Bruce will not manage NUFC while Ashley is in charge - Whelan

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Some bits about DW recent dealings with Ashley.

 

THE INTERVIEW: Dave Whelan, darts and the war of the sports store bosses

 

Dave Whelan did not adapt well to retirement. The owner of Wigan Athletic football club and former JJB Sports chairman says: 'On the first day, my wife, Pat, said, "Let's go shopping to Manchester''.

 

And I went and we had a nice day out. The second day, we went shopping again. The next day, my wife went shopping again - and I decided it was time to go back to work.'

 

That was when he was 42 and he still prefers work to shopping trips with his wife. He is now 72 and shows no signs of slowing down, beyond a few aches from a recent skiing trip to Courchevel in France.

 

Last week he did go shopping - paying £83.4million for 53 fitness clubs, 51 with stores attached, from JJB Sports, the company he founded in 1977. The new operation will be called DW Sports Fitness, which will also be the new sponsor of Premier League football club Wigan's JJB Stadium from next season.

 

Money from the purchase effectively throws a lifeline to JJB, which remains separate from DW Sports and is still listed on the stock market. JJB, which has now sacked chief executive Chris Ronnie for gross misconduct, would almost certainly have collapsed without it.

 

Whelan had his first meeting with sports goods manufacturer adidas four days ago to discuss his plans for his new firm. 'The brands are desperate to have a sports company that deals in serious sport,' he says.

 

'There's nobody doing that at present. 'The ambition is that DW Sports is going back to being a basic sports shop where you can get anything you want for sport --darts, swimming goggles, table tennis or billiard cues. At present, you can only buy it all online.'

 

Whelan says he will double the number of fitness clubs to about 100 and each will have a shop. He has no plans to open shops in competition with JJB's stores and denies his decision to buy the fitness clubs was an emotional one.

 

The deal was far from straightforward. Earlier this month Whelan agreed to meet Newcastle United owner and Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley, who has a 22 per cent stake in JJB. Sports Direct finance director Bob Mellors and Ronnie were also present.

 

During the meeting it was suggested Whelan walk away from the deal. This would most likely have led to the collapse of JJB, which in turn would have meant that its assets might have been available more cheaply. 'I said there and then, I have made JJB an offer and I am sticking by it,' says Whelan.

 

However, Ashley has since contacted a number of landlords offering to take over leases that at present are occupied by health clubs that Whelan has now bought. 'We've had a few calls from the landlords saying what's going on?' says Whelan.

 

'Ashley doesn't want me back in the business-obviously.' Whelan and his team believe they have legal recourse should any of the landlords try to switch to Sports Direct. He also says he will consider guaranteeing the leases personally if necessary.

 

He reckons it should take six weeks to win over all the landlords and rekindle relations with suppliers, keen to see a third player in the market to balance the power of Sports Direct and the ailing JJB.

Whelan played professional football for Blackburn, where he had a reputation for directness. During the 1960 FA Cup final he broke his leg in a collision with Norman Deeley of Wolverhampton Wanderers. Blackburn lost 3-0 and Wheelan's career was effectively over. Deeley described his opponent's final tackle as 'hard but fair'. That could equally describe the way he does business.

 

Despite having not played professional sport since the age of 23, he still keeps fit by visiting the gym three times a week.

 

Whelan, born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, but raised in Wigan, acquired fishing tackle shop JJ Bradburns in 1977, having just sold his previous business, a chain of grocery stores, to Morrisons.

 

By 1994, JJB floated on the stock exchange with 120 stores and by 2005 it had 430. However, in January 2007, Whelan began to reduce his stake and was persuaded to sell his remaining 29 per cent for £190million to Ronnie.

 

Whelan says it is not clear how Ronnie managed to borrow so much money and that he was concerned that Ronnie and Ashley were acting in concert.

 

'The pair of them had been to see me three or four times to buy my shares,' says Whelan. 'I said to Ronnie, ''Is Mike Ashley behind you in any shape or form because if he is, I'm not allowed to sell my shares''.

 

So he put it in writing that Ashley was not involved. It made me in the clear and I could sell to him.'

At the time, Whelan told then chairman Roger Lane-Smith he would be interested in buying the fitness clubs should they become available, and with JJB saddled with debt and under pressure from its banks to raise cash he became frontrunner to snap them up.

 

In the past month he has recruited JJB's former property director Barry Dunn, one-time associate finance director Andy Gee and marketing director Winston Higham to work at DW Sports.

 

But Whelan believes JJB also has a sporting chance under chairman Sir David Jones. 'Jones is absolutely adamant he's going to put JJB Sports back on its feet,' he says.

 

Whelan has a son and daughter and four grandchildren and believes in legacy, hoping to leave Wigan FC a self-sustaining business - a rarity among football clubs these days - after he has gone.

 

Whelan, whose grandfather was a miner, says he is unlikely to consider retirement again soon. 'I like being with people, seeing things and buying and selling,' he says.

 

'I don't want to retire. If you're fit to work and your mind is good and you're healthy, then work. When people retire when they are used to working hard, they slow down like hell. I've seen it with the miners long ago.

 

'Retirement? I don't like it. Hate it.'

 

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