The administrators of Wigan Athletic football club said they are confident of finding a buyer after its new Hong Kong-based owner dramatically walked away last week, sparking calls for tighter ownership rules around English football.

Wigan is the third English professional club to enter administration this season and its sudden collapse has cast a fresh spotlight over governance in the home of the game, and its reliance on overseas investors — often with gambling interests.

Lisa Nandy, the shadow foreign secretary and MP for Wigan, has called for a government investigation into the club’s collapse, which she described as a “global scandal”. On Wednesday she said the English Football League, which runs football outside the Premier League, the country’s top division, must tighten its rules around ownership.