Updated: 8th May 2019
Bolton Wanderers in Administration
Bolton Wanderers Football Club has been taken into administration ahead of a High Court date which would’ve seen it facing a winding up order based on being unable to pay a £1.2 million tax bill.
That court case has now been adjourned until May 22nd with the football club set to appoint administrators.
Bolton’s chairman Ken Anderson has issued a statement saying he has been left with “little or no choice” but to place the club into administration because it appears “not possible” for a resolution to its financial problems to be found.
“I understand the serious implications administration will bring to the businesses,” he said. “But I have been left with no alternative, as this course of action will preserve the football club and all of its proud history.”
Mr Anderson has also detailed at length the reasons for his frustration and disappointment at not being able to secure a sale of Bolton Wanderers in recent months as its financial problems continued to worsen.
He expressed particular regret at having entertained a takeover approach from Laurence Bassini, formerly the chairman of Watford Football Club.
“Mr Bassini has failed to provide any adequate and acceptable proof of current and future funding to the EFL [English Football League], the other secured creditors or me despite him keep telling the media, and anyone else that listens, that he has the ability to perform since early March when first discussions were held with him and his advisors,” Mr Anderson wrote in his statement.
“His failure to perform has actually caused far greater hardship to the staff than would have occurred if he had not given undertakings he clearly cannot honour.”
Bolton Wanderers were recently relegated from the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football, to League One, and they are now set to start their new season in August having been hit with a 12 point deduction as a penalty for being placed into administration.
The club was recently forced to cancel a football match it was due to play because its players effectively went on strike because they hadn’t been paid their monthly wages.
Representatives of the club and an associated business, Bolton Whites Hotel, had been due to appear at the High Court on Wednesday May 8th for a hearing on the latest winding up petition being brought against them by HMRC.
