Bolton chairman Ken Anderson says everyone at his club is doing “everything possible” to make sure Saturday’s game against the Blues and Tuesday’s match with Middlesbrough go ahead as planned. It’s likely there will be news on the Town fixture on Thursday morning with the expectation that the game will take place as scheduled.
Town’s visit to the University of Bolton Stadium was cast into doubt yesterday cast when the Safety Advisory Group withdrew the ground’s safety certificate.
In a statement on the Wanderers official website this afternoon, Anderson (pictured above, left), who tried to broker the sale of Town back in 2007 at the time of the Marcus Evans takeover, said whether the two games take place as scheduled could hinge on the players.
"Everyone at the club is doing everything possible to try to ensure that this weekend’s match against Ipswich Town and next Tuesday’s against Middlesbrough go ahead as normal, but this may now depend on whether the players see sense and stay loyal to the supporters and season ticket holders and return to full training tomorrow,” he wrote.
As previously reported, Bolton's players refused to train for 48 hours earlier in the week, wages having been unpaid last Friday, the second month running when they failed to reach bank accounts on time.
March's salaries - both players and off-field staff - remain unpaid and matchday staff are reported to have threatened to strike at Saturday’s game.
News on the Town match is expected tomorrow morning with it being anticipated that the game will go ahead as planned.
Anderson also commented on this morning’s adjournment at Wanderers’ latest High Court hearing relating to a £1.2 million debt to HMRC and other debts.
"I am grateful for the High Court’s decision this morning to adjourn the hearing until May 8th, which gives us the time to finalise the deal for the sale of my shares to the interested buyers, who have committed to buying the club and clearing all the debts, including the substantial amounts that were there before I got involved with the club and secured on the stadium, hotel and training ground.”
Former Watford chairman Laurence Bassini was at the hearing and is the proposed new owner, while Anderson dismissed claims by another company, Gaspard Holdings, that they are close to completing a deal.
"l would like to make it absolutely clear that the so-called mystery buyer Gaspard Holdings are ‘not on the verge of completing a deal’ and virtually everything else they said in the report was total nonsense,” he added.
"Unfortunately, they have been making similar promises for at least two years and in all that time the people concerned have never been able to provide any satisfactory proof of funds and have wasted a great deal of everyone’s time.”
Town have sold more than 1,000 seats for the game with tickets reduced to £5 across the board.