Ken Anderson - update.

Ten Bobsworth wrote:

Sluffy wrote:

Ten Bobsworth wrote:Something tells me that Marc Iles has been spying on Nuts and nicking my homework. He's still keeping stum, though, on the probable destination of Ken's 525K (before tax) consultancy fee and so is his  'mate' at the Daily Mail.

Clue No 1 has already been explained but anyone interested can find chapter and verse in the accounts of Inner Circle Investments here:

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Take a look at the cost of its investment in Burnden Leisure


Clue No. 2 is here:

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Take a quick look at the Progress Report on the liquidation of Sports Shield BWFC Ltd


Clue No. 3 is here:

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Take a look at the accounts of Sports Shield Investments Ltd for 2016, 2017 and 2018 (filed 3 days  ago).

Some might be curious about how an 'investment company' (with one employee, Dean Holdsworth) has managed to accumulate and distribute so much cash without ever having any investments on its balance sheet.


Clue No.4 is here:

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Sports  Shield Ltd - Another one man company with minimal share capital but 312K on its balance sheet at 31 March 2017.

Fascinating stuff (it is if you like things like this), thank you Ten Bob.

I can't pretended to understand all the details (and implications thereof) but clearly things run far, far deeper than most people knew (or even cared about).

If I've understood correctly some of what I've read it looks like BluMarble were seeking over £8 million in repayments - so it does look to me that Anderson did manage to negotiate that down by over £3 million - which of course was secured on the clubs assets by Holdsworth - with Anderson himself (ok it came from a personal loan to him from Eddie but as explained above he loses ownership of the club if he doesn't pay it back) putting in £5 million himself towards settling the debt (and others outstanding at the time - Heathcote's for one).

Clearly the accounts show Holdsworth has received (and still retains) a considerable some of money yet no one in the media (or ST) refers to this at all yet tweets about payments made to Anderson regarding consultation fees.

I wonder what our erstwhile club reporter would 'tweet' if it did turn out as you suspect that the 'consultation' fee was really just a means of enriching Holdsworth to walk away from the debacle he created with the BluMarble loan whilst having no money to pay it back with?

Obviously that is a rhetorical question because clearly Holdsworth is 'protected' from any criticism by his mate at the Bolton News!

In my opinion anyway.

There's a lot to comment on there, Sluffy, but it is true that there's been blind-eye turning and ludicrously false claims made on social media whilst Anderson has been made to look like the bad guy when its been Anderson that's done all the heavy lifting, taken on all the responsibilities and faced all the flack.

Meanwhile Dean Holdsworth and his advisors appear to have been the only ones profiting from the unaffordable amounts Anderson has had to find to keep Blumarble at bay whilst trying to reduce operating deficits and make the club into a more affordable proposition for new owners.

If I have time, I'll talk you through all the figures, as best I can, on another occasion. The trail is made more difficult to explain, and therefore to follow, because of the involvement of several companies and because some filed documents conflict starkly with others.

Which is probably why a number of potential investors see it as a basket case and run for the hills as they can't follow the audit trail for love nor money.

By the way folks Anderson has three days to come up with half the wages and if he doesn't the players can leave for free in January.

That's Ameobi gone then!

Nigelbwfc wrote:

Ten Bobsworth wrote:

Sluffy wrote:

Ten Bobsworth wrote:Something tells me that Marc Iles has been spying on Nuts and nicking my homework. He's still keeping stum, though, on the probable destination of Ken's 525K (before tax) consultancy fee and so is his  'mate' at the Daily Mail.

Clue No 1 has already been explained but anyone interested can find chapter and verse in the accounts of Inner Circle Investments here:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Take a look at the cost of its investment in Burnden Leisure


Clue No. 2 is here:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Take a quick look at the Progress Report on the liquidation of Sports Shield BWFC Ltd


Clue No. 3 is here:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Take a look at the accounts of Sports Shield Investments Ltd for 2016, 2017 and 2018 (filed 3 days  ago).

Some might be curious about how an 'investment company' (with one employee, Dean Holdsworth) has managed to accumulate and distribute so much cash without ever having any investments on its balance sheet.


Clue No.4 is here:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Sports  Shield Ltd - Another one man company with minimal share capital but 312K on its balance sheet at 31 March 2017.

