Bolton Wanderers served with winding-up petition

FOOTBALL club Bolton Wanderers have been served with a winding-up petition over £600,000 in unpaid taxes.

Although the Macron Stadium side – currently bottom of the Championship having won only one game in all competitions this season – asked for more time to raise the money, HMRC went ahead and served the petition.

Trevor Birch, acting as a financial adviser for Bolton with chairman Phil Gartside “gravely ill”, said: “Quite clearly the club remains in a critical financial position.

“We will continue to try and finalise a sale or alternatively raise some short-term funds needed to give the club breathing space and time in which to consider its options.”

Currently, currently four parties are interested in taking over the club which owes £172.9m to Isle of Man-based Boltonian Eddie Davies.

Although Davies is believed to have told suitors he will write off the debt, he has also said there is no more money available to keep Wanderers going.

Bolton, who were relegated from the Premier League in 2012 following 11 years of top-flight football, face a 12-point deduction and almost certain relegation to League One should they go into administration.

Manager Neil Lennon told BBC Radio Manchester: “I think Trevor has a few plans in place to avoid that scenario.

“He’s confident he can avoid that (administration) because that would mean we’d be a League One team and we’d just be fulfilling fixtures for the rest of the season.”