Bolton Wanderers were relegated to League One in 2016, their first time in the 3 rd
tier for 23 years.
Having achieved promotion to the EPL in 2001 they spent 11 seasons in the English top flight
before being relegated in 2012.
After 4 years in the Championship and with what would prove to be
insurmountable debts, they slipped to their current position but at least football wise
things are looking up under manager Phil Parkinson with
the team sitting 3 rd in the division.
Under Sam Allardyce the club achieved back to back top half finishes between 2004 and
2007 and qualified for UEFA Cup in 2006 and 2007.
Eddie Davies took over ownership in 2003 and the club - while
in debt for amounts varying from £24m to £40m – showed encouraging on-field performances.
However, following Allardyce’s departure in April 2007 five changes of managers saw
the club drop steadily from the top tier to the 3 rd flight
over the next 9 seasons. Meanwhile, debts increased to just
short of £200m, strengthening Eddie Davies’ decision to sell the club in March 2016.
Bolton Wanderers is now majority owned by a holding company called Burnden Leisure Limited,
which is in turn owned by Dean Holdsworth and Ken Anderson.
The pair staged a takeover in March 2016, buying the club from its previous owner,
Eddie Davies.
The latest financial accounts for the company cover the 12 month period ending on
June 30 th 2015, and are as such roughly 20 months
out of date, pre-dating both the takeover, and the writing off of £170m in debt.
They were also published close to a year after their legal
due date, which is considered an offence both by
companies house and by the terms and conditions of the EFL – with resulting sanctions remaining
a possibility.
Bolton generated £30.6m in revenue, a £7.8m decrease on the previous year’s figures.
Staff wages were reported to be £29.4m.
The club generated £2.1m from player trading, and borrowed a total of
£19.2m throughout the 12 month period, making an official loss of £4.6m for the year (down
from an underlying loss of £16m).
Gross debt stood at £199.7m with £185.5m owed to Davies and £14.2m to
other lenders.
At it stands, this has been significantly decreased as Davies wrote off £170m of the
debt owed to him when the company transferred to Holdsworth and Anderson.
Concerningly, the club are overdue debt repayments with two lenders, totalling at £9.5m.
One of the lenders is BluMarble Capital Group, who lent
Dean Holdsworth’s company Sports Shield £5m against
the club’s assets.
A dispute has arisen over the different repayment dates, i.e., when the club has to
pay Sports Shield back, and when Sports Shield have to repay the loan – though, theoretically,
the repayment is past due, and BluMarble could
legally seize the club’s assets, if they chose to.
With a wages to turnover ratio of 96%, and annual losses projected, the club are very
unlikely to be able to raise the capital to pay off their
debts without outside funding.
The report does show that Anderson has lent the club money when needed,
but he also withdraws it as soon as it is available –
much like an overdraft.
The directors’ report conveys a hopeful attitude for the coming years, yet this is
perhaps negated by the independent auditors’ report, which
chose to withhold an opinion regarding the accounts due to
a lack of satisfactory evidence supporting the directors’ projections.
Worryingly, the auditor also disclosed that they were unable to determine
whether adequate accounting records had been kept.
The company is legally required to publish its accounts for the following year ending
June 30 th 2016 by the end of March this year.
Projections show that the club is currently operating at an annual loss
rate of £11m, and will likely do so for a further 12 months at least – although these
projections are fallible since it’s difficult to say which
league the club will be playing in next season.
With next to no ​ ability to raise internal capital, the debts
will likely go unpaid unless funds can be raised externally.
The future of Bolton Wanderers remains uncertain.