Fascinating stuff (it is if you like things like this), thank you Ten Bob.

I can't pretended to understand all the details (and implications thereof) but clearly things run far, far deeper than most people knew (or even cared about).

If I've understood correctly some of what I've read it looks like BluMarble were seeking over £8 million in repayments - so it does look to me that Anderson did manage to negotiate that down by over £3 million - which of course was secured on the clubs assets by Holdsworth - with Anderson himself (ok it came from a personal loan to him from Eddie but as explained above he loses ownership of the club if he doesn't pay it back) putting in £5 million himself towards settling the debt (and others outstanding at the time - Heathcote's for one).

Clearly the accounts show Holdsworth has received (and still retains) a considerable some of money yet no one in the media (or ST) refers to this at all yet tweets about payments made to Anderson regarding consultation fees.

I wonder what our erstwhile club reporter would 'tweet' if it did turn out as you suspect that the 'consultation' fee was really just a means of enriching Holdsworth to walk away from the debacle he created with the BluMarble loan whilst having no money to pay it back with?

Obviously that is a rhetorical question because clearly Holdsworth is 'protected' from any criticism by his mate at the Bolton News!

In my opinion anyway.

There's a lot to comment on there, Sluffy, but it is true that there's been blind-eye turning and ludicrously false claims made on social media whilst Anderson has been made to look like the bad guy when its been Anderson that's done all the heavy lifting, taken on all the responsibilities and faced all the flack.

Meanwhile Dean Holdsworth and his advisors appear to have been the only ones profiting from the unaffordable amounts Anderson has had to find to keep Blumarble at bay whilst trying to reduce operating deficits and make the club into a more affordable proposition for new owners.

If I have time, I'll talk you through all the figures, as best I can, on another occasion. The trail is made more difficult to explain, and therefore to follow, because of the involvement of several companies and because some filed documents conflict starkly with others.

Which is probably why a number of potential investors see it as a basket case and run for the hills as they can't follow the audit trail for love nor money.

By the way folks Anderson has three days to come up with half the wages and if he doesn't the players can leave for free in January.

That's Ameobi gone then!

Its a loss-making business, just like most Championship clubs, and has been loss-making for the last twenty years.

Potential investors don't need to follow the audit trail, they just need to assess the current financial position, the future prospects and how much they are willing to lose. There are always bound to be time-wasters and chancers around though.

I see Marc Iles is ONCE AGAIN blurring the facts and playing to the gallery of lynch mob types. The wages bill is the club's bill not Ken Anderson's personal liability. He's never claimed to be a philanthropist and, if he was, there is no shortage of worthy causes that could turn a few hundred grand to good use.

Not sure that Anderson has any more cards to play now that ED is no longer a bailout option and there can't be many more club assets that he hasn't pawned already. 
Perhaps his only option is to accept a realistic valuation for the club instead of "finding fault" with investors who are unwilling to give him a big payoff?

wanderlust wrote:Not sure that Anderson has any more cards to play now that ED is no longer a bailout option and there can't be many more club assets that he hasn't pawned already. 
Perhaps his only option is to accept a realistic valuation for the club instead of "finding fault" with investors who are unwilling to give him a big payoff?

Agreed Lusty- but that could take months and in the meantime he can't afford the monthly outgoings without paying them himself. That's chucking good money after bad. I think its been on a  knife edge for some weeks now and finally its got to the point where we're about to fall off the knife edge into the chasm- unless he can find a white knight in the next few weeks.
Don't buy anyone  a half season ticket for Christmas!!

wanderlust wrote:Not sure that Anderson has any more cards to play now that ED is no longer a bailout option and there can't be many more club assets that he hasn't pawned already. 
Perhaps his only option is to accept a realistic valuation for the club instead of "finding fault" with investors who are unwilling to give him a big payoff?

Ken Anderson may well be running out of time and options and he will understand that better than anyone. But can you tell me what assets he 'pawned'?

New financial arrangements were made with ED in September 2018 and this allowed Blumarble to finally be paid off. The only other mortgage charge since KA arrived on the scene was the one that Dean Holdsworth signed over to Blumarble in March 2016.

So where have you got the idea that KA has 'pawned' anything? If its by reading the BN, my only advice would be 'don't'.

