Dave Whelan
Whelan watching a Wigan Athletic match from the owner's box, May 2010.
Born	David Whelan (1936-11-24) 24 November 1936 (age 75) Bradford, England
Nationality	English
Occupation	Football club owner
Known for	Wigan Athletic F.C. JJB Sports

David "Dave" Whelan (born 24 November 1936) is a former professional football player with Blackburn Rovers and Crewe Alexandra who now owns Wigan Athletic. He is the former owner of JJB Sports and the DW Stadium where Wigan Athletic and Wigan Warriors RLFC play. He is a prominent supporter of the Conservative Party and in 2008 donated £250,000 to the Party.

Biography[link]

Whelan was born in Bradford and raised in Wigan.

Football career[link]

Whelan was a member of Blackburn Rovers' 1960 FA Cup Final team, which lost 3-0 to Wolverhampton Wanderers. Whelan himself did not complete the game, breaking a leg during the first half. Whelan's injury is one of many serious injuries suffered by players in the 1950-60 era and was known as the Wembley hoodoo.^[3] Following his leg break, Whelan was sold to Crewe Alexandra F.C. where he played for several years before retiring to concentrate fully on his chain of supermarkets, Whelan's Discount Stores, which were sold to Ken Morrison for over a million pounds.

JJB[link]

Whelan acquired Wigan fishing and sports store JJ Bradburns (even though JJB are the initials of previous owner John Jarvis Broughton) in 1977. He renamed the company JJB Sports and soon focused purely on sports goods. By 1980, JJB had become a chain of 7 stores, and went on to expand throughout the 1980s and 1990s. It is presently the UK's second biggest sports retailer.

In 2005 JJB Sports were fined £5.5 million by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) for fixing the price of the English National Team and Manchester United shirts in 2000 and 2001.^[4] Which Consumer magazine issued proceedings against JJB Sports to sue the high street retailer for damages on behalf of consumers who were affected by the price fixing.^[5]

Whelan gradually scaled down his interests in the company and in 2005 he stepped down as chairman.^[6] However, in October 2006 he personally intervened to overturn the settlement of a pay dispute at JJB's Wigan warehouse negotiated by new chairman Tom Knight, branding it "the equivalent of Communism", prompting a two-day strike.^[7]

In January 2007 he sold £50m of shares in JJB,^[8] before selling his remaining 29% stake in June 2007. This action was in contradiction of a statement that Whelan made to the stock exchange on 26 January 2007 whereby he undertook to make no further disposals for the following 12 months.^[9] This action may now lead to an investigation by the Financial Services Authority.^[10]

DW Sports Fitness[link]

In March 2009, Whelan confirmed his acquisition of JJB Fitness clubs and the stores attached to them. Instead of Wigan Athletics JJB sponsorship "the club's new stadium sponsor will be DW Sports-Fitness.Com, the 75-year-old's latest sports retail venture, and the JJB Stadium has now become the DW Stadium, taking the name of its owner and his new company."

Wigan Athletic Football Club[link]

Whelan bought Wigan Athletic in February 1995, when they were a Division Three team.^[11]

When Dave Whelan took over the reins he announced that he would get Wigan Athletic into the Premier League, a promise he fulfilled in 2005. This began with the Division Three title in 1997-98, the Division Two title in 2002-03 and promotion to the Premiership as Championship runners-up in 2004-05.

He funded the £30million construction of the club's new JJB Stadium which opened in 1999 and on its completion was one of the largest football stadiums outside the Premier League.^[12]

Thanks to Whelan's resources, Wigan, who were tipped to be relegated from the Premier League in their first season, not only managed to stay up (and have stayed in the top flight ever since), but claimed a 10th place league position^[13] and also reached the final of the Football League Cup.^[14]

In 2005, Whelan threatened to quit the club unless the price of policing games was reduced.^[15] In 2007, he called for the relegation of West Ham United as punishment for their incorrect registration of Carlos Tévez and Javier Mascherano.^[16] He subsequently called for Premier League Chairman Dave Richards and chief executive Richard Scudamore to resign.^[17] An arbitration committee met to consider the affair. It ruled in favour of the Premier League. Wigan managed an end-of-season victory at Sheffield United, a 2 - 1 win with the goals being scored by Paul Scharner in the 14th minute and a penalty from David Unsworth in injury time of the first half, after Jon Stead had equalised for Sheffield United in the 38th minute. It was a dramatic final-day Premiership survival story, with the result saving Wigan and condemning Sheffield United to the Championship. In May 2012 Dave Whelan was banned from talking to British Media sources after a run in with a Liverpool FC supporter known as 'Willo' outside a pub in Maghull, Whelan stated, "This big chap in a white BMW told me to wind my neck in or else."

