Thu Dec 03, 2015 7:12 am
The Telegraph
ERS
Bolton face administration if HMRC issues winding-up order
Little progress has been made in establishing a preferred bidder for the beleagured club
Bolton face administration if HMRC issues winding-up order
Bolton face an uncertain future
By Steven Sutcliffe7:
03 Dec 2015
Bolton Wanderers are facing the prospect of administration if Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs issues a winding-up order.
With the club rooted to the foot of the Championship, the mood at the Macron Stadium deteriorated further on Monday when they were unable to pay the wages of their senior players.
Despite tentative talks between Trevor Birch – the insolvency expert employed by the Bolton owner, Eddie Davies, to hasten the sale of the club – and three consortia of interested parties, little progress has been made in establishing a preferred bidder.
• Bolton's downward spiral has no end in sight
Dean Holdsworth, the former Bolton forward, is fronting one consortium. Stelios Giannakopoulos, the popular Greek midfielder, also a former player at the club, is working with a rival bidder.
Those talks remain ongoing yet the prospect of resolving the crisis in the short term remains bleak. With Davies no longer prepared to bankroll a club losing almost £1 million a month and with total debts accelerating towards £200 million, cash-flow has become a fundamental obstacle.
• Bolton confirm Eddie Davies will 'gift' club £185m
Despite being able to pay staff and their younger players (earning less than £500 per week), the club have no money left in the pot to meet the PAYE demand of around £300,000 due this month.
Gallows humour abounded on Tuesday at a meeting between the players, Birch and a delegation from the Professional Footballers’ Association that included the chief executive, Gordon Taylor.
Even if a sale were agreed, the likelihood is that the duration of a due diligence period would leave the players facing a second month (over Christmas and new year) without pay. The PFA has indicated a willingness to offer a short-term loan to partly meet those wages but there is ambiguity over the level of finance it could realistically contribute to the wages of high-earning Championship players.