Bolton’s High Court battle for survival

BOlTOn Wanderers are today facing a High Court fight to avoid becoming only the third English club to be liquidated, with no buyer in sight and no way of paying their debts.

The club have been hit with their sixth winding-up petition over unpaid tax and VAT in 18 months, after the withdrawal of a consortium who had expressed interest in buying them.

Football insolvency experts believe the High Court’s reluctance to see a community club liquidated, like Aldershot in 1992 and Chester City in 2010, will see them avoid that nightmare outcome. The Championship team will almost certainly enter administration instead, incurring an immediate 12-point deduction.

Sportsmail understands HMRC, who brought the petition, have been pushing the courts to liquidate a club for some time, setting an example to those who expect to be made a special case when they fail to meet their debts.

Wanderers’ biggest challenge will be convincing the court there is any sign of a buyer.

The Football Ventures (Whites) consortium, led by private equity investor Parminder Basran and his business partner Sharon Brittan, have pulled out of talks, to the dismay of chairman Ken Anderson, who has become a detested figure and wants out.

Corporate recovery specialists say that Bolton’s geographical location works against them.

‘Foreign buyers want london clubs,’ said one source. ‘lancashire does not hold the same appeal and unless there is a consortium of locals, it is very difficult to see where a buyer is coming from.’

Bolton’s woes were compounded yesterday by confirmation Forest Green owner Dale Vince has instigated legal proceedings against them over the collapsed Christian Doidge transfer in January.

Vince alleges Anderson reneged on a contract to sign the player and that Forest Green ended up paying Doidge’s wages after he was loaned to Bolton with a permanent move agreed to follow.

Bolton confirmed last night that takeover talks had failed but claimed ‘discussions are ongoing with other parties’. lEEDS unITED owner Andrea Radrizzani is being sued for £750million by Chinese investors. Radrizzani’s sports rights company MP & Silva was bought out by the group in 2016, but collapsed in October. The Chinese are suing Radrizzani and business partner Riccardo Silva for commercial fraud.