Wigan Warriors Rugby League Football Club[link]

After the announcement of Maurice Lindsay's intention to retire immediately from the club after the Warriors' loss at the hands of Catalans Dragons on 29 July 2007, Whelan managed to persuade him to stay on until the end of the season. After the announcement of Linday's retirement however, Whelan said he would be willing to sell the club after a proposed takeover from a "genuine Wigan fan" earlier in the year.^[18]

On 24 October 2007, it was announced that Ian Lenagan, former owner of Harlequins RL, had completed his takeover of Wigan Warriors, buying out Whelan's 89% stake in the club with the deal taking effect from 1 December 2007.^[19]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Brief bio at ManchesterOnline

Callum Henry McManaman (born 25 April 1991) is an English footballer who plays for Wigan Athletic, as a striker.^[3]

Club career[link]

Early career[link]

McManaman was born on 25 April 1991 in Knowsley, Merseyside. He grew up as an Everton supporter,^[4] and joined the club's youth system when he was seven years old. After being released by the club at the age of sixteen, he signed for Wigan Athletic on a free transfer in 2007. He made his debut for the reserves toward the end of the 2007–08 season.^[5] He became a regular in the reserve team during the second half of the following season, appearing ten times and scoring four goals.^[6] He then made his first team debut on 24 May 2009 in a Premier League match against Portsmouth, becoming Wigan's youngest ever player to play in the Premier League.^[7] In July 2009, he signed his first professional contract with the club.^[8] McManaman remained in the reserve team during the 2009–10 season, scoring twice in a 5–0 win against Burnley.^[9] Although he didn't appear in the first team, he impressed enough to be offered a contract extension.^[10]

McManaman was an unused substitute in the first team at the start of the 2010–11 season, but Wigan manager Roberto Martínez felt the player was not yet ready for Premier League football.^[11] On 30 November 2010, he made his first appearance in over 18 months when he came on as a substitute in a Carling Cup match against Arsenal. Martínez had reportedly been impressed with McManaman's progress over the previous few months, and suggested the player would feature more regularly later in the season.^[12] He scored his first goal for Wigan in his first start for the club against Hull City in the FA Cup on 8 January 2011.^[13] In April 2011, he extended his contract for a further two years, keeping him at the club until 2013.^[3]

Blackpool[link]

On 17 October 2011 it was announced that McManaman had been signed by Blackpool in a three month loan deal.^[14] He made his debut a day later, appearing as a substitute against Doncaster Rovers,^[4] and made his first start for the club in the following game against Nottingham Forest.^[15] On 3 December 2011, he scored his first league goal in a 1–0 win against Reading.^[16]

Return to Wigan Athletic[link]

After he returned from his loan spell at Blackpool he scored against Swindon Town in the FA Cup on 7 January 2012. McManaman returned to Premier League football at the DW Stadium on the 16 January 2012 as an 81st minute substitute in the 1-0 defeat to Manchester City FC

^[17]

International career[link]

In June 2011, McManaman, along with team mate Lee Nicholls, was included in the England under-20's squad for the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup,^[18] the first time a Wigan Athletic player has been involved in the tournament.^[19] He made his debut in the country's first group match – a 0–0 draw against North Korea,^[20] and went on to play in all of England's games during the tournament before the team were knocked out by Nigeria.

Career statistics[link]

As of match played 31 January 2012

References[link]

External links[link]

• Callum McManaman career stats at Soccerbase

v t e England squad – 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup 1 Butland 2 Adams 3 Baker 4 Berahino 5 Brown 6 Gordon 7 Hurst 8 Knott 9 Lowe (c) 10 McManaman 11 Morris 12 Ngoo 13 Nicholls 14 Noble 15 Parrett 16 Phillips 17 Smith 18 Taft 19 Wabara 20 Wallace 21 Alnwick Coach: Eastick

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Michael Pasquale "Mike" Di Scala (born 5 April 1981)^[1] is a British electronic musician, record producer, disc jockey and singer-songwriter from Liverpool, England.^[2] He began disc jockeying and producing records in the late 1990s and he first emerged during the early 2000s as the producer of English dance group Rezonance Q (also known as BCD Project) and the producer and vocalist for Ultrabeat who had a No. 2 hit with "Pretty Green Eyes" in 2003.

He has produced numerous records and various genres of dance music including hardcore, house and electro and uses several aliases such as Re-Con, One Long Sausage, Maximum Hustler and Masta Blasta UK. He is also well known for his work with Dave Whelan as the duo Whelan & Di Scala and he has also collaborated with many other artists such as Darren Styles and Hixxy.

Solo career[link]

Di Scala's career began as a disc jockey in Liverpool and he began producing music after studying Music Technology at Liverpool Community College Arts Centre.^[3] His early productions were hardcore tracks recorded as DJ Re-Con in the late 1990s and later Di Scala became the engineer at his own recording studio in Liverpool – BCD Studios. In the early 2000s he produced numerous Scouse house tracks using several aliases such as One Long Sausage, Sumo, Maximum Hustler and Masta Blasta UK that were released on his own label BCD Records.

