League One side Bolton Wanderers fans "face an anxious wait" after Tuesday's deadline of 5pm local time deadline to finalize a takeover passed. The club, in administration since May, said that "discussions are ongoing with all parties" and that a further statement would be issued "later on Tuesday." A proposed takeover by Football Ventures (Whites) Limited "appeared to have collapsed on Saturday." Should a takeover not go through, "a 14-day notice of withdrawal" of the club's membership of the EFL "could also be reinstated" (BBC, 8/27).
Fellow League One side Bury is also "on the brink of disaster" after a late takeover fell through "shortly before" the 5pm deadline on Tuesday. Hundreds of volunteers gathered at Bury's Gigg Lane stadium on Tuesday, "scrubbing toilets and cleaning the stands in the hope the club would survive" and play its delayed first game of the season on Saturday (London GUARDIAN, 8/27).
Read More
Bolton Wanderers Supporters Association Chair Alan Houghton: "All we want is somebody to come in and pay the bills, give us some kind of financial stability. We're not looking for massive investment." League One side Oxford United Dir Zaki Nuseibeh said, "It's a wakeup call for professional bodies to think about why did we get here, and why are we in trouble again?" ("Sky Sports News," NBCSN, 8/27).
The London Independent's Miguel Delaney wrote as the "visibly devastated" supporters of Bury and Bolton "somehow face up to huge parts of their lives and communities being ripped away," the rest of English soccer "must now face up to the reality that its very fabric is being ripped apart." This is a problem that "goes way beyond those north-west communities." Though it had been 27 years "since the last time a professional club went bust" -- Aldershot in '92 -- the fact that two could "effectively die" on the same day emphasizes this is "no longer going to be a rare occurrence" (London INDEPENDENT, 8/27).
