Skip to main content

Questions over Bolton deal

A deal has been agreed for the sale of Bolton Wanderers to Laurence Bassini, the former Watford owner. Bassini has to pass the EFL owners' test and provide proof of funding. His three year ban from football for three years from 2013 for breaking transfer rules will not affect the test's outcome.

The club said that 'significant funds' would be made available to pay staff and player wages before the deal was ratified with all debts to HMRC to be settled once it was completed.

One fan commented on Twitter, 'How can a bloke (former bankrupt) who still owes over £1 million to another football club pass the fit and proper person test?' Another commented, 'I find it somewhat amusing that, as a Chartered Accountant, I’m held to a higher standard to be a member of Pompey’s Heritage and Advisory Board than Bassini is to be an owner.'

The principal mechanism to check on the suitability of a prospective owner is the owners’ and directors’ test, formerly known as the ‘fit and proper persons’ test. Strictly speaking, this is a Football Association test administered by the EFL. The objective of this test ‘is to protect the image and integrity of The League and its competitions, the well-being of the Clubs, and the interests of all of the stakeholders in those Clubs, by preventing anyone who is subject to a “Disqualifying Condition” being involved in or influencing the management or administration of a Club.’

So what counts as a ‘disqualifying condition’? The matters covered include the long-standing one of being involved in another club; being disqualified by a sports governing body or professional body; having an unspent conviction for a series of offences (including their equivalent abroad); and company disqualification. In principle, this should exclude anyone as an owner or director who might be regarded as ‘dodgy’.

However, there are important limitations to these rules, as is shown by recent events at Bolton. Departing owner Ken Anderson, who took over at Bolton in 2016, was previously disqualified from being a director for eight years. Anderson, who bought Bolton for £1, was disqualified from being a company director in 2005 for transgressions relating to eight companies including diverting or seeking to divert company funds into a personal account, VAT discrepancies and failing to cooperate with receivers.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It's no deal say Spurs insiders over Taiwanese takeover

Senior figures at Tottenham Hotspur insisted on Friday that they had not been informed of any deal to sell Daniel Levy’s stake in the club. A business group, Eight Sports Capital — which is said to include a billionaire Taiwanese financier — claimed that it had an agreement in place to buy a 24.99 per cent stake in ENIC, the club’s majority owners, from Levy, who owns 29.88 per cent. The Times has been told Ng Wing Fai and Brooklyn Earick form part of the group, having both been linked previously to potential takeovers of the Premier League club. The Taiwanese businessman, Richard Tsai, is also said to be part of the consortium. He is reportedly worth £7 billion.  Last year Earick, the former DJ and tech entrepreneur, was part of an attempted £4.5 billion takeover, which was “unequivocally rejected” by Spurs.  An ENIC spokesperson said: “We can confirm that neither ENIC nor THFC are aware of any sale by Daniel Levy’s Family Trust of its minority stake in ENIC, THFC’...
Post a Comment
Read more

Spurs CEO attacks luxury training base

The Tottenham Hotspur chief executive Vinai Venkatesham has issued a withering assessment of the way the club was run under Daniel Levy, likening the state-of-the-art training centre to a five-star hotel rather than a centre of high performance.  Venkatesham was appointed to his role in April 2025, having stepped down as chief executive at Arsenal the previous summer. However, he has said that some aspects of the club were “in a significantly worse state” than he expected.  “Our training centre is amazing, one of the best, if not the best in the world,” Venkatesham told BBC Sport. “But when you look around, it looks more like a five-star hotel than it does a performance environment. That will change over the summer. I think there are many areas where the club hasn’t got the right level of expertise.”  He explained that the football side of operations was the club’s main downfall when he arrived last year. [One Spurs fan wryly observed that it was like a water company sayi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fulham requires big funding from owner

After lengthy delays, Fulham’s shiny, new Riverside Stand has finally opened, creating “a unique Thameside destination with first class facilities for supporters and partners on match days, as well as for the wider community year-round”. This ambitious project has increased Craven Cottage’s capacity by around 4,000 to 29,600, while it has also taken advantage of the club’s fantastic location and wealthy catchment area by including two Michelin star restaurants, a rooftop swimming pool, corporate hospitality and event space, all benefiting from views of the Thames. Chief executive Alistair Mackintosh observed, “Fulham is the sort of club that can have a business class or first class and have fans that turn left on a plane.” Indeed, there is also an exclusive members club – with a football season ticket as an optional extra. It’s fair to say that “the times they are a-changing”, as this is a long way from the traditional pie and a pint. However, in a world where clubs face the tw...
Post a Comment
Read more