• Club have until 5pm on Tuesday to show EFL they can survive• Closure process due to start on Wednesday after sale collapsesUrgent discussions were continuing on Monday night over the endangered future of Bolton Wanderers, after the club’s administrator issued an alarming statement that the “process of closing down the company” could start on Wednesday. Paul Appleton, in joint control since Bolton finally collapsed into administration in May, revealed with evident exasperation that a long-negotiated deal to sell the club to the consortium
Football Ventures had been agreed at 5pm on Friday, except by the club’s owner, Ken Anderson.
“Devastatingly, on Saturday morning that deal collapsed,” Appleton said in the statement. “At this stage, there seems little point in apportioning blame because that makes no difference to the staff, players, management, supporters and the community who have once more seen their club taken back to the brink.”