Bolton chairman Ken Anderson claims all club staff and the police will be paid in time for this weekend’s home game against Millwall to go ahead.
The game at the University of Bolton Stadium is in doubt after the club failed to pay any staff their February wage. Part-time matchday staff, including safety stewards and turnstile operators, are considering not working on Saturday because of the issue.
“I have decided to continue to financially support the club until someone else comes in and have today told payroll to process the staff salaries and to pay any amounts due to the police and others to ensure that the Millwall fixture and future games go ahead,” Anderson said in a statement.
The Sky Bet Championship club had been given just under 24 hours on Tuesday to assure Bolton Council that safety provisions would be in place during a meeting that was also attended by the emergency services and Greater Manchester Police, who are owed money by Bolton.
Wanderers, second bottom in the table and eight points from safety, have faced several winding-up petitions from HMRC in the past 16 months and are due back in the High Court again on March 20.
The club closed their training ground on Monday because of a lack of food and fuel and the players, most of whom had been given the day off, reported back for training on Tuesday.
Anderson, who said he hoped to complete the sale of the club this week, said: “I can now understand why (former owner) Ed Davies decided to stop financially supporting the businesses back in 2015 after losing circa £200million.
“I had to put a further £800,000 in to pay the salaries in January as I have done on many other occasions.
“Obviously, I am concerned, disappointed and deeply regret that I had to take the decision to delay paying the staff salaries on time last month, which is the first time this has happened during my ownership and apologise unreservedly to all the staff and sincerely thank them for their continued support and patience, but it is difficult to accept putting a further £1million into a club that does not want you there and worse still it is not safe to even go to the club.”
Bolton announced on Sunday that an agreement in principle had been reached for Anderson to sell his shares in the club and that due diligence was under way.
In Wednesday’s statement, Anderson added: “I can confirm that discussions are ongoing with several parties and I am hopeful that completion will happen this week.
“Obviously, the delay is very disappointing but to be honest l am not surprised as it seems a regular event with takeovers these days.
“I am sure that you have all heard of similar situations for example at Newcastle where at least two potential takeovers with two different highly respected individuals involved have not been able to complete a deal so far.”
