Bolton Wanderers close to being sold to new owners

Bolton Wanderers

Bolton Wanderers is one step closer to being rescued – with the identity of the new owners to be revealed tomorrow, Monday, July 1.

In a message to fans of the League One club, joint administrator Paul Appleton of David Rubin & Partners announced that a heads of terms agreement has been signed with the preferred bidder for the acquisition of the club, which went into administration on May 13.

He said: “For legal reasons, I cannot name the preferred bidder until Monday.

“But I realise just how important it is Bolton fans are given confidence we are now a major step closer to the sale of the club and securing its future.

“This has not always been a straightforward process owing mainly to the need to condense what would normally be a four to five month timeframe into closer to seven weeks.

“But there has been a willingness on all sides to work tirelessly to ensure the survival of the club and, in particular, I’d like to thank the Eddie Davies Trust who have shown a deep and true understanding of what Bolton Wanderers means to the fans and the wider community.”

He added: “Again, I’d like to reiterate my regret at not always being able to keep the supporters completely up to speed with the progress of the deal, but the important thing is the club is now a further step forward to being saved. Now begins the rebuilding process.

“With the heads of terms having been signed, we move towards a sale and purchase agreement and completion of the transaction at the earliest possible stage.

“This club has suffered greatly but I would like to pay tribute to all the staff who, under the most dire of circumstances, have shown their loyalty and devotion to Bolton Wanderers. They deserve days like this after all they have been through.

“The next step is a completion of the deal and the start of a new era for the club. There will be a further update in due course.”

The club had struggled for months before administrators were appointed, and earlier in May chairman Ken Anderson said he had little or no choice to call in the administrators to ensure the future of the club.

Mr Anderson said he had no alternative but to put the club into administration, on the day it faced action by HMRC in the High Court over £1.2m of unpaid taxes.

The move came after the proposed takeover by former Watford owner Laurence Bassini appeared to have collapsed.

Bolton suffered relegation from the Championship to League One last season, and will begin the 2019-20 campaign with a 12 points deduction having been placed into administration.

The club was linked with former Liverpool forward Dirk Kuyt on June 22, following reports in Dutch media claiming he was involved with a bid to take over Wanderers.

The previous week the joint administrators had issued a statement confirming that an unnamed party had been ‘notified of their successful offer’ to buy the club.

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