Ken Anderson - Old Owner (Definitely. For Ever ..... )

[Hoboh]

So did Dean Holdsworth actually put any money in the kitty or just take out the Blu Marble loan to cover his share of the £7.5million?

And therein lies the crux of the matter.

The loan was to Deano's company Sports Shield BWFC, but underwritten in some form by BWFC assets. Out of the £5m "borrowed", if last year's accounts are to be believed, £4m went into the Club with ~£1m "owed" to Holdsworth in relation to "takeover expenses" + he was then on a salary alleged to be ~£250k. I believe these figures are in dispute.

So, in reality, he bought his share of the club with its own assets - Surely that can't be legal (I have no legal knowledge whatsoever)

Didn't the Glazers do something similar with the red sox's?
I thought they used the clubs future money to buy the club with.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

So did Dean Holdsworth actually put any money in the kitty or just take out the Blu Marble loan to cover his share of the £7.5million?

And therein lies the crux of the matter.

The loan was to Deano's company Sports Shield BWFC, but underwritten in some form by BWFC assets. Out of the £5m "borrowed", if last year's accounts are to be believed, £4m went into the Club with ~£1m "owed" to Holdsworth in relation to "takeover expenses" + he was then on a salary alleged to be ~£250k. I believe these figures are in dispute.

So, in reality, he bought his share of the club with its own assets - Surely that can't be legal (I have no legal knowledge whatsoever)

Didn't the Glazers do something similar with the red sox's?
I thought they used the clubs future money to buy the club with.

Yep. Called a leveraged buyout.

I'm concerned about the loan and what this 1m Deano has taken in fees amounts to, but let's not forget that without it we'd almost certainly not have a club to talk about now.

[LeverEnd]

I find this 'not having a club' talk a bit melodramatic. We'd have gone through administration with ED I suppose but I don't believe for a second the club would have ceased to exist. Football-wise we'd certainly be worse off, but I'm.not convinced that there isn't still a big disaster lurking. I just don't trust those in charge at all. I recognise there's some good work been done but some of the behaviour has been completely embarrassing.

[BWFC_Insane]

I find this 'not having a club' talk a bit melodramatic. We'd have gone through administration with ED I suppose but I don't believe for a second the club would have ceased to exist. Football-wise we'd certainly be worse off, but I'm.not convinced that there isn't still a big disaster lurking. I just don't trust those in charge at all. I recognise there's some good work been done but some of the behaviour has been completely embarrassing.

Someone would have to have been prepared to cover the losses Ken is. Didn't see them queuing round the block to do that.

I think Deano ended up in above his head. I do think had Ken not been around we'd have gone under. Ken undoubtedly has a game plan here and won't end up out of pocket. But he's done enough to warrant some faith from the fanbase in my view. Clearly hamstrung by Deano's loan and the subsequent court hearings with BM. Let's hope Ken can resolve that in his favour for all our sakes.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

I find this 'not having a club' talk a bit melodramatic. We'd have gone through administration with ED I suppose but I don't believe for a second the club would have ceased to exist. Football-wise we'd certainly be worse off, but I'm.not convinced that there isn't still a big disaster lurking. I just don't trust those in charge at all. I recognise there's some good work been done but some of the behaviour has been completely embarrassing.

Who else was putting their hand in their pocket? As far as I can see there was no alternative at the time and had Deano and Ken not pushed it through we'd have likely been liquidated by the court, or gone through administration with no obvious person/party to pull the club out. Of course it is possible a shining knight might have turned up during administration, but with all useful assets being sold off to pay the administrators and creditors it would likely have made more sense to step in earlier.

We were very close to going under and may well yet, though with overheads reduced and being in the Championship might make us more attractive to a rescuer/buyer.

[Worthy4England]

You look at Portsmouth and others like that, who found themselves in a hole, they still have a club. Sure a different direction than we travelled, but we were still some way from not having a Club. There were according to reports quite a few investors who would have liked the opportunity should we have tipped into Administration and in fairness, it wasn't the Club's fault that Deano's mates in his consortium ran off at (getting on for) the 11th hour.

Even then, we found someone within around a month - Anderson said he was approached in January. So the notion there wasn't a queue is correct, but then again we narrowed it down somewhat to "Deano's lot" back in the November so allegedly we weren't looking for anyone from the point we made the negotiation cut down to one.

I do still share LE's concerns.

[Prufrock]

Admin wound have meant everything flogged on the cheap and sold to pay off the debts. There'd have been no debts after (with lots of businesses consequently f*cked over) and no assets. Someone would've taken over and we'd likely have gone down. Can't see any club of our size folding, we'd have had a club, but it would've been shiiiiiiit

[Hoboh]

You know, I'm starting to worry a little about these still absent investor mates of Ken never mind Deano's imaginary friends.
I'm wondering what level of investment these people could offer, I doubt they will be in it for the long term, worrying over a few million (yeah easy to say but if they ain't got depth they are out of this type of investment level) appears to back up that theory they are short term and don't have substantial assets.
Given Ken is pumping his own money into the club, if one thing goes against him he could end up well out of pocket so I assume he's putting 100% into things.
Delivery on the football front is more important than ever, more so than last year in terms of the clubs future, I try not to say too much on the football bit after my track record last season I just hope Parky and the players do the business.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Given Ken is pumping his own money into the club, if one thing goes against him he could end up well out of pocket so I assume he's putting 100% into things.

Forgive me (or just correct me) if I'm wrong, but hasn't Ken made clear that he takes back the money he lends us to get over the regular cashflow bumps? Not that I'm ungrateful for him subbing us through, but I thought he'd publicly stated that he does so.

