When do you think a deal will be done

The cash to do what? I don't for one minute believe they have the cash to run a football club, and if I'm wrong and they do, do they have the smarts to actually run a business? Doubt it.

Certainly some of the stuff written on their website would suggest it'd be a stretch.

I don't understand why you are so against them, if they've met the demands and passed the fit and proper test. They've given you no reason to doubt that they can't run the club

Because I want us to get new owners who actually have a vision for the club, and one that allows us to be successful.

I don't see Dean bloody Holdsworth as someone with the knowledge or business nouse to run a football club, and he certainly doesn't have the money to run one.

obviously I will wait and see what he brings with him in his consortium, hopefully the right pieces, but again, I don't understand why a mega rich person would need Dean Holdsworth. I just don't get this whole "sports shield" thing at all.

Hipster_Nebula wrote:Because I want us to get new owners who actually have a vision for the club, and one that allows us to be successful.

I don't see Dean bloody Holdsworth as someone with the knowledge or business nouse to run a football club, and he certainly doesn't have the money to run one.

obviously I will wait and see what he brings with him in his consortium, hopefully the right pieces, but again, I don't understand why a mega rich person would need Dean Holdsworth. I just don't get this whole "sports shield" thing at all.

I think Holdsworth's presence is for a very obvious reason. It's there as a familiar face to try and gain the fan's trust and favour from the off. What is less clear is why the rest of Sports Shield feel the need for such a move. Is it to hide a true moyive that we wouldn't like (eg asset stripping?) or to buy time for them to properly rearrange the club in a way that might not see immediate improvements on the field? (By that I mean are we more likely to be patient with someone who's popular with the fans in the boardroom as we were with Owen Coyle when he was manager?)

It's also unlikely that a mega rich person would buys us right now, such men and women tend to be mega-rich because they know a good deal when they see one and also a bad one. There isn't enough of fanbase or revenue stream for this club to be a big profit maker in the long run so I suspect what Dean is fronting is a group of people who are reasonably wealthy in their own right (ie seven or possibly eight figure bank accounts) but aren't mega rich in football club terms (like Mansour or Abramovitch). 

The thing that bothers me most is the comments from Iles and the BN about Eddie moving the goalposts again whenever SSI actually meet his demands. I'd like to know for sure if that is true and if so why is he doing it? The deafening silence from him and the boardroom makes him look worse every day.

You don't have to be rich to run a football club well but it does help a lot if you want to compete on a level playing field. 
I'm slightly concerned about the alleged moving of the goalposts though. I assume ED has received assurances regarding the degree of austerity required to put BWFC back on an even keel but has now thought of something else - which he's entitled to do as it's his shares that are up for sale, but what a pain in the ass he is turning out to be.

Mind you, if he's being a pain in the ass to protect the club I have no complaints, but he doesn't want to put them off altogether.

Another 48 hours!

wanderlust wrote:You don't have to be rich to run a football club well but it does help a lot if you want to compete on a level playing field. 
I'm slightly concerned about the alleged moving of the goalposts though. I assume ED has received assurances regarding the degree of austerity required to put BWFC back on an even keel but has now thought of something else - which he's entitled to do as it's his shares that are up for sale, but what a pain in the ass he is turning out to be.

Mind you, if he's being a pain in the ass to protect the club I have no complaints, but he doesn't want to put them off altogether.

I'm getting more and more concerned by and suspicious of the ST business to be honest. And I'm beginning to suspect some back room deal has been done to ensure Eddie's mates who now (amazingly and entirely coincidentally) happen to be in charge of the ST get to buy the club so no matter what SSI or any other bidder does he'll keep moving the goalposts until they all walk leaving him free to hand the club to his cronies. I'm sorry lusty, I know you want to believe Eddie is doing all this for the club's benefit and I'd like to believe it myself but this business stinks more every day.

luckyPeterpiper wrote:

wanderlust wrote:You don't have to be rich to run a football club well but it does help a lot if you want to compete on a level playing field. 
I'm slightly concerned about the alleged moving of the goalposts though. I assume ED has received assurances regarding the degree of austerity required to put BWFC back on an even keel but has now thought of something else - which he's entitled to do as it's his shares that are up for sale, but what a pain in the ass he is turning out to be.

Mind you, if he's being a pain in the ass to protect the club I have no complaints, but he doesn't want to put them off altogether.

I'm sorry lusty, I know you want to believe Eddie is doing all this for the club's benefit and I'd like to believe it myself but this business stinks more every day.

I only say this because there is no evidence whatsoever that ED doesn't have the clubs interest at heart. A lot of total guesswork, a lot of spurious conclusions drawn, a lot of imagination at work but absolutely zero evidence that ED is in some way trying to harm the club.

There are however 180,000,000 reasons to suggest that he is doing everything he can for the club so until I see some actual evidence to the contrary it seems a reasonable assumption to make.

