Supporters trust/fans buyout

luckyPeterpiper wrote:

Breadman wrote:

luckyPeterpiper wrote:Bread, what I mean by that is if there was a potential buyer who didn't want to be named publicly then Trevor Birch could show the details to HMRC in complete confidence. They wouldn't violate the confidential nature of the bid but if they believed it was a realistic proposal that would see them get their money they would have refrained from serving the petition. They wouldn't have to say a word to explain why they hadn't sought to wind us up, they could simply remain silent. 

I just can't see that scenario playing out at all, Pete.

If companies could avoid HMRC issuing winding-up petitions by simply showing documentation from mystery potential buyers, they'd all be at it and HMRC would never recover any money owed.

"S'alright, guv, we've got this bloke what wants to buy the company and he'll pay you the money when he takes over."

"Oh, right then, " say HMRC, "Just tell him to give us a bell when he's settled in and we'll pop round and see him. No rush."

I'm sorry you misunderstood my post. It wasn't clear enough which is my bad. Trevor could show the HMRC all the details including the names and available resources of any bidder without violating the bidder's confidentiality. If the HMRC agreed that it was a viable bid and likely to be completed in a reasonable time frame they would then simply do nothing at all. They would make no statement and of course issue no petitions. They are well aware that when they do issue a petition it often stampedes other creditors into acting and makes matters for the troubled company even worse at the worst possible time. As a result they try to avoid issuing a wind up petition until and unless they feel there is no other choice. Obviously while the club is being bought/taken over etc HMRC would monitor the whole situation very closely as debt to them would continue to accrue but as long as they were confident they were going to be paid in timely fashion they wouldn't act overtly. In this case what especially worries me is that the debt to the tax office is relatively small at 600K but they must believe that they aren't going to get that or the further tax debts that will accrue while this business is going on in an acceptable time frame so they are acting now in a bid to prevent that debt growing to a totally unmanageable point.

I totally get what you're saying Peter but again there are too many unknowns to come to a conclusion about it. 
If TB mentioned the deal to HMRC (we don't know if he did or didn't) there's nothing he could say about it as no terms have as yet been agreed. 
Any potential deal may or may not make provision to pay HMRC within an acceptable timeframe so pointing at a potential deal would provide no reassurances for HMRC whatsoever.
And then of course the deal may never materialise (no thanks to HMRC!) 
So HMRC could only make their decision to make the petition on the basis of what money the club currently has - which is nothing.

For all any of us on here know, HMRC may well have been in dialogue with the club for months already.

It's not like a PAYE bill for £600 K pops up overnight, is it?

And then there's the rumoured VAT bill to consider.

Having thought about it a bit, I'm suspecting that the winding-up petition has been on the cards for a while.

The Mail broke the "Administration" story over a month ago, don't forget and it must have come from somewhere.

Is it feasible to conceive that this has been going on for months and the club entered into a dialogue with HMRC in an attempt to stave off the threat of them getting involved a while back?

"Listen, we owe you the money but we are now seriously considering selling to a new owner, so give us some slack for a couple of months, eh?" say ED / Gartside.

"Fair enough" says the Revenue "But no funny business - find a buyer quick or we step in. You've got X months and then all bet's are off."

Nothing much happens for a few weeks / months and the Revenue start squeezing.

So then suddenly, Gartside disappears, Birch arrives and suddenly we're miraculously awash with interested parties all apparently wanting to buy the club - allegedly.

But then it starts to drag on and doesn't appear to be going anywhere, despite a deal being "close to completion" for two weeks now.

(No real substance to any of the stories about bidders and all just part of ED's plan to take us into Administration, re-coup some of the money he's supposedly shelled out as the main creditor but still come out of it smelling of roses as I've already suggested?)

Then whallop, The Revenue have had enough of ED fannying about and serve notice.

This shit just got real.

Breaders, to me, your summation seems eminently feasible. I'll stick with this one for now.

Cheers, Glos - It all makes sense in my head anyway......

And in other news, there was a phone-in about the mess we're in on GMR earlier tonight with Jack Dearden and Marc Iles.

The club were asked if they wanted to contribute but they declined apparently.

Here's a link for anybody who's interested:

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Thanks Bread. I'm sure I'll go to bed in a lot happier frame of mind. Not.

Happy to help. 

can you imagine our fans owning the club deary deary me.

We wouldn't get through the first meeting !

Breadman wrote:For all any of us on here know, HMRC may well have been in dialogue with the club for months already.

It's not like a PAYE bill for £600 K pops up overnight, is it?

And then there's the rumoured VAT bill to consider.

Having thought about it a bit, I'm suspecting that the winding-up petition has been on the cards for a while.

