Bolton in crisis as players strike, club heads to High Court

THE DAYS of Youri Djorkaeff, JayJay Okocha and Fernando Hierro running out to play Premier League games for Bolton are a distant memory for long-suffering fans of the English team.

Now, the club is in a complete mess – and, in the worst-case scenario, could yet go out of business.

Today, Bolton officials are due in the High Court in central London over an unpaid tax bill of £1.2 million and other debts. Britain’s tax department says the club will go into bankruptcy protection if it doesn’t pay what it owes.

The problems are many at Bolton, which are now languishing in nextto-last place in the second-tier League Championship and are likely to be relegated to the third division in the coming weeks.

The club – one of the 12 founding members of England’s Football League in 1888 – is in a dire financial position, with its players currently on a 48-hour strike in support of staff whose wages were not paid on time for the second straight month. It is the second time in less than a year that players have taken such action.

In addition, the team will have to play its next two matches behind closed doors after Bolton’s safety advisory group decided yesterday that the club could not guarantee the safety of fans at the stadium. The group, which comprises representatives of the local council, police and emergency services, informed the Football League that it has placed a prohibition notice on the club.

With Bolton desperate for wins in an effort to escape relegation, having no supporters for the games against Ipswich on Saturday and Middlesbrough on April 9 is a big blow. The team is five points from safety with seven games left this season.