The breaking News thread...

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

(Disclaimer: I love Zach. But if I were a Brizzle fan I'd be thinking we were being generous rather than opportunistic.)

Aye, but how do you feel about it as a Bolton fan?

I think it's ridiculously low, but what can you do. The lad clearly has talent, bags of potential, and a great eye for goal.

As a Bolton fan I'm sorry to see our best prospect in a generation disappear. But if it stops us going bust, fair enough. And even if it didn't, oh well. He's just another player. I didn't cry when Tony Caldwell left. The club goes on. (Hopefully...)

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Beeb reporting damager of Bristol saying BWFC have accepted £2Million for Clough

But what's seriously upset me is that you posted this here. This is supposed to be Breaking News about the clubs perilous position, not nicking much needed postageings from the Transfer Thread

my thread clearly has charisma!

No wonder, it's being run by a snake oil salesman ( ).

[BWFC_Insane]

Way I think about Clough is to imagine we were in a normal position. We weren't able to spunk millions but Eddie was backing us and we were stable.

Clough could be worth 5 times or more what BC are paying in a years time. Equally he could be worth nothing.

In that imaginary normal world I don't think 2M would be enough to tip the needle of risk to point at accept. But 4M might.

That is the shame. We are selling a player who potentially could be worth loads. Sure he might not be but the amount we are accepting is that which we could definitely have risked turning down in better circumstances.

His value today is probably to be fair what BC are paying.

[Peter Thompson]

There has to be no serious bidder, otherwise Clough would not be being sold.

If any consortium was close to buying the club, they would have insisted as part of the deal that Clough was not sold as he's the only valuable player in the squad, and could potentially in the next 12 months or so could fetch £4M - £5M+ providing he doesn't get injured again.

Also, he would probably be the player that you would look to build your team around next year to try & get out of League 1

The M Davies transfer makes absolute sense, a talented but very inconsistent player and one of the major earners but this £2M+ Clough bid being accepted just doesn't make sense at all, unless like some suspect their is no serious bidder at all.

[H. Pedersen]

Should have called it the breaking wind thread. I'm sure there'd be lots of contributions

I just ate eggs.

that's a uniquely american expression... in films they often ask - "do you want eggs?" or "I'm making eggs" or summat similar... I can't imagine anyone in the UK ever saying, "I ate eggs."

I would guess you feel a bit like I did when I read Tango's post about Ultravox and Dan Dare.

[midlands exile]

There has to be no serious bidder, otherwise Clough would not be being sold.

If any consortium was close to buying the club, they would have insisted as part of the deal that Clough was not sold as he's the only valuable player in the squad, and could potentially in the next 12 months or so could fetch £4M - £5M+ providing he doesn't get injured again.

Also, he would probably be the player that you would look to build your team around next year to try & get out of League 1

The M Davies transfer makes absolute sense, a talented but very inconsistent player and one of the major earners but this £2M+ Clough bid being accepted just doesn't make sense at all, unless like some suspect their is no serious bidder at all.

The initial reported bid of £3m matching the estimated figure for ED's personal loans to the club (that are not to be wiped if the club is sold off, so he obviously really wants that money back by hook or crook). Hmmmmm....

[BWFC_Insane]

Breaking news is that the 48 hours till admin (24 now) isn't a thing right now as the player sales were required to pay the running costs during the admin period and haven't gone through yet.

I guess this is why we're looking at the property sale Nixon mentioned yesterday.

What I'm beginning to lose the thread on is, if we need around £2M to pay the tax man why would we go into admin ahead of the court date necessarily, rather than just pay the tax man?

I realise administration may well be the only option at some point but surely having HMRC off our backs would be beneficial?

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Breaking news is that the 48 hours till admin (24 now) isn't a thing right now as the player sales were required to pay the running costs during the admin period and haven't gone through yet.

I guess this is why we're looking at the property sale Nixon mentioned yesterday.

What I'm beginning to lose the thread on is, if we need around £2M to pay the tax man why would we go into admin ahead of the court date necessarily, rather than just pay the tax man?

I realise administration may well be the only option at some point but surely having HMRC off our backs would be beneficial?

