpart Mike Ashley, claiming he knew the Magpies were set to nosedive as soon as he saw Ashley wearing a replica shirt in the boardroom.

Currently mired in the relegation zone with eight games to save themselves, Newcastle are paying a high price for Ashley’s fallout with Kevin Keegan, whose September departure was followed by an ultimately unsuccessful attempt by the owner to sell the club.

Whelan, who is a business as well as a football rival to Ashley, launched his tirade after claiming there was “no chance” of Wigan manager Steve Bruce, who comes from the Newcastle area, taking charge of the beleaguered club, as long as Ashley is in charge.

“When I first went there just after Mike Ashley had bought it he turned up in the boardroom in a pair of jeans, a pair of trainers and a replica shirt,” Whelan said. “Immediately he did that, the club’s gone.

“You don’t do things like that in football. He’s got no class whatsoever.”

Earlier this week, Whelan accused Ashley of endangering 12,000 jobs by trying to get JJB Sports, a chain of sportswear shops set up by the Wigan chairman, placed in receivership.

Whelan sold JJB in 2007 but has bought back the company’s gym clubs in a move which has secured the under-pressure retail group’s short-term future. According to Whelan, Ashley wanted to see JJB go bust so he could pick up their outlets cheaply to add them to his own Sports Direct retail group.

Despite the sale of its gyms business, JJB remains at the mercy of its lenders, according to analysts, and the company will relinquish its naming rights to Wigan’s stadium at the end of this season.

Instead, the ground will be known as the DW Stadium, taking the name of Whelan’s new company.