And not accepting the first asset-stripping offer made might come across as a little obstructive, but if I was about to turn over £180 million of loans free of charge and sell my majority shareholding for next to nothing I'd be making damned sure that I was selling them to the right people and that they gave assurances that they aren't about to destroy what I've spent the last 20 years or so building up.

I have become totally numb about this whole sorry continuing saga, so much so, that I have lost the will to read another article on the takeover ( if there actually is one!) 

Why doesn't someone in authority on the board actually come out and tell us fans exactly wtf is happening?

Sluffy wrote:

y2johnny wrote:Someone has just pointed out that the new chairmen of the steering group of the st is;

@BWFCST  #BWFC So is Richard Hurst the same bloke who is on the board of the free school along with Gartside so already a part of the club?

All a bit strange.

Brett Warburton is also one of the Directors at the Free School too.

Also Hurst is listed as Chairman of Trustees At Bolton Arena.

Other interest include being the chairman of Richard Threlfall Group Ltd and a director at Markland Hill LTC Ltd, Orseal Ltd and Sil-teq Ltd.

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Being a Governor on the Free school, doesn't mean he's had a say on the running of the football club. Same as Arena.

If I work for you and you've been a director of the football club and we both are governors of Rumworth School. Should I be barred from being elected chair of the supporters trust? Not in my opinion.

Personally think this is irrelevant - a conspiracy theory too far

(A) He's not a Governor, he's on the Board

and

(B) It proves he knows Gartside and has worked with him in the past and it's either a very naive, innocent move by the ST to appoint him or it's something more sinister. Either way, it's poor.

I take your point Full of Sprite and I'm no doubt sure that Hurst is an honest man.

The thing is though that not only does he clearly knows Gartside (and Warburton too for that matter) he is also linked directly with Peacock (see my post on the Sport Shield thread) who has, as leader of the Steering Committee appointed him as their chair.

He is linked quite clearly to all parties in this matter and as such his independence from them is open to question in very much the same way as Lady Butler-Sloss found herself in when appointed to head the enquiry into child abuse.  Or to paraphrase Edgar Alan Poe 'not only should they be pure but also above suspicion of impurity too'.

Sluffy wrote:I take your point Full of Sprite and I'm no doubt sure that Hurst is an honest man.

The thing is though that not only does he clearly knows Gartside (and Warburton too for that matter) he is also linked directly with Peacock (see my post on the Sport Shield thread) who has, as leader of the Steering Committee appointed him as their chair.

He is linked quite clearly to all parties in this matter and as such his independence from them is open to question in very much the same way as Lady Butler-Sloss found herself in when appointed to head the enquiry into child abuse.  Or to paraphrase Edgar Alan Poe 'not only should they be pure but also above suspicion of impurity too'.

Just think that this could ultimately damage Bolton Wanderers, as they will lose a lot of expertise. If you sponsored the former regime does that bar you?



I met PG once, and had crossed words with him - so that bars me. So may as well not join the supporters trust as I'd never be allowed to serve under these terms of reference

Breadman wrote:(A) He's not a Governor, he's on the Board

and

(B) It proves he knows Gartside and has worked with him in the past and it's either a very naive, innocent move by the ST to appoint him or it's something more sinister. Either way, it's poor.

He has not been on the football club board. He is on the Free School board as he was Principal of Bolton College at one time.

FullofSprite wrote:

Sluffy wrote:I take your point Full of Sprite and I'm no doubt sure that Hurst is an honest man.

The thing is though that not only does he clearly knows Gartside (and Warburton too for that matter) he is also linked directly with Peacock (see my post on the Sport Shield thread) who has, as leader of the Steering Committee appointed him as their chair.

He is linked quite clearly to all parties in this matter and as such his independence from them is open to question in very much the same way as Lady Butler-Sloss found herself in when appointed to head the enquiry into child abuse.  Or to paraphrase Edgar Alan Poe 'not only should they be pure but also above suspicion of impurity too'.

Just think that this could ultimately damage Bolton Wanderers, as they will lose a lot of expertise. If you sponsored the former regime does that bar you?



I met PG once, and had crossed words with him - so that bars me. So may as well not join the supporters trust as I'd never be allowed to serve under these terms of reference

I doubt very much that an equally good replacement for him could be found who is not so closely linked with ALL the main players involved - both on the club side AND the ST.

Impartiality counts a great deal for me in circumstances like this and it will not help anyone in the long run imo as people will only keep harping back to how the ST was in such and such pocket or other when it was formed.

Start as you mean to go on would have been my advice to those involved in ventures like this.

"Lots going on in the last few hours. Will have answers soon" Nixon on the takeover

About bloody time too !

Yeah, course we will........

Deal done "in the next 48 hrs" by any chance.....?

Iles - First time in a while, I sense progress is being made in #bwfc takeover. Cannot answer 100s of Qs. Info will be in the paper/online.

Whaddya reckon, Boggers?

Has Deano fucked off or is he still sniffing round?