Potential New Owners

[Ten Bobsworth]

He's a thick as mince racist troll who wants to give Parky a blow job. 95% of the board have him on ignore.

So he's not on your Christmas card list then.
Actually if Karbota thinks Phil Parkinson is one of the good guys in footie, I'd have to agree with him from what I've seen of him.

[Snowflake Royal]

Anyone watched the youtube video yet?

I don't know about anyone else, but personally I don't feel the need to watch a 20 minute Youtube video to have context on an issue I've been watching happen for 6 years.

[Ten Bobsworth]

Anyone watched the youtube video yet?

I don't know about anyone else, but personally I don't feel the need to watch a 20 minute Youtube video to have context on an issue I've been watching happen for 6 years.

I probably have enough material to write a book on the financial history of Bolton Wanderers but it doesn't mean I know everything. There are always new things to learn and things worth checking out.

Phil Parkinson and Andy Townsend confirmed what I had thought beforehand but the idea (if that's what they really thought) that it would have been a simple task for Ken Anderson to have sold in the summer of 2018 seems to me more than a little doubtful. I would fully agree with them that it would have been an optimum time but getting it over the line was dependent more on the chargeholder's (not to mention Holdsworth's) requirements than Anderson's.

Anderson eventually settled for £237K in 2019 much of which, if not all, he would likely have owed to people he had relied on to keep the show on the road whilst the club was on life support. Indeed the Administrators leaked to the media that a deal had been done to sell the club before they had even bothered to check with Ken Anderson and his legal advisors whether they had agreed it. Plainly they hadn't.

But the video was also interesting in the way that it contrasted starkly in content and tone with the hysterical hogwash of McGuire K and, his new found friend, 'the Chief Football Writer' at the Bolton News.

[Ten Bobsworth]

One thing that Maguire K and his new mate at the BN never seemed to have cottoned on to was that Bolton Wanderers (like Reading and pretty much every other professional football club in the land) had been a limited company since the nineteenth century which means, put simply, that the debts of the club are not the debts of the shareholders or directors however many or few of them there might be.

Ken Anderson seems to me to be a man who puts family first. Even so Mrs Anderson would have been justified in having him sectioned under the Mental Health Act if she thought he was going to spend whatever they had in retirement savings on paying Bolton Wanderers debts. Lets speak plainly, that was never going to be a deal that he would take on.

It is true that quite a lot of football club owners do pay club debts out of their own resources until they run out of funds (e.g. Eddie Davies) or weary of throwing good money after bad, (Mel Morris, Ellis Short, Dai Yongge?)

[Franchise FC]

Anyone watched the youtube video yet?

I don't know about anyone else, but personally I don't feel the need to watch a 20 minute Youtube video to have context on an issue I've been watching happen for 6 years.

I probably have enough material to write a book on the financial history of Bolton Wanderers but it doesn't mean I know everything. There are always new things to learn and things worth checking out.

Phil Parkinson and Andy Townsend confirmed what I had thought beforehand but the idea (if that's what they really thought) that it would have been a simple task for Ken Anderson to have sold in the summer of 2018 seems to me more than a little doubtful. I would fully agree with them that it would have been an optimum time but getting it over the line was dependent more on the chargeholder's (not to mention Holdsworth's) requirements than Anderson's.

Anderson eventually settled for £237K in 2019 much of which, if not all, he would likely have owed to people he had relied on to keep the show on the road whilst the club was on life support. Indeed the Administrators leaked to the media that a deal had been done to sell the club before they had even bothered to check with Ken Anderson and his legal advisors whether they had agreed it. Plainly they hadn't.

But the video was also interesting in the way that it contrasted starkly in content and tone with the hysterical hogwash of McGuire K and, his new found friend, 'the Chief Football Writer' at the Bolton News.

If an administrator had been appointed they have the power to do what they like without recourse to anyone, so quite why they’d need to check with anyone is a little odd (or misinformed possibly)

[Ten Bobsworth]

I don't know about anyone else, but personally I don't feel the need to watch a 20 minute Youtube video to have context on an issue I've been watching happen for 6 years.

I probably have enough material to write a book on the financial history of Bolton Wanderers but it doesn't mean I know everything. There are always new things to learn and things worth checking out.

Phil Parkinson and Andy Townsend confirmed what I had thought beforehand but the idea (if that's what they really thought) that it would have been a simple task for Ken Anderson to have sold in the summer of 2018 seems to me more than a little doubtful. I would fully agree with them that it would have been an optimum time but getting it over the line was dependent more on the chargeholder's (not to mention Holdsworth's) requirements than Anderson's.

Anderson eventually settled for £237K in 2019 much of which, if not all, he would likely have owed to people he had relied on to keep the show on the road whilst the club was on life support. Indeed the Administrators leaked to the media that a deal had been done to sell the club before they had even bothered to check with Ken Anderson and his legal advisors whether they had agreed it. Plainly they hadn't.

But the video was also interesting in the way that it contrasted starkly in content and tone with the hysterical hogwash of McGuire K and, his new found friend, 'the Chief Football Writer' at the Bolton News.

