"It is disappointing when you go into a club, like Liverpool last season, and there is not a soul in the boardroom," says the Wigan chairman.

"Eventually two or three lads came in, including the one who works for the BBC, Alan Hansen, to represent Liverpool and you think: 'Where has the heart and soul gone out of this football club?' There are so many foreign owners that the heart and soul has gone out of quite a few clubs. You go to Everton and see Bill and the rest of the people there who are Everton through and through, just as we are Wigan through and through. It's not very often you get that feeling before and after a match anymore."