Bolton Wanderers set for administration and 12-point penalty, chairman confirms
Ken Anderson, the club's chairman, revealed on Monday night that an eleventh-hour offer had been rejected by financiers BluMarble
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Your support makes all the difference.Bolton Wanderers are expected to slip into administration on Tuesday after chairman Ken Anderson failed to settle a dispute over a loan repayment.
The Championship club faces a 12-point deduction after Anderson claimed to have seen an eleventh-hour offer of £4million plus “substantial interest” rejected by financiers BluMarble.
Bolton will become the first Football League club to fall into administration in five years and the first since the league's standard penalty for administration was raised from 10 points to 12 in 2015.
Phil Parkinson’s side narrowly escaped relegation to the third tier last season and will be left at the bottom of the table by the points deduction, on -1.
Anderson, who also claims Bolton face the prospect of a two-year transfer embargo, warned BluMarble on Monday night that they would “live to regret” a decision which does not “make commercial sense.”
“I am very disappointed that Stuart Wilson and Michael Henson of BluMarble Capital Ltd have decided to reject my offer to repay the loan they originally made to the club through Sportshield Ltd and place the club in administration,” he said in a statement, published on the club’s website.
“The amount received by the club was £4m and I offered to repay this plus substantial interest. Unfortunately, this offer was rejected.”
Anderson, who became Bolton's majority owner in March of last year, added: “They will now need to fund the club administration going forward, which will take a minimum of three months and will automatically put the club in a two-year transfer embargo and a minimum immediate points deduction of 12 points.
“In my opinion, their actions will substantially reduce the value of the club in respect of any future sale and will make it far more difficult to find a future investor/buyer.”
Bolton's financial difficulties date back to relegation from the Premier League in 2012, though the club has settled three separate winding-up petitions from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs since 2016.
A pre-season friendly against St Mirren was called off in July after Bolton's players effectively went on strike over unpaid wages and bonuses.
Last week, former midfielder Karl Henry claimed he was one of several players awaiting payment of wages from the 2017-18 campaign.
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