Wouldn't surprise me at all - I heard they were teetering on the brink more than a year ago, but it's the 'friendly' debt thing that muddies the waters.
I'm sure they enjoyed their European adventures. I think they were relegated with debt around £100m. From my memory, they had a couple of very good years, then decided that was their 'level' so spent big to try to get back up there.
Phil Gartside's insistence that relegation from the Premier League be stopped while they were hovering around 15th was a giveaway.
I believe it was Garside who tried to persuade the other Premier league chairmen to vote on NO relegation from the premier league? Now we see why.
I feel like this lies at the precipice of some of the hypocrisy within English football. On the one hand, we say "football isn't a business," and supporters are quick to point out when owners/stakeholders do not invest (see, here). On the other hand, we chortle at the demise of clubs who are having their debts "called in." Bolton are by no means alone, and even if FL/European FFP laws fail now, the business model with which so many clubs are run is simply unsustainable. This is a bubble, and like all bubbles, it will burst, no matter how high the TV revenue is.
Basically where you have a benevolent owner/owners, who aren't going to call the debt in like a bank would or who wouldn't have let it get to this level at all.
I asked my Bolton-supporting mate about this the other night. He didn't reckon they were going into admin and the rumours of a takeover are flying around. He still thought they were ****ed and would break the habit of bottom 3 teams coming to The Valley and picking up points next month. I reassured him that the Addicks are always charitable to hopeless cases.
Boxer Amir Khan and former footballer Dean Holdsworth will complete a £15million takeover of Bolton Wanderers this week, according to reports.
Khan is a famous fan of the Trotters, while Holdsworth netted 39 goals in 158 appearances for the club during his six-year stint between 1997 and 2003.
Basically where you have a benevolent owner/owners, who aren't going to call the debt in like a bank would or who wouldn't have let it get to this level at all.
That sounds more like a business plan for wonga. A friendly debt would be the debt you owe your mum fir squeezing you out into This world.
Well Eddie Davies has been squeezing out the Trotters for a few years now!!!
our local news is reporting that the owner who is owed £185m is willing to write it off to help sell the club. At here are two groups looking to buy and both involve ex players
our local news is reporting that the owner who is owed £185m is willing to write it off to help sell the club. At here are two groups looking to buy and both involve ex players
our local news is reporting that the owner who is owed £185m is willing to write it off to help sell the club. At here are two groups looking to buy and both involve ex players
They were getting on to 100 million in debt in the prem. I've no sympathy for the club, Allardyce paying wages that top ten in the world teams paid Okocha et al..... Feel sorry for the fans but if clubs were run anywhere near reality we'd still be in the prem.
They were getting on to 100 million in debt in the prem. I've no sympathy for the club, Allardyce paying wages that top ten in the world teams paid Okocha et al..... Feel sorry for the fans but if clubs were run anywhere near reality we'd still be in the prem.
Perhaps Duchatelet is not so bad after all...........
Billy Manuel (Brentford +) used to play football with us on Blackheath on Monday nights (he was very good) and he loved a game of cards in the Rose of Denmark with us too. He brought Dean Holdsworth down one evening to join in the card school. Holds worth was hugely overdressed (as you can imagine) and looked well out of place but we welcomed him to the table and all pretended not to know who he was. At the time we had a game (can't remember the name) whereby, as a break from cards, someone would start by turning to the person on their left and touching their face with both hands in a certain way e.g.. squeezing both ears and drawing one imaginary stripe after another across their cheeks. The person who had just had their face 'drawn' on would then turn and repeat the same movements to the next person with the same hands and so on. If anyone failed to repeat the same movements in sequence they had to gulp half a pint down. The novice to the game wouldn't realise that the person sitting in front of them would be rubbing their fingers in cigarette ash and effectively blackening the novices face. Every time the game broke down, the new starter would look at the clean patches on the novices face in order to decide the next move. It might sound long-winded but it was hilarious and the concentrating novice would assume the hilarity was because of the defaulters having to down plenty of beer. Dean left a couple of hours later none the wiser to head off 'to a club." He came roaring back into the pub to clean his face, swearing loudly - he saw the funny side of it.
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Gartside was/is the stumbling block to any takeover - he said he wouldn't go and the potential new owners said he had to go.
Khan is a famous fan of the Trotters, while Holdsworth netted 39 goals in 158 appearances for the club during his six-year stint between 1997 and 2003.