More misery for Bolton as takeover talks fail
Troubled Bolton have suffered more frustration after talks over the sale of the club ended unsuccessfully.
Owner Ken Anderson, 94.5 per cent shareholder, is looking to offload the club to someone who can offer more financial stability and a deal with a four-person consortium fell through last week.
Talks continued with other interested parties but another one is now out of the picture after withdrawing yesterday.
That comes less than 24 hours before the club are due in the high court to fend off an HMRC winding-up petition - their sixth in the last 18 months.
A club statement read: “Bolton Wanderers Football Club can confirm that discussions with one of the interested parties have now been mutually terminated.
“The club can also confirm that discussions are ongoing with other parties.
“A further update will be made in due course.”
Bolton’s players were paid their February salary late, there was doubt over a recent game with Millwall going ahead due to concerns over being able to pay policing costs, and League Two Forest Green have started legal proceedings over the failed transfer of Christian Doidge.
The BBC and the Football Association have agreed a new four-year deal to show the FA Cup on free-to-air television until 2025, they have announced.
The agreement will give the BBC up to 18 live matches per season - up from 16 in the current 2018-21 deal - as well as TV highlights and digital clips, and the plan is to provide greater coverage of the tournament’s early stages, with up to six live matches across the first and second rounds.
In a statement, FA chief commercial and football development officer Mark Bullingham said: “The Emirates FA Cup is the best and most historic domestic cup competition in the world - and we are delighted to have agreed a new long-term commitment to keep it on the BBC until 2025.
“The popularity of the competition goes from strength to strength and continues to draw some of the largest audiences in sport. Over 8.1m tuned in for the fifth-round tie between Chelsea and Manchester United, making it the most-watched match of the season to date.”