Championship side Wigan Athletic have been placed into administration and will face a 12 point deduction, the EFL has confirmed.

A statement said Paul Stanley, Gerald Krasner and Dean Watson from Begbies Traynor had been appointed as joint administrators of the club on Wednesday.

It comes after the Latics, who beat Rovers 2-0 last weekend, climbed to 14th in the table as they made it three wins out of three since the re-start, and seven clean sheets on the spin, with victory over Stoke City on Tuesday night.

However, the future of the club was placed in to doubt on Wednesday afternoon when news of administrators being appointed was broken.

Krasner said: "Our immediate objectives are to ensure the club completes all its fixtures this season and to urgently find interested parties to save Wigan Athletic FC and the jobs of the people who work for the club.

"Obviously the suspension of the Championship season due to Covid-19 has had a significant impact on the recent fortunes of the club.

"Wigan Athletic has been a focal point and source of pride for the town since 1932 and anyone who is interested in buying this historic sporting institution should contact the joint administrators directly."

The club recorded a net loss of £9.2million in their most recent annual accounts for the year ending June 30, 2019, an increase of £1.5m on the previous year.

The club were owned by JJB Sports co-founder Dave Whelan until November 2018, when he and his family sold to the Hong Kong-based International Entertainment Corporation (IEC).

There was a further change of ownership on May 29 of this year, when IEC divested its ownership to Next Leader Fund.

IEC said in a letter to fans its decision came "after thorough assessment of several factors including the club's financial position, management team and objectives, particularly the promotion to the Premier League".

The letter added: "There are areas of misalignment in expectations which we feel may hinder our partnership going forward.

"Combining with the outbreak of the Covid-19 has created more uncertainty around the financial position of the EFL and the football business as a whole."

The EFL said the club would be subject to a 12-point deduction, but that the timing of it could only be decided upon once the final Championship table is determined.

If the club are relegated by on-field results, the sanction would be applied in League One next season.

If the club stay outside of the bottom three, the sanction would be applied to the 2019-20 table.

If the sanction were applied currently, the Latics would be bottom of the table, four points adrift of safety.

"The EFL is awaiting formal notification from the administrators and once the league has received this it will commence discussions with the relevant individuals with the aim of achieving a long-term future for the club," an EFL statement said.

Former owner Whelan, a player at Rovers between 1956 and 1960, said he was "shocked" by the news and would now make enquiries about how he could assist the club.

"It's so sudden. I just cannot understand what they have done, it's just so sudden," he told talkSPORT.

"I built the stadium for them, I paid £60million to build that stadium, so that Wigan Athletic and Wigan rugby had somewhere to play, and when I sold the club it was in good condition, perfect. I'm in total shock.

"I'll have to stick my nose in a little and have a look, to see if I can find out what's caused it. I'll have to just try because the people of Wigan will be in absolute shock, because I am.

"Wigan is Wigan and I built the stadium, so I am going to have to see if I can help in any way, shape or form."