Excuse my lack of financial acumen but here goes - would it not now be worth taking administration sooner rather than later and taking the points deduction as we look doomed to relegation anyway?

If we did go into administration would that makes us a more attractive deal for an investor? Don't all shout at me at once for thinking out loud and thinking the worst 

Norpig wrote:Excuse my lack of financial acumen but here goes - would it not now be worth taking administration sooner rather than later and taking the points deduction as we look doomed to relegation anyway?

If we did go into administration would that makes us a more attractive deal for an investor? Don't all shout at me at once for thinking out loud and thinking the worst 

Not sure we're definitely going to be relegated despite the current position as the Norwich game gave signs for optimism if they can reproduce that effort against other teams, however that's a big if.

I thought administration may have been a better option at the time Anderson took over but that's water under the bridge now and it's a path filled with uncertainty anyway.

From what I've heard, going into admin now may encourage proper investors although it may be too late as I believe anderson has turned away potential buyers as they wouldn't meet his payoff demands and valuation. If that turns out to be the case it puts Anderson in a difficult position in the interim as he will have to carefully consider if it's realistic that he gets a payoff or not. He obviously would like one, and his personal investment/exposure is minimal but his chances are not looking good. As Rammy says, we are in danger if sliding into the financial abyss.

Unfortunately, we're only likely to find out what's really going on retrospectively by which time it will have happened.

Norpig wrote:Excuse my lack of financial acumen but here goes - would it not now be worth taking administration sooner rather than later and taking the points deduction as we look doomed to relegation anyway?

If we did go into administration would that makes us a more attractive deal for an investor? Don't all shout at me at once for thinking out loud and thinking the worst 

You massive bellend, you're just encouraging these gobshites to write page after page of more waffle.

The sooner this site gets back to talking about gay sex and my love life (not the same thing before anyone pipes up), the better.

You are always saying it's quiet on here Nat so it should encourage some healthy debate (well until Sluffy calls Lusty a WUM/deluded etc and it all goes to shit again) 

Latest statement from Ken is very informative. Panto on soon with tickets still available. Be loud be proud folks.

Not paying the players was indeed all a misunderstanding.

Ten Bobsworth wrote:

wanderlust wrote:Not sure that Anderson has any more cards to play now that ED is no longer a bailout option and there can't be many more club assets that he hasn't pawned already. 
Perhaps his only option is to accept a realistic valuation for the club instead of "finding fault" with investors who are unwilling to give him a big payoff?

Ken Anderson may well be running out of time and options and he will understand that better than anyone. But can you tell me what assets he 'pawned'?

New financial arrangements were made with ED in September 2018 and this allowed Blumarble to finally be paid off. The only other mortgage charge since KA arrived on the scene was the one that Dean Holdsworth signed over to Blumarble in March 2016.

So where have you got the idea that KA has 'pawned' anything? If its by reading the BN, my only advice would be 'don't'.

It's difficult to evidence as the last financial statements were prepared by Anderson but the independent auditors were unable to form an opinion i.e. confirm that they were a true set of accounts so we don't know what the real picture is.
The statements were further complicated by ED writing of a massive amount of debt which gave Anderson wriggle room to claim pretty much anything depending on how they were written down. We can't therefore read anything into the financial statements although the auditor's reticence to endorse them is a worrying sign.
As such we won't know the reality of what he's doing to the club until it comes out in the wash.
In the interim I'm going off what I've heard from people close to the club who do not wish to be identified for obvious reasons.

As an ex-auditor, I think that the reticence of the auditors to sign off the Accounts as a true and fair view was about their concern about whether the business was a going concern or not. To say that they couldn't confirm this would have probably have triggered the immediate repayments of any loans from commercial lenders ( such as the high street banks) and effectively closes the door on any future borrowing.. No business in its right mind wants a qualified audit report so he can't be blamed for attempting to delay signing off until he'd convinced Cowgill Holloway ( the current auditor, I believe) hat the business was a going concern.
We'll get that sort of performance every year end whilst the current scenario is in place.

Disappointing as the defeat was at Norwich City on Saturday afternoon, we can all take a lot of heart in how our performances have improved in recent weeks.

At Carrow Road we more than matched our top-of-the-table opponents throughout the match and our performance was brave and battling. Indeed with a bit of good fortune we could have taken an early lead.  