The Mail broke the "Administration" story over a month ago, don't forget and it must have come from somewhere.

Is it feasible to conceive that this has been going on for months and the club entered into a dialogue with HMRC in an attempt to stave off the threat of them getting involved a while back?

"Listen, we owe you the money but we are now seriously considering selling to a new owner, so give us some slack for a couple of months, eh?" say ED / Gartside.

"Fair enough" says the Revenue "But no funny business - find a buyer quick or we step in. You've got X months and then all bet's are off."

Nothing much happens for a few weeks / months and the Revenue start squeezing.

So then suddenly, Gartside disappears, Birch arrives and suddenly we're miraculously awash with interested parties all apparently wanting to buy the club - allegedly.

But then it starts to drag on and doesn't appear to be going anywhere, despite a deal being "close to completion" for two weeks now.

(No real substance to any of the stories about bidders and all just part of ED's plan to take us into Administration, re-coup some of the money he's supposedly shelled out as the main creditor but still come out of it smelling of roses as I've already suggested?)

Then whallop, The Revenue have had enough of ED fannying about and serve notice.

This shit just got real.

Sadly I think you might just have nailed it with that thought Breadman. Unfortunately I don't think Eddie's vision of this is as clear as yours and he's got his head in the sand hoping the problem will go away. I don't know what will happen next but I doubt we're going to see a "White Knight" charge in now. I'm almost 100% certain we'll be in admin next week and that we'll be in League One next season with a vastly reduced squad and infrastructure assuming we can find anyone to buy us out of admin that is.

Is there any reason why the current bidders cannot buy us at a cheaper rate. once we've gone into administration ?

gloswhite wrote:Is there any reason why the current bidders cannot buy us at a cheaper rate. once we've gone into administration ?

no glos, there isn't a reason current bidders can't buy us out of admin. In admin, the administrator by law has to get the most he/she can for assets, but as a football club in admin, that value will be less than a going concern....generally. If suddenly through admin all our expensive players go, and small creditors accept a small pence on the pund, suddenly the asset looks higher compared to outgoings, so the cost of something no longer losing £750k per month may in fact go up.

Thanks Amanda. Just confirming my thoughts that there is no reason to pay over the odds, when all you have to do is wait. Mind you, when we win at Hull today, that will put a whole new perspective on the proceedings.

gloswhite wrote: Mind you, when we win at Hull today, that will put a whole new perspective on the proceedings.

bwfc1874 wrote:

gloswhite wrote: Mind you, when we win at Hull today, that will put a whole new perspective on the proceedings.

Oh well. On to the next one.

Neil will keep going until he drops and hopefully by the end of January he'll have something to work with other than the shower (for the most part) that are out there now. Personally I think the man must be made of granite not to have walked already with all the bad news coming in from every side. He sounded a bit down tonight, tired and stressed but I think he'll take the weekend to recharge his batteries and come back to work Monday ready to dig in and fight again. I just wish more of the players would get in the trenches with him.

Please see my post on the other thread

JAH wrote:Please see my post on the other thread

I did, please see mine.

Fundraisers who pledged to pay wages of Bolton Wanderers staff now say money will go to charity

Bolton Wanderers fans who pledged to raise money to pay the wages of club staff have said proceeds will now be donated to charity.

Club officials announced on Wednesday that non-playing employees would be paid as normal today, so fundraisers have now said that more than £7,000 which has already been raised will go to charity.

Fundraisers will still be at the Macron Stadium before tomorrow's match against Fulham, where they had been due to hold collections for club staff.

Fan Nick Parton has also organised charity auctions, with a rare Wanderers Burnden Park disaster shirt up for grabs.

In addition, a round of golf with Wanderers legend John McGinlay is being auctioned off, with the former striker also set to sign five T-shirts created by the fundraisers.

The money raised will be split between St Ann's Hospice, Derian House Children's Hospice and the incubator unit at Royal Bolton Hospital.

Mr Parton, aged 38, said: "It was shocking that the normal staff might not have got their wages. They are normal people, they are not on silly money like the players, but thankfully they are getting paid.

"We had always planned to give the money to charity if Wanderers said that staff would be paid, and we agreed these charities in advance.

"They are all really good causes and we hope that people will still get behind us and dig deep for worthy charities."

In recent weeks, it had been hoped there would be a takeover of the club by new owners but talks are ongoing — headed up by advisor Trevor Birch.

Mr Parton, who has been a Wanderers fan for more than three decades, said he hopes this is the start of some more positive news for the club, which has been stricken by financial problems.

He added: "The players fought back well against Charlton, and it was good to see some fighting spirit.

"Hopefully this will be a turning point, and hopefully a takeover can be agreed soon to pump some money back into the club."

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