Wigan begin new era under Lenagan

Millionaire businessman Ian Lenagan completed his takeover of Wigan and immediately dashed hopes of a spending spree.

Lenagan, who made his fortune by floating his software company on the Stock Exchange in 2000, revealed that coach Brian Noble will have just £140,000 to spend on new players for next season because of salary-cap restrictions that dogged the previous administration.

He said: "I have no player signings to announce and we have limited resources because of the way the salary cap is structured to build the squad in the near future."

He added: "I will be involved in discussions in the whole ethicacy of the salary cap because a club like Wigan can obviously afford to spend more, but we have no intentions whatsoever of breaking the salary cap."

The most famous club in rugby league changed hands when the Harlequins chairman, who has been a Wigan fan for more than 50 years, secured an 89% stake in the Warriors.

Lenagan, whose deal to buy out current owner Dave Whelan will become effective from December 1, will step down as both chairman and a director of Harlequins and offload his 65% shareholding over the next two years to avoid a conflict of interests.

Lenagan told a press conference at the JJB Stadium that he intends to take over as chairman and will adopt a hands-on approach, overseeing the day-to-day running of the club with new chief executive Joe Lydon and Noble, whose position was never threatened by the change of ownership.

Wigan's sponsors, totesport, reacted to the announcement by making the Warriors odds on at 2-7 to lift a trophy in the next five years.

Noble needs to find replacements for overseas trio Shane Millard, David Vaealiki and Bryan Fletcher, who all left the club at the end of the 2007 season, and the earlier departures of Michael Withers and Chris Ashton.