To not let our heads go down after going two goals behind is indicative of the camaraderie and never-say-die spirit that is within the changing room at present and nobody could argue that we deserved a point when Sammy Ameobi and Mark Beevers got us back into the contest.

Losing right at the death like that is gut wrenching to say the least but we can most certainly build on that performance when we take on Leeds United at the University of Bolton Stadium this Saturday.

Thank you to all the supporters who made the long trip to Norfolk and for getting behind the team. Your support makes a huge difference and inspires the players.

Once again, we were at the wrong end of refereeing decisions in not being awarded a clear cut penalty and also with Sammy getting a second yellow card, which we thought was very harsh. I completely empathise with the manager who felt the need to send the referees’ chief Dave Allison a compilation of contentious penalty appeals that have not gone our way.

It really is unfathomable how we are not getting the rub of the green in this regard and I hope that they find a way to improve matters sooner rather than later.

As l have repeatedly said on many occasions, l will always do my utmost to be open and transparent and therefore will once again try and clarify what is currently happening both on and off the pitch.

Last Thursday l had what l thought was a constructive and meaningful discussion with several senior players and management, where l made a proposal to them about the payment of their November salaries. At the end of the discussion they thanked me for explaining and clarifying the position and said they would speak with the rest of the squad and get back to me.

Later on Thursday one of the senior players sent me a text saying, ‘we appreciate the offer you have made to us. Gordon Taylor from the PFA is going to act on our behalf and call you ASAP.’

Unfortunately, this meant that the payment proposal that l had made to them would now be further delayed.

I subsequently had a friendly and constructive telephone conversation with Gordon Taylor from the PFA where he asked me if we needed any financial help and if they could assist us in any way. To be absolutely clear Gordon called me and the club had not previously approached the PFA for any financial assistance.

During the conversation with Gordon we reached an agreement, but unfortunately the documentation that subsequently followed on Friday did not reflect what l thought had been agreed, which further delayed everything yet again.

I had another conversation with Gordon yesterday and what l thought had been agreed is now accepted and hopefully will bring this matter to a swift end and we can all move on.

For the record, some of the comments in the media are once again are wide of the mark and not for the first time. I really don’t know where they get some of the rubbish they regularly write from and I can only assume they make it up to sell their newspapers. Whatever it is they really do need to review the source of their information if they want to be regarded and treated as serious journalists.

As regards the media comments about the players going on strike, agents asking for transfers etc, once again, as far as l am concerned this is just more mischievous and negative journalism as l have no knowledge on either or where it originated.

To make it absolutely clear all our players are under contract with the exception of Stephen Ireland and Gary O‘Neill, whose contracts end early January and we will discuss the position with both of them over the next few weeks.

There has been some media speculation about a fire sale in January, but l can assure you that there is absolutely no truth or financial need for this and we will review what we do in the window nearer the time when the management team and l will discuss what has and hasn’t worked so far and what we all think is needed to strengthen and improve the squad for the run in to give us the best opportunity of retaining our Championship status.

Obviously, there are several players who have been on the periphery recently who want to kick on and be involved and do everything possible to get on the pitch and contribute to the challenges ahead but with many games coming up thick and fast between now and January the opportunity is there for everyone and as the manager said recently there is a chance for everyone to stake a place and show they can contribute and help us climb the table.

I think recent performances have shown a marked improvement and fortunately we are scoring goals once again, so l continue to be confident that the results we have deserved, but have missed out on, will come. The aim now must be to turn these performances into results and see the games out. As someone once told me, ‘the harder l work the luckier l become’ and l truly believe that the team are overdue some of that luck.

Leeds United are riding high in the Sky Bet Championship and as such will be tough opponents, but I believe we will give them a hard and competitive match and I’m confident that if we maintain the levels we showed at Carrow Road then we will be in a good position to get a positive result.

Leeds will be bringing a big following with them and it is imperative that our supporters get behind our players from the first whistle until the last and generate an intimidating atmosphere.

Tickets are available now to buy and I would urge you to get down to the University of Bolton Stadium and get behind the players en masse.

Half season tickets remain on sale and are available up until kick off of our Boxing Day clash against Rotherham United. They are the most cost effective way of watching our remaining home matches and start from just over £15 per match, so if you haven’t already bought one please click here for more information.

