The long-awaited takeover of Bolton Wanderers by the Football Ventures consortium seems to have stumbled to a halt thanks to a hitch acquiring the Bolton Whites Hotel and it’s proving to be a damning sign for the prospective owners.

It leaves Bolton in a less-than-ideal position as, with just two weeks to go until the season starts, Wanderers have just 13 players on the books with just six of them being senior first-team players.

Wages for the coaching and playing staff STILL haven’t been paid – causing another player strike – and ticket details for the upcoming season are still up in the air, something long-time season ticket holders are concerned about no end.

(Photo by Matthew Lewis/Getty Images)

The issue seems to have arisen from Football Ventures’ plan to take over both the club and the hotel as a spanner was thrown in the works by Ken Anderson who, back in May, placed the hotel under the control of different administrators to the ones at the football club.

As a result, this has left the door open for reported bids from former Nottingham Forest owner Fawaz Al-Hasawi and Laurence Bassini, and we know all about him.

This whole debacle isn’t exactly the best welcome message for the Football Ventures consortium to send.

(Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)

While we wholeheartedly appreciate the difficulties in buying a football club, one in administration no less, it really is damning for Football Ventures to be leaving it so late that Wanderers may not be able to start the season at all at the rate things seem to be going.

The biggest problem facing Football Ventures seems to be their plan to acquire both the club and the hotel. According to the hotel’s administrators, the process of selling the hotel to an incoming bidder could reportedly take between four and six weeks and that’s time Bolton Wanderers don’t have!

Where are those filthy rich Chinese billionaires who were supposedly interested when we need them?

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