If an administrator had been appointed they have the power to do what they like without recourse to anyone, so quite why they’d need to check with anyone is a little odd (or misinformed possibly)

You are right about administrators. They have wide powers which, on the evidence of this case, they sometimes use in 'questionable' ways. Ken Anderson was a secured creditor in two respects. In September 2018, he borrowed £5m from Eddie Davies to repay a loan taken out by Dean Holdsworth in March 2016 and secured on the assets of the club.

The loan (Blumarble Capital) was repayable by the end of the March 2016 with default interest at 24% p.a. Only Holdsworth had signed the documents. Holdsworth claimed that he had been let down by an unnamed backer who allegedly dropped out at the last minute.

There followed two and a half years of toing and froing over the validity of the security but Blumarble (actually a small finance company) could not be held off any longer. They needed their money back and were about to foreclose when Anderson persuaded Davies to advance the funds to repay Blumarble (with interest negotiated down to a modest level).

Anderson's lawyers took out a debenture to secure the £5m and any other monies that Anderson had provided or would provide to the club. Over the next few months Anderson advanced another £1.5m to keep the club afloat. That money almost certainly was also Davies money.

When the Administrators drew up their Statement of Affairs, they included the £1.5m as being owed and secured to Anderson but omitted the £5m. In effect claiming that the £5m was owed to nobody. It had completely disappeared as if by magic.

Anderson's response was to appoint Administrators to the hotel which was also covered by Anderson's legal charge. In short, whatever they had planned, the club Admins were going nowhere without recognising Anderson's perfectly proper legal charge.

There are many things that Kieran Maguire and his followers overlooked. Anderson for months, exhorted by Maguire and others, had been pilloried in all the media and social media yet the creditors at the time of the appointment of the Administrators (according to their figures) were less than they had been two years previously. That was quite impossible and had arisen by virtue of the Administrators excluding the £5m Blumarble settlement from the Statement of Affairs.

As previously explained, the total losses of Bolton Wanderers over the last two years of Anderson's tenure were about £5m, possibly the lowest of any club playing in the Championship in 2017/18 and 2018/19.

[Ten Bobsworth]

There seem to be lots more views on this thread but no more comments and I have been thinking of delving a bit deeper.

I'm afraid that I am rather used to generous servings of thin gruel from the media on footie finance, that being my initial thought after reading this article from BBC South.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/66291076

Sir John Madejski is quoted as saying, "It hasn't been a success and I think he's had very bad advice because quite frankly for the investment he's put in, he's seen scant return". No shit, Sherlock!

Then there was this from 'Professor Simon Chadwick, an expert in sport and geopolitical economy', "So the shutters [on Chinese money leaving China] started to come down in 2017-18 and it became very difficult to move money around."

How much 'Chinese money' exactly has been spent on Reading FC since 2017/18? Auntie Beeb's southern correspondents don't say but pre-tax losses of £146m over the last five years does tend to suggest that quite a lot of 'Chinese money' must have poured in over the last four or five.

So who exactly is in control of the 'money tap' now, I wonder?

[SouthDownsRoyal]

I’ve no idea.

[Ten Bobsworth]

I’ve no idea.

I'm not surprised. I don't know whose hands are on the tap either but I do know, from the most recent document filed at Companies House, that Renhe Sports Management Co Ltd have been consulting the Leeds office of law firm, Walker Morris.

Who are Walker Morris, do I hear you ask? Actually its the same firm that represented Ken Anderson in his dealings with Bolton Wanderers and its Administrators. WM did a pretty good job, 'in keeping with the situation', from what I have seen.

[Ten Bobsworth]

It looks like the relationship with Walker Morris is not a recent development but dates back to the original involvement of Renhe with Reading FC.

Just as a matter of interest, I wonder how much Reading supporters would think it was worth if someone came along steadied the ship, brought in a new manager and CEO and got the club back into the Championship in the next full season.

Ken Anderson thought it was worth the £525K put through the books in 2017 as a 'consultancy fee'. The Bolton News, supported by Kieran Maguire, thought it was a rip-off and proof of Anderson's roguery.

If Maguire was a bit more clued-up than he seems to be, he might have figured out that Anderson got precious little of the £525K most of it (£400K) being used to acquire shares from Holdsworth, without which Anderson would have been stymied.

[Ten Bobsworth]

Footie finance isn't everyone's bag but does a thousand views on this thread overnight mean that some folks are interested?
I hope so but Happy New Year to one and all anyway. I also hope that things work out for Reading starting with a valuable win today.

[Snowflake Royal]

No, people see a new post on here and funnily enough hope there's some new news about our takeover, not someone banging on about Bolton.

[Ten Bobsworth]

No, people see a new post on here and funnily enough hope there's some new news about our takeover, not someone banging on about Bolton.

Despite popular misconception, ostriches do not stick their heads in the sand. I'm afraid that its mostly humans that do that but
I couldn't say that I am really expecting Ken Anderson to get involved with Reading.