Throughout 2019 we have a number of commercial and sponsorship opportunities available including match day and match ball sponsorships as well as several hospitality packages. Click here to browse what’s available or call our Sales Team on 01204 673761.

Over at Bolton Central, we’ve got a lot of Wanderers’ related festive merchandise in store so why not browse our Christmas section on our online store and treat that special Wanderers fan in your life.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz family Christmas show has already started in the Premier Suite and there are shows right up until New Year’s Eve. The performances are receiving rave reviews and I would urge you to book on to one of the shows and treat your family over the festive period. Click here for more information.

Meanwhile, the Bolton Whites continues to host Christmas parties and events throughout December in the suites so if you haven’t already sorted out your work’s Christmas party why not give them a call on 01204 673610?

Don’t forget, it’s the BWFC Juniors Christmas party in the Lion of Vienna Suite on Thursday with a number of first team players in attendance. Click here to find out more information and we hope to see as many of our young fans as possible in attendance.

As usual, be loud, be proud and get behind the boys at the weekend as they look to get the results that their performances deserve.

Best wishes

Ken

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So although the PFA have kindly stepped in to pay half the wages, it's their fault there has been a delay to the players November wages

Its always someone else's fault that things don't get paid on time isn't it Ken?

Just had a letter concerning the Lifeline draw.

The Lifeline rollover draw will no longer continue, and, due to falling attendances (less than 10% turned up last year) the Lifeline party night has been cancelled for the foreseeable future.

My new membership card is very nice though.

rammywhite wrote:As an ex-auditor, I think that the reticence of the auditors to sign off the Accounts as a true and fair view was about their concern about whether the business was a going concern or not. To say that they couldn't confirm this would have probably have triggered the immediate repayments of any loans from commercial lenders ( such as the high street banks) and effectively closes the door on any future borrowing.. No business in its right mind wants a qualified audit report so he can't be blamed for attempting to delay signing off until he'd convinced Cowgill Holloway ( the current auditor, I believe) hat the business was a going concern.
We'll get that sort of performance every year end whilst the current scenario is in place.

Hang on, Rammy, isn't that exactly what the auditors did? i.e. issued a qualified audit report on the basis that they could not be satisfied that Burnden Leisure was 'a going concern', that is to say that there was not sufficient evidence to show that it would still be in business in twelve months after the date of the audit report, 14 March 2018.

You can find the 2017 accounts and auditors report (page 14/15) here:

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The fact that it has survived formal insolvency so far is largely the result of the skills of Ken Anderson and his team. I don't know what recent experience you may have of insolvency practitioners but don't you think that you'd be hard-pressed to find one that could get Cardiff City to part with £6million plus for Gary Madine and get Blumarble to hold off for nearly two and a half years before settling for a fraction of their interest charges?

I'm not having a go at Ken Andersen as there are plenty of others on here who are doing that. He has done well to marshal the available assets to keep the show on the road. I don't know whether Cardiff coughed up all£6 million in one go or whether this was contingent upon other events such as deferred payments, first team appearances or such like
Unlike a lot of other people on here 45 years of working in finance at a senior level have taught me not to pontificate about issues where I have no discrete and finite knowledge. All I was pointing out here was that  lack of certainty around the going concern aspect of a business is more than enough for the auditors to delay signing off a set of Accounts ( I've been there many times myself) and it takes long and often difficult discussions to persuade the auditors to delay until as late as possible. Hence a June year end being signed off the following April- as late as possible for a relatively uncomplicated business in terms of trading.
And it was an inability to form an opinion and not a straight unqualified opinion that CH came up with- an interesting position to take This seems like a disclaimer of opinion where the auditor is unable to obtain sufficient audit evidence to form an unqualified opinion- the evidence being presumably cash flow predictions for the following 12 months that  failed to bear scrutiny in terms of professional scepticism.
I'm not having a go at anyone- I'm past caring about where blame lies.

Half way through last season Ken announced that we would not be seeking buyers. This was avoid distraction on the field. So instead of diligently seeking for all that time we are now ten minutes away from Administration instead. Not to say any would be found but what a load of bollocks.
So today the more recent buyers have been blown out and no others on the horizon (as far as we know). So we are broke & still losing money by the day. Anybody got a solution to this mess?