So you're saying the countdown to Administration only occurs with hindsight. After we've entered administration we can look back 48 hours and say that's when the countdown started. Brilliant.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

What I'm beginning to lose the thread on is, if we need around £2M to pay the tax man why would we go into admin ahead of the court date necessarily, rather than just pay the tax man?

I'll happily admit that one bends my head too. The suspicious part of me says it's brinksmanship. The serene part says it's nothing to do with me and I can't change it, so let's just wait and see. Trouble is, waiting and seeing entails maniacally checking here every ten minutes... which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

[LeverEnd]

It means that they are making up as they go along, presumably out of necessity, and any timescales or expressions of optimism should be ignored. We are out of the loop on this and all our speculation is pointless.

[Norpig]

I went on holiday 3 weeks ago and everything looked a lot brighter, being out of the country I have not kept up with developments. So I was amazed when I saw the news we could be in administration by the end of the week!! We are already being asset stripped, making us less of an attractive buy!

I am not a financial expert but surely Clough and Vela are not on rock star wages, so why are we selling these 2 and not the likes of Trotter (waste of oxygen), Pratley, Medo, Spearing. I do not understand the policy if we have to start again you build using kids you build a team around the likes of Clough not sell him on the cheap!!

If we sell the kids and are left with the same dross which are currenly failing we are in for a rough ride for many many years! What has happend to all the investors who were falling over themselves a few weeks ago to buy the club?? We are truly F^&$%^%^&%d!!!!

[BWFC_Insane]

I went on holiday 3 weeks ago and everything looked a lot brighter, being out of the country I have not kept up with developments. So I was amazed when I saw the news we could be in administration by the end of the week!! We are already being asset stripped, making us less of an attractive buy!

I am not a financial expert but surely Clough and Vela are not on rock star wages, so why are we selling these 2 and not the likes of Trotter (waste of oxygen), Pratley, Medo, Spearing. I do not understand the policy if we have to start again you build using kids you build a team around the likes of Clough not sell him on the cheap!!

If we sell the kids and are left with the same dross which are currenly failing we are in for a rough ride for many many years! What has happend to all the investors who were falling over themselves a few weeks ago to buy the club?? We are truly F^&$%^%^&%d!!!!

Quite simply because they are on low wages and therefore attractive to other clubs. We can't sell many senior players because of the wages they command. See Sheffield Weds are struggling to agree wages with Mark Davies.

We need to raise cash and therefore sell any players that teams show interest in. Clearly other teams would prefer our younger players on lower contracts for the same reason as we'd like to keep them. However, we aren't in a position to wait it out.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

We've been trying to sell Medo and Spearing for the thick end of two years... the path to our door remains strangely unbeaten... at least something is.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

What I'm beginning to lose the thread on is, if we need around £2M to pay the tax man why would we go into admin ahead of the court date necessarily, rather than just pay the tax man?

I'll happily admit that one bends my head too. The suspicious part of me says it's brinksmanship. The serene part says it's nothing to do with me and I can't change it, so let's just wait and see. Trouble is, waiting and seeing entails maniacally checking here every ten minutes... which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

The not so suspicious part of me says it's bad management. When some poor schmuck gets in over their heads and nips along to Citizens Advice they say make a list of your outgoings and then order them ranked by importance, and when said schmuck sticks weekly fag allowance (20 a day) £60 at number one, and mortgage down at number twenty two out of twenty six the Citizen Advice chappy kindly points out how to overcome their debt problems.
So it is with BWFC: any business should know - don't ignore what you owe the Taxman, pay that fxcking bill pronto, Trotter can always fxck off to another club in a huff.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

What I'm beginning to lose the thread on is, if we need around £2M to pay the tax man why would we go into admin ahead of the court date necessarily, rather than just pay the tax man?

I'll happily admit that one bends my head too. The suspicious part of me says it's brinksmanship. The serene part says it's nothing to do with me and I can't change it, so let's just wait and see. Trouble is, waiting and seeing entails maniacally checking here every ten minutes... which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

The not so suspicious part of me says it's bad management. When some poor schmuck gets in over their heads and nips along to Citizens Advice they say make a list of your outgoings and then order them ranked by importance, and when said schmuck sticks weekly fag allowance (20 a day) £60 at number one, and mortgage down at number twenty two out of twenty six the Citizen Advice chappy kindly points out how to overcome their debt problems.
So it is with BWFC: any business should know - don't ignore what you owe the Taxman, pay that fxcking bill pronto, Trotter can always fxck off to another club in a huff.

