Two of Lincoln City’s League One rivals could soon be changing hands, with reports suggesting both Bradford City and Wigan Athletic are currently on the market.
Recent reporting has lifted the lid on potential investment opportunities across the EFL, and it appears two clubs the Imps have already faced this season are among those quietly available to prospective buyers.
According to a detailed business of football column by The Athletic, Bradford City and Wigan Athletic are both effectively up for sale, albeit in slightly different circumstances. In an era where football ownership increasingly resembles a global investment market, even clubs with deep local roots are being packaged into sales decks and circulated among potential investors.
Bradford City
For Bradford, the situation appears relatively straightforward. German businessman Stefan Rupp has owned the club since 2016, initially alongside a partner before assuming full control three years later. The report suggests Rupp has been open to offers for some time but has stepped up efforts to find a buyer following Bradford’s return to League One.
The sales pitch is not difficult to understand. Bradford are presented as a large, historically significant club located in the biggest one-club city in the EFL. Valley Parade remains one of the largest stadiums in the division, average crowds approach 18,000, and the club retains strong community backing. The suggested valuation is believed to be around £10m, although the stadium itself would need to be negotiated separately as it is owned by a pension fund linked to a previous owner.
On the pitch, Bradford have been enjoying a solid campaign. Sitting fourth in the table with 61 points from 35 matches, they remain firmly in the play-off picture and had been harbouring ambitions of pushing toward the automatic promotion places earlier in the season.
Imps supporters will remember recently playing a role in curbing those hopes. City delivered a commanding 3-0 victory against the Bantams earlier in the campaign, a result that effectively halted Bradford’s charge toward the top two.
Wigan Athletic
Wigan’s circumstances are rather different. The club was rescued in 2023 by local businessman Mike Danson after years of financial instability and administration under previous ownership. Danson’s involvement stabilised the club, but it always appeared more an act of civic duty than a long-term investment project.
Now Wigan are again being presented to potential buyers, with a detailed investment memorandum reportedly circulating among interested parties. The pitch highlights the club’s past Premier League status, its FA Cup triumph in 2013, and its location in a football heartland between Manchester and Liverpool.
Yet the current league table paints a more challenging picture. Wigan sit 19th with 38 points from 34 matches, only one point clear of the relegation zone. Manager Ryan Lowe was dismissed recently following a run of poor results, underlining the uncertainty surrounding the club’s short-term future.
City again have recent history here. The Imps recorded a 1-0 victory over Wigan earlier this season, a result that came shortly before Lowe’s departure.
Stability the key
Bradford are on the up, no doubt, despite their fan’s over reaction to losing 3-0 at ours. Wigan are in a rut, for sure, and it seems to be cyclical with them – they do well, overreach, collapse, and start again. League One is a different beast to the one we first experienced seven years ago, and slowly but surely the ‘giant’ of Wigan, Premier League experience and all, has diminished, as far bigger fish have dropped into the pond.
Here we are, the stereotypical ‘little old Lincoln’ doing things the right way. Sure, we’ve been lucky, our investors and owners have all be the right people at the right time, with an idea based around sustainability and economic common sense, rather than matching the big budgets.
Some say you can’t get out of League One without flashing a bit of cash – but in 11 games’ time, the 18th most lavish team in the division might just prove that to be wrong. Whether Bradford City, or less likely Wigan Athletic, can follow that achievement up will rest on which buyers respond to their possible sales.
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