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2015-16 REVIEW: The saga of how Bolton Wanderers almost went out of business and were finally soldWanderers fans had never had to understand terms like validation orders and share purchase agreements, but they were dealt a crash course in business finance as the club sailed close to administration this season. Marc Iles guides us through the ups and downs.
IT was no secret Wanderers were up for sale, in fact Eddie Davies recently claimed he had been trying to sell the club for four years.
By the start of this season, however, things were getting desperate, and after talks with investors from Ireland, South Korea, the Middle East and a Stelios-led consortium from Greece/Canada, there had been no progress at all.
Phil Gartside had been doing the leg work, sussing out the “tyre kickers”, as he referred to the many time wasters who got to the table. It was a thankless task but when Davies – or rather his trust – cut off the funds completely, it became a much more urgent one.
At this point the former chairman approached Sports Shield, the investment group co-owned by Dean Holdsworth. He had not approached the former striker to invite a bid, he had done so to make one himself.
Gartside was looking to go it alone and become more than just chairman.
Despite several weeks of negotiating terms, none were agreed, and by the start of the season the club was back to square one in its search for a credible new owner. Holdsworth’s interest had been pricked, however, as we later found out.
Money gained from Tim Ream’s sale at the end of the summer window had been promised to Neil Lennon for signings. The alarm bells started to sound when that money was swallowed up to pay the bills.
Losing £1million a month, Wanderers were sinking fast without investment. Rumours of impending administration were batted away by the chairman at the start of November, shortly before illness forced him to retire from the public spotlight.
Trevor Birch, football’s Red Adair, was recruited by Davies to come in and make some sense of things. He wasted no time in declaring a state of emergency.
Wanderers were insolvent. An unpaid tax and VAT bill booked them the first of three High Court dates with HMRC and accounts were frozen as a total transfer embargo was put in place.
The PFA were forced to mediate after players were not paid their monthly salary and administration staff also had to suffer at Christmas with a late payment.
Offices were sold to Prescot Business Park Ltd, co-owned by lifelong Wanderers fan Michael James and Tom Morris, the man behind Home Bargains. The same company would later gazump Middlebrook and buy the North Stand car park land in a joint venture with the club but not without another trip to the High Court to unfreeze accounts.
The first team training ground at Euxton was sold to raise short-term funds. It did not help the mood around Bolton that the buyers were local rivals Wigan Athletic.
Investors came and went from the negotiating table at an alarming rate, each throwing a certain amount of mud at the other behind the scenes. Holdsworth – one of the only bidders to avoid such unpleasantness – stuck out to the last.
At one point the Supporters’ Trust looked to be the saviours of the club, their opening meeting attracting more than 1,000 fans and no shortage of financial backing. Alas, the bureaucracy required to get the trust legally binding did not work in their favour and unless the club dipped into administration, their chances were slim.
Holdsworth’s persistence finally paid off in February. He had been dealt a huge blow when joint funder Bruce Gordon pulled out of the deal – frustrated at the lack of flexibility being shown by seller, Davies – but was then aided by a long-time associate, and former football agent Ken Anderson.
Anderson had previously been banned for eight years as a company director but that issue had expired and as the club hovered their finger over the administration button on a crucial day in court, a signed share purchase agreement from Davies arrived at the last possible moment to signal the sale of the club.
Relief turned to anxiety as the club was forced to wait for the bid to be ratified by the Football League. It was no formality, it turned out, and that too turned out to be a last-minute affair.
Solicitors worked around the clock to provide the Football League with the paperwork and assurances they required, alongside the massive amount of due diligence still to be done.
Whether the deal, rushed through in an effort to save Wanderers, conceded too much to former owner Davies is unclear. He retains £15million of debt in the company and is guaranteed payments at Championship level or above for five years.
Whether the Football League were right to wave the business plan and proof of funds through and save one of their founder members the embarrassment of administration is another matter which is often debated by fans.
What is beyond doubt, however, is that the takeover saved Wanderers from the heartbreak of administration – something which Holdsworth had been particularly keen to do.
It is now for the new ownership to show that their marriage of convenience can last and that the squabbles which have blighted their early weeks in charge are only a trivial and temporary issue.
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