[Hoboh]

Given Ken is pumping his own money into the club, if one thing goes against him he could end up well out of pocket so I assume he's putting 100% into things.

Forgive me (or just correct me) if I'm wrong, but hasn't Ken made clear that he takes back the money he lends us to get over the regular cashflow bumps? Not that I'm ungrateful for him subbing us through, but I thought he'd publicly stated that he does so.

You would be correct.
Ken is also having to lob money, both the clubs and his own, towards Pru type vultures, it would hardly take an earth shattering amount of cash to severely embarrass Ken given he ain't no oligarch.
Stop gap loans are one thing (and you never know if he's late with his electric bill then ) but he has money going out one way or another that he won't get back until the club is solid and sold at a decent profit, he never foresaw this mess with Deano, the one thing that leaves a question mark over his judgement.

[BWFC_Insane]

Think Hoboh is pretty much right here. I mean I think KA saw an opportunity and shafted Holdsworth. And that's why it got complicated. But at the same time, Deano clearly financed the club with a payday loan he couldn't pay back and kept some for himself. All secured against club assets. So whilst Ken may have shafted Deano I suspect we should be grateful for that.

Bolton fans are a strange bunch screamed about living within our means. KA tries to achieve that and they still scream.

[Worthy4England]

Not sure who's "screaming"...

Thing we don't yet know is whether KA is charging interest on his capital. (Or I don't anyhow) and whether that's more or less preferential than anywhere else.

We do know that the previous auditors said they couldn't get to the bottom of the finances, so they resigned. Which isn't usually a good sign...

That's not screaming, that's just observing...

[TANGODANCER]

A view with questions (which probably can't be answered right now anyway, and not saying anything anyone already doesnt know. ) .

Perhaps Ken didn't shaft Deano and just saw the path across the quicksands he was treading and stepped in before it all got very much worse? The story's simple in theory; A borrows money he hasn't got himself to finance something, a house, car, pay off other debts etc etc (as the world does), agreeing to buy the lender a new yacht or a propery in Bermuda etc. After a reasonable time, ( about an hour maybe) Not so Shylock lender gets twitches after viewing his crystal ball and seeing problems. Wise investor with a few bob steps in to resolve it all and finds all sorts of folk with knives and spoons laying claim to their shares of the money pie. Shylock will win come what may. Money is no good unless it's working and not just lying there waiting for the tax man, it's why the Shylock's and their offshore accounts exist, so even when they get their money they can't wait to lend it out again to start earning excessive interest and why we have seventeen interested pie scoffers involved in all negotiations.(okay. 17 may be slightly exaggerated ) .

Football has little or nothing to do with it all then, just a means to an end. Pure business rules, and money making is the name of the game. Only stating the obvious here to illustrate the "club" angle is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things and a housing estate or supermarket is just as appealing to the bank manager as caring about the views of folk who are only here to watch a football match. Hence, Normid, Asda and all future financial transactions that used to be but dropping a few bob at the turnstyles at Burnden, and the gulf of interests that exist between a piece of land regardless of what stands on it. .
Bottom line: Getting folk through the doors, selling season tickets, pies, tea coffee and ale and whose names are whizzing around the advert boards and adorning the chest of football shirts, are all more important then who scores goals as long as somebody does. If they don't, Sainsbury awaits. If it weren't so, we'd still be playing on Pikes Lane and calling ourselves Christ Church F.C...........Okay, just having a chat and a mini sound off. . Carry on regardless..

[BWFC_Insane]

Not sure who's "screaming"...

Thing we don't yet know is whether KA is charging interest on his capital. (Or I don't anyhow) and whether that's more or less preferential than anywhere else.

We do know that the previous auditors said they couldn't get to the bottom of the finances, so they resigned. Which isn't usually a good sign...

That's not screaming, that's just observing...

Ken claims he isn't.

Screaming: see Twitter it's absolutely full of it. Mainly from those connected to the supporters trust, surprise surprise.

[Worthy4England]

Not sure who's "screaming"...

Thing we don't yet know is whether KA is charging interest on his capital. (Or I don't anyhow) and whether that's more or less preferential than anywhere else.

We do know that the previous auditors said they couldn't get to the bottom of the finances, so they resigned. Which isn't usually a good sign...

That's not screaming, that's just observing...

Ken claims he isn't.

Screaming: see Twitter it's absolutely full of it. Mainly from those connected to the supporters trust, surprise surprise.

#1 All good then. #2 that's why I can't hear any screaming - Twitter!

[Hoboh]

See, now as far as Kens concerned if he leaves a sustainable, well managed club in his wake, I don't care how many millions the bloke walks away with, hell I'll even ship it personally to whatever offshore account he chooses (quite like the idea of Bermuda Ken ).
We need to trust Anderson, best hope, he sure as hell cleans out the deadwood, he and his son just need to be a little more media savvy.

[Worthy4England]

He and his son just need to be a little more media savvy.

You should offer your consultative services Hobes.

[Hoboh]

He and his son just need to be a little more media savvy.

You should offer your consultative services Hobes.

You really think anything is done without purpose

(well 99% of the time)

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

BN: "The club is also optimistic it will be in a position to file overdue company accounts for 2015/16 by the end of the week – seen a crucial step towards lifting the embargo - with final documentation now waiting to be signed off by board members."

So: Ken, Mrs Ken and Deano?

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/wa ... ield_woes/

[LeverEnd]

Won't be holding my breath.