With you on all that. I just don't quite understand why we're going into admin instead of paying the tax. (Is that the case?)

I also don't quite understand the thing about having to pay to go into admin. Is that just the general running costs? Do businesses who are struggling financially anyway (hence the threat of admin) have to stump up cash in advance of going into the administration that's supposed to straighten them out? And if they can't, do they bypass administration and head straight to liquidation?

[Lost Leopard Spot]

What I'm beginning to lose the thread on is, if we need around £2M to pay the tax man why would we go into admin ahead of the court date necessarily, rather than just pay the tax man?

I'll happily admit that one bends my head too. The suspicious part of me says it's brinksmanship. The serene part says it's nothing to do with me and I can't change it, so let's just wait and see. Trouble is, waiting and seeing entails maniacally checking here every ten minutes... which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

The not so suspicious part of me says it's bad management. When some poor schmuck gets in over their heads and nips along to Citizens Advice they say make a list of your outgoings and then order them ranked by importance, and when said schmuck sticks weekly fag allowance (20 a day) £60 at number one, and mortgage down at number twenty two out of twenty six the Citizen Advice chappy kindly points out how to overcome their debt problems.
So it is with BWFC: any business should know - don't ignore what you owe the Taxman, pay that fxcking bill pronto, Trotter can always fxck off to another club in a huff.

With you on all that. I just don't quite understand why we're going into admin instead of paying the tax. (Is that the case?)

I also don't quite understand the thing about having to pay to go into admin. Is that just the general running costs? Do businesses who are struggling financially anyway (hence the threat of admin) have to stump up cash in advance of going into the administration that's supposed to straighten them out? And if they can't, do they bypass administration and head straight to liquidation?

Firstly: If they could pay I don't understand why they haven't. They must know that HMRC are aggressive creditors.
Secondly: I cannot believe that entering Administration has costs - or at least not in the millions. That sounds like bollox to me.
Thirdly: I also can't see it being brinkmanship, because that'd imply the seller (BWFC) thinks the buyers (whichever consortium) are as big a numpty as Citizen X (me) business wise. Threatening Administration just indicates, surely, that the club will be cheaper sooner rather than later.
So none of this seems to make any sense whatsoever.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Firstly: If they could pay I don't understand why they haven't. They must know that HMRC are aggressive creditors.
Secondly: I cannot believe that entering Administration has costs - or at least not in the millions. That sounds like bollox to me.
Thirdly: I also can't see it being brinkmanship, because that'd imply the seller (BWFC) thinks the buyers (whichever consortium) are as big a numpty as Citizen X (me) business wise. Threatening Administration just indicates, surely, that the club will be cheaper sooner rather than later.
So none of this seems to make any sense whatsoever.

Thanks, Spotty, for your insight and honesty. As terrifying as it may be...

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

As I understand it, the administrators try to sell off anything they can to either wind up the business and pay creditors or keep it going whilst trying to find a buyer (if they believe one can reasonably be found). Out of the stuff that gets flogged they take their exorbitant fees. The fee will depend largely on how long the saga goes on for and how much of a piss take they are. I suspect choosing your own means you can try and appoint one less inclined to take the piss.

[BWFC_Insane]

I'm told by our resident finance expert that the costs are simply the business operating costs as well as paying the administrators.

That could be expensive overall. But I assume often administrators would sell assets to raise that money, so not sure why we are doing it in advance.

Unless, as pointed out additionally, we're going in as pre-pack.....which might explain why we're paying off some loans (like the Warburtons loan for example).

[Lost Leopard Spot]

As I understand it, the administrators try to sell off anything they can to either wind up the business and pay creditors or keep it going whilst trying to find a buyer (if they believe one can reasonably be found). Out of the stuff that gets flogged they take their exorbitant fees. The fee will depend largely on how long the saga goes on for and how much of a piss take they are. I suspect choosing your own means you can try and appoint one less inclined to take the piss.

Also. (Correct me if I'm wrong) hasn't Mr Birch performed this function previously; wasn't that one of the reasons why he's with us now, so that he can step in and be the administrator if needed?