In 2003, Di Scala resumed recording under the name Re-Con and began disc jockeying at hardcore events such as Hardcore Til I Die. Re-Con released several singles on Hixxy's Raver Baby label and appears numerous times on the successful Bonkers and Clubland X-Treme Hardcore series. In 2009 Re-Con and Squad-E founded their own label Twista Records on which they release their material and the two also began mixing the Hardcore Til I Die series for Universal Music TV. In 2011, Re-Con and Demand released the album Reasons – The Album.

Using his own name, Di Scala produces house music and has recorded tracks such as "Touch My Body" (2006) with Crellin, "Turn My Life Around" (2007),"Space & Time" (2008) with Colin Airey and "Bye" (2011) with Offbeat.

Rezonance Q[link]

In 2001, he started his own record label BCD Records with Lee Butler and Les Calvert and the group began recording as Rezonance Q. Many of their early recordings were remixes and mash ups of old club songs and the producers pioneered the Scouse house genre of the early 2000s. In 2002 a bootleg remix of Mariah Carey's "Someday" gained the interest of All Around the World and Rezonance Q signed to the label.^[4] After re-recording the vocals with Nazene Langfield,^[4] the track was released as a single in February 2003 and became a top 40 hit reaching No. 29 on the UK Singles Chart.

Using the alias BCD Project, in 2003 the group released a bootleg version of "Do You Know" (incorporating elements of "Children" by Robert Miles) on Boss Records which reached No. 129 in the charts. The following year a new version was released by Angel City featuring Lara McAllen which reached No. 7 in the charts. BCD Project also released a remix of Rainy Davis' "Sweetheart" which reached No. 163 in the charts in 2003. This was later re-recorded and released by Rezonance Q on All Around the World in 2004. BCD Records continued to release records until 2006.

Ultrabeat[link]

Mike Di Scala formed Ultrabeat in 2002 with fellow Liverpool disc jockeys and producers Chris Henry and Ian Redman. With a common interest in late-1990s happy hardcore music, the group decided to enter Di Scala's studio for recording sessions^[5] and the group's first release was a double A-side 12-inch single "Sonic Burnin'" / "Boomcore" released on BCD Records in January 2003. Following the success of Rezonance Q's single "Someday", All Around the World then signed Ultrabeat after Di Scala played their recording of "Pretty Green Eyes" (a cover of Force & Styles) during a meeting in his studio.^[6]

After being released in August 2003, "Pretty Green Eyes" became a top 10 hit reaching No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart and was also performed live on Top of the Pops.^[7] The two follow up singles "Feelin' Fine" (2003) and "Better than Life" (2004) both achieved top 30 chart positions^[8] and the group's debut album (provisionally titled Better than Life: The Album) was expected to be released around this time.^[9] However after Ultrabeat's next single "Feel It with Me" failed to reach the top 40 plans for the album were shelved.

In April 2006, Ultrabeat returned with "Elysium (I Go Crazy)" (sampling Scott Brown's "Elysium") which was their first single recorded by new vocalist Rebecca Rudd. The song charted at No. 38 the track was well-received with MTV Dance viewers voting the music video as the number one on the Galaxy Chart.^[10][11] The next single "Sure Feels Good" was a collaboration with Darren Styles released in August 2007 which reached No. 57 in the charts. Following this the group released their debut album in September 2007 the band released their album, Ultrabeat: The Album which peaked at No. 8 in the UK Albums Chart. Ultrabeat embarked on a tour in supporting Cascada (who are also on the AATW label). Their seventh single, "I Wanna Touch You", was released on 4 February 2008.^[12][13]

Whelan & Di Scala[link]

In 2003, Di Scala became a resident disc jockey at Society nightclub in Liverpool^[14] where Les Calvert and Dave Whelan were already disc jockeys. The trio began producing house music as The Chosen Few and founded the Adhesive record label (a subsidiary of All Around the World) in 2004. Following this Dave Whelan and Mike Di Scala began producing together using various names such as The Bassline Hustlers, Da Mode and Men from Mars. The duo had a club hit with "Shot Away" (which sampled "Gimme Shelter" by The Rolling Stones) using the name Pawn Shop^[15] and the single reached No. 100 on the UK Singles Chart in 2006.

Following this they began producing using the name Whelan & Di Scala and have recorded with vocalists such as Nikki Belle and Abigail Bailey. Through their own labels Bachelor Pad Recordings and Vice Records the duo recorded numerous progressive house tracks. In 2011, Whelan & Di Scala became the resident disc jockeys at their own nightclub Mansion in Liverpool.

Solo discography[link]

Albums[link]

Studio albums (as Re-Con)

• Reasons – The Album (2011) (with Demand and Mandy Edge)

DJ mix albums (as Re-Con)

• Harcore Til I Die 2 (2004)
• Bonkers 15: Legends of the Core (2005)
• Bonkers 16: Maximum Hardcore Energy! (2006)
• Best of Bonkers (2007)
• Hardcore Til I Die (2008)
• Hardcore Til I Die 2 (2009)
• Hardcore Til I Die 3 (2010)
• Clubland X-Treme Hardcore 8 (2012)

Singles[link]

Aliases and groups[link]

See also[link]

• Rezonance Q
• Ultrabeat

References[link]