Stranger things do happen though. Maybe Sam Allardyce could come to the rescue. According to Big Sam all you need to do is improve the performance of each player by 2% and that would be a 22% improvement in the team.

[Ten Bobsworth]

Nearly 3,000 views on this thread in the last 24 hours doesn't seem bad to me. OK I expect a few of those will be bots and there probably will be some that are unrealistically hoping for more good news on New Years Day other than getting out of the bottom four (congrats on that btw) but I'm afraid I don't have any inside info that will alleviate any other concerns.

All I can say is, please don't place too much reliance on opinionated journos who probably haven't run so much as a cake stall or self-important University lecturers devoid of the wit to see beyond the end of a bar chart.

[Ten Bobsworth]

Not much news but loads more views. I make it more than 6,500 on this thread since midnight on New Years Eve.

Anyway I do think it curious that an unnamed group from Switzerland have been buying shares in Football Ventures (Whites) Ltd (BWFC owners) whilst another Swiss group (about which little is known) seem to be interested in buying Reading. Why?

With a bit of luck by the end of this month, we ought to no more about the Swiss stake in Bolton Wanderers and whether Auntie Sharon, Nick Mason and the insurance guy still own more than 50% between them.

[Brogue]

Not much news but loads more views. I make it more than 6,500 on this thread since midnight on New Years Eve.

Anyway I do think it curious that an unnamed group from Switzerland have been buying shares in Football Ventures (Whites) Ltd (BWFC owners) whilst another Swiss group (about which little is known) seem to be interested in buying Reading. Why?

With a bit of luck by the end of this month, we ought to no more about the Swiss stake in Bolton Wanderers and whether Auntie Sharon, Nick Mason and the insurance guy still own more than 50% between them.

Do fcuk off with your weird posts. People aren’t viewing the thread because of your shit posts. They are viewing the thread in the hope that there is some actual news on the takeover and a potential new owner. Why don’t you fcuk off to the Bolton forum as you seem to love them so much

[Snowflake Royal]

Not much news but loads more views. I make it more than 6,500 on this thread since midnight on New Years Eve.

Anyway I do think it curious that an unnamed group from Switzerland have been buying shares in Football Ventures (Whites) Ltd (BWFC owners) whilst another Swiss group (about which little is known) seem to be interested in buying Reading. Why?

With a bit of luck by the end of this month, we ought to no more about the Swiss stake in Bolton Wanderers and whether Auntie Sharon, Nick Mason and the insurance guy still own more than 50% between them.

Do fcuk off with your weird posts. People aren’t viewing the thread because of your shit posts. They are viewing the thread in the hope that there is some actual news on the takeover and a potential new owner. Why don’t you fcuk off to the Bolton forum as you seem to love them so much

Glad someone feels the same way.

What a oxf*rd dull blowhard.


(Nice sig, etc)

[Ten Bobsworth]

Not much news but loads more views. I make it more than 6,500 on this thread since midnight on New Years Eve.

Anyway I do think it curious that an unnamed group from Switzerland have been buying shares in Football Ventures (Whites) Ltd (BWFC owners) whilst another Swiss group (about which little is known) seem to be interested in buying Reading. Why?

With a bit of luck by the end of this month, we ought to no more about the Swiss stake in Bolton Wanderers and whether Auntie Sharon, Nick Mason and the insurance guy still own more than 50% between them.

Do fcuk off with your weird posts. People aren’t viewing the thread because of your shit posts. They are viewing the thread in the hope that there is some actual news on the takeover and a potential new owner. Why don’t you fcuk off to the Bolton forum as you seem to love them so much

The view count has gone up by over 10,000 now. Do you mean to say that they are all intellectually challenged?

[From Despair To Where?]

No, people are viewing in the mistaken hope that there is actually some news about our club rather than some random bloke waffling on about Ken Anderson. No one gives a shit about Bolton.

The fact that no-one's posting other than to tell you to give it a rest speaks volumes.

[Stranded]

Not much news but loads more views. I make it more than 6,500 on this thread since midnight on New Years Eve.

Anyway I do think it curious that an unnamed group from Switzerland have been buying shares in Football Ventures (Whites) Ltd (BWFC owners) whilst another Swiss group (about which little is known) seem to be interested in buying Reading. Why?

With a bit of luck by the end of this month, we ought to no more about the Swiss stake in Bolton Wanderers and whether Auntie Sharon, Nick Mason and the insurance guy still own more than 50% between them.

Do fcuk off with your weird posts. People aren’t viewing the thread because of your shit posts. They are viewing the thread in the hope that there is some actual news on the takeover and a potential new owner. Why don’t you fcuk off to the Bolton forum as you seem to love them so much

The view count has gone up by over 10,000 now. Do you mean to say that they are all intellectually challenged?

Simple sum really - the forum flags a new post in the Potential New Owner thread - Reading fan reading forum eagerly clicks hoping there is some new info good or bad - open thread, see it is a pointless post about Bolton (or this post - sorry all) and logs out again possibly without even reading it. View count goes up but is no measure of quality of post.