London (AFP) – A buyer has been found for stricken Bolton Wanderers, staving off the imminent threat of extinction, the English third-tier club announced on Wednesday.
“We are pleased to announce the sale of Bolton Wanderers to Football Ventures (Whites) Limited has been completed,” the club, who were on the verge of liquidation, said in a statement on their website.
“This has been one of the most complicated administrations I’ve been involved with but I’m delighted to say we have finally reached a satisfactory conclusion with the sale to Football Ventures,” said the club’s joint administrator, Paul Appleton.
“Now there can be a fresh start with owners who, I believe, will run the club for the good of the supporters and the community as a whole.”
On Tuesday, Bolton had been given 14 days to find a buyer and prevent the club from going the same way as their near neighbours, fellow League One side Bury.
The side from north-west England were expelled from the Football League after more than 100 years late on Tuesday after a takeover bid collapsed.
They were the first club to be expelled from the league since Maidstone United in 1992, and it was feared Bolton would go the same way.
The four-time FA Cup winners have spent 74 seasons in the top flight, including an unbroken 11-year stint in the Premier League which only ended in 2012.
They reached the last 16 of the UEFA Cup as recently as 2008 but their troubled financial situation only worsened when they were relegated from the Championship at the end of last season.
