Spending spree as Whelan hits the high street for bargains

Dave Whelan, the chairman of Wigan Athletic Football Club and founder of JJB Sports, is launching an investment fund to snap up retail properties on the country's high streets.

Mr Whelan, who sold his 29 per cent stake in JJB for £190m last year, has teamed up with former colleague Barry Dunn to establish Wheldone Investments. Mr Dunn left the sports retailer on Friday; he had been property director since 1995.

A source close to the pair said: "This is a very simple process. Wheldone will buy major retail sites on the high street. But these will be little blocks of two or three units – this is virtually a family portfolio." Companies House filings show Wheldone was only incorporated in August.

Mr Whelan and his family are estimated to be worth £200m after tax.

Another football chairman, Steve Morgan of Wolverhampton Wanderers, said that he was considering buying cheap land from beleaguered house builders.

Mr Morgan made his fortune through listed house builder Redrow, and is now chairman at Harrow Estates. This private company typically buys polluted land, cleans it up and then sells it at a premium to a real-estate developer, once planning permission is secured.

He said: "We're looking at buying land [in the downturn] but prices have been slow to come down so far."