Dave Whelan Net Worth - How Much Is Wigan Legend Worth?

Net Worth

Dave Whelan’s net worth is roughly $210 million. Starting out at a market stall, Whelan built a business empire in the years following his retirement from football.

Playing for Blackburn and Crewe between 1956 and 1966, Whelan was hardly raking in the cash during his playing days.

Footballer’s salaries in that era were incomparable to the riches they accumulate now. Whelan chose to retire from the sport to focus on his grocery business.

Whelan Discount Stores followed a template of American grocery outlets, and Whelan developed from a market stall to a high-profile chain around the north of England which eventually sold to Morrisons for over £1 million in the late-1970s.

This came a few years after he bought a fishing and sports store in Wigan called JJ Bradburn’s.

Under the brand name JJB Sports, Whelan opened several other shops through the 1970s, focusing on sports clothing. They were the second-largest sports shop in the country within a couple of decades.

At the centre of a lot of controversy, and with Whelan rarely making himself a popular figure, he stepped down as chairman in 2005 and sold over £50 million worth of shares in 2007. The rest of his stake was sold a few months later.

In 2009, he bought back JJB’s nationwide chain. With the company struggling, he founded DW Sports Fitness, though the business went into administration in 2020.

Wigan Athletic

Whelan bought Wigan Athletic with an ambitious plan to take the third-tier team to the Premier League.

It was an aspiration Whelan achieved in 2005, with the relative minnows matching up with a star-studded Chelsea in their first ever top flight match.

Runners-up in the League Cup in their first season in the Premier League, Whelan’s team suffered a heavy defeat to Manchester United, but reaching the final was a taste of what was to come.

Whelan’s investment had helped The Tics reach the top level of English football. While their budgets were still dwarfed by their Premier League foes, they continued to recruit well.

There were some near-misses with relegation, but the club gradually consolidated in the Premier League.

Former player Roberto Martinez returned to the club as manager, bringing exciting football and some great results. Martinez was one of several Spaniards introduced to the club through Whelan’s business connections in the late-1990s.

Already a club legend, he cemented his and the team’s place in the history books with a dramatic FA Cup final win over a heavily favoured Manchester City team. It’s one of the greatest FA Cup predictions upsets of all-time.

The highest of highs was followed by a low point when The Latics were relegated to the Championship just a few days later.

Wigan enjoyed their first ever European jaunt in 2013-14 while playing in the second tier. Martinez left the club, though, and The Tics cycled through managers.

Ultimately relegated to League One at the end of 2014-15, Whelan stepped down as chairman, passing the duties on to his grandson.

Statue

Dave Whelan unveiled a statue of himself outside Wigan’s stadium in 2016. The club’s former chairman is holding the FA Cup and described it as a "great way of saying 'thank you'".

Speaking at the event that revealed the statue, Whelan said, “The statue itself is wonderful and Sean has done a brilliant job; the likeness surprised me so much and it perfectly captures my favourite memory with the football club when we won the FA Cup at Wembley, after the FA had given me permission to lead the team out.”

Broken Leg

Playing for Blackburn in the 1960 FA Cup final, Dave Whelan broke his leg due to a challenge from Wolves winger Norman Deeley. With Whelan taken off at half-time, Rovers eventually lost the match 3-0.

Whelan’s tendency to bring up the injury at even the slightest opportunity has been the subject of mockery over the last decade or so.

Fittingly, when Whelan’s Wigan made it to the FA Cup final 53 years later, it was a player who had just returned from a broken leg who scored the winning goal.

Ben Watson was Wigan’s hero that day, and Whelan finally got his hands on the trophy. "It was meant to be. It was just meant to be,” Watson said, reflecting on the most famous moment of his career.

JJB Sports

Dave Whelan developed JJB Sports from a Wigan-based fishing and sports store.

He expanded, building a chain of sports clothing and equipment outlets. They were a brand recognised around the country when he sold his shares in 2007.

When JJB hit troubled waters a couple of years later, though, Whelan dived back into the world of retail while overseeing operations of a club featuring in Premier League predictions.

Purchasing back a nationwide group of fitness clubs and stores, Whelan founded DW Sports Fitness, which obviously took his initials and became the sponsor of Wigan Athletic.

Manchester United Takeover

On the cusp of buying Manchester United for under £12 million in the 1980s, Dave Whelan pulled out of the deal in fear of the impact it could have on his sports chain.

A conversation with his wife changed his mind on the prospective purchase.

Speaking to MEN, Whelan explained, “Later I went home and said to my wife Patricia that I’d pulled off a good deal to buy Manchester United. £11.5m was a lot of money then. She said ‘what?’.

“I was in JJB and expanding so she said, ‘do you think all the people in London, Liverpool, Birmingham will come and shop at your stores when you own Manchester United – the greatest enemy the teams they support have?’.

“I said ‘you might have a point’. So instead I went back to Martin Edwards and Manchester United and said the deal is done but told him that if he floated Manchester United on the stock market, he would get a lot more than £11.5m.

“He rang me back four days later and asked if he could be let off the hook with the deal because he wanted to go on the market and I said ok. I would have done the deal but I thought he hadn’t thought it through.”

Whelan recognises the mistake from a financial perspective, but he’s not regretting the decision to hear the best football chants at his beloved Wigan over Old Trafford.

He said, “If I’m talking wealth, Manchester United was the deal. But if I’m talking about doing things for your town and community then I’m very happy with what I have done here in Wigan as it is a good story.”