So we are close to a takeover it seems. Documents were produced in our court case earlier today stating that a deal is close to being completed. As expected this involves Dean Holdsworth’s Sports Shield consortium. But this is in a joint venture with someone by the name of Bruce Gordon as stated by Marc Iles;
Sports Shield in joint venture with accountant Bruce Gordon. Looks like shares are split 50-50. That has been kept very hush hush. #bwfc
— Marc Iles (@MarcIles) February 22, 2016
This Bruce Gordon appears to be a former accountant for Deloitte & Touche LLP one of the largest global accountancy firms. He was the partner in charge of the southern region during his time there which ended in 2008. His clients are said to have feature amongst the FTSE 100 as well as Deloitte’s largest clients. He now runs Thames Valley Capital Ltd advising a venture capital funds and several high growth companies.
I think it is fair to say he sounds like a great person to have involved in a takeover with that rather impressive background! Not to mention the fact that he is worth a reported half a billion.
It is being said by Sky Sports that the club have been sold for £7.5 million;
BREAKING NEWS: Bolton sold for £7.5m to Sport Shield Group Consortium and winding-up order adjourned for 14 days. #SSNHQ
— Sky Sports News HQ (@SkySportsNewsHQ) February 22, 2016
Now it is just a case of getting Football League approval for the deal.
In a further development Eddie Davies will be make club President as stated by Jim White;
Outgoing owner Eddie Davies to become club President. Davies: "we've saved #bwfc and it's in good hands".
— Jim White (@JimWhite) February 22, 2016
This comes as no surprise with Trever Birch having mentioned this in a previous statement. Though I think it is a shame as in my view Nat Lofthouse should retain the honorary position.
Since the conclusion of the case there has also been a Bolton Wanderers club statement which can be read here. In this Trever Birch says;
"Whilst this continues to be a challenging time for everyone associated with the club, we are confident that this adjournment will give us the necessary time to conclude a transfer of ownership of the club, subject to approval from The Football League."
Hopefully all of these developments today will be good news for the club and we can begin to look forward to a less gloomy future.