The Daily Telegraph - 27.08.2019

Lancashire clubs both close

to folding on deadline day

EFL will discuss fate of

Bolton and Bury tonight

Late takeover bids in

balance after weekend

By Tom Morgan

Bolton Wanderers and Bury were

hours from extinction last night as

they sought late rescue bids.

An administrator for Bolton an-

nounced the club could fold by the

end of today after a deal to buy

them collapsed over the weekend.

The fate of Bury – who could be

thrown out of League One this

week – is also in the balance, with

owner Steve Dale yet to finalise a

deal with C&N Sporting Risk.

Decisions over the futures of the

Lancashire clubs will be discussed

tonight by the English Football

League, which had already pro-

vided Bury with a 5pm deadline.

While Bury could be immedi-

ately thrown out if the C&N deal

fails, the EFL may give Bolton more

time to resurrect a takeover by acti-

vating a 14-day notice period dur-

ing which Bolton have to prove

they have the funds to survive.

Even if Bolton begin liquidating,

in theory they can still participate

in league games. However, should

they completely collapse, the EFL

could fast-track their potential pun-

ishment via an independent body.

A proposed takeover by the Foot-

ball Ventures consortium appeared

to have failed over demands from

Ken Anderson, the businessman

who took the club into administra-

tion. Anderson is believed to have

wanted the deal to include indem-

nity from any possible future civil

action. The monthly wage payment

for Bolton is now looming.

Administrator Paul Appleton

said a deal collapsed on Saturday

and, despite “tentative dialogue”

about salvaging it, he said if there

was no breakthrough “the process

of closing down the company will

commence on Wednesday”.

“In just over 24 hours, the club

will have its membership of the EFL

revoked,” Appleton said. “Over and

above that, the club is currently not

in a position to carry on trading

and, as such, the process of closing

down the company will commence

on Wednesday.

“This will ultimately lead to its

liquidation, the expulsion of the

club from the EFL and the inevita-

ble loss of over 150 jobs.”

Bury, who are two weeks further

down the line towards liquidation,

could be saved today by C&N Sport-

ing Risk, which spent the weekend

carrying out due diligence. Rory

Campbell and Henry Newman are

understood to have provided the

EFL with proof of funds.

The EFL has said it may consider

extending Bury’s deadline to avoid

expulsion if a sale is almost com-

plete, but “cannot keep postponing

games”. Bury are yet to play this

season.

sinking Stoke

2018-19

2019-20

14.81

16

24

Nathan Jones

Jan 9, 2019 – Current

2019-20

4. 81

24

an Jones

2019 – Current

racked up fines over the season of

more than £100,000. It all bred

resentment in the dressing room –

see recent comments from Glen

Johnson, Charlie Adam and Peter

Crouch – and spread the apathy.

Recruitment, plus the

departures of experienced

professionals such as Jon Walters,

Glenn Whelan and Phil Bardsley,

were held up as huge mitigating

factors. Jones’s predecessor,

Rowett, identified some of these

issues but was kicked out after one

too many darts at the fans.

Rowett lost only three league

games in his last 17 but was sacked

due to perceived poor results for a

team with promotion ambitions, a

lack of entertainment and a failure

to get his squad to gel. Was he

harshly treated? Possibly. Behind

the scenes it is understood he was

calling out how he saw the

problems and challenging the

club’s hierarchy to change things.

Maybe he was a convenient patsy.

The focus must now be on Jones

and how he extricates himself from

this mess. After the short reigns of

Lambert and Rowett, he will surely

be given time. He will soon be

joined by a former colleague, Phil

Chapple, as a director of football/

recruitment chief, which suggests

backing from the board remains.

There is a good manager there

• talk to anyone who witnessed his
  teams at Luton – who has maybe
  lost his way a bit. The recruitment
  over the summer was sensible,
  largely relying on no-frills signings
  who know the league. Jones needs
  a win. Late last season he insisted
  he would get it right, and it is only
  five games in. There are many good
  characters and players in the
  squad, who now need to step up.
  The board must also show
  leadership and authority. The
  Coates family, namely chairman
  Peter and his son John, will be in
  turmoil over this – fans could
  question some of their decisions,
  but never their backing or
  commitment. They are lifelong
  fans and will remember the dark
  days of the early Nineties, when
  Stoke last operated in the third tier.
  They will know that a return to
  that division would be a disaster.
  It is all a bit of a mess. Or, to
  pinch a quote from the Coen
  brothers’ film, No Country for Old
  Men, “If it ain’t, it’ll do ’til the mess
  gets here”.

Scan confirms

United face losing

Shaw for six weeks

By John Percy

Manchester United defender Luke

Shaw could be out for up to six

weeks with a hamstring injury.

He is expected to miss possibly

five Premier League matches after

being taken off in the surprise

home defeat by Crystal Palace on

Saturday.

The England international has

had a scan on the injury and it has

been revealed he will be missing

for five to six weeks, in a blow for

manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Shaw is now in danger of missing

the league games against South-

ampton, Leicester City, West Ham

United, Arsenal and Liverpool.

The 24-year-old, who was substi-

tuted in the first half against Palace,

will also be unavailable to play for

England in next month’s Euro 2020

qualifiers.

By Carl Markham

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp

has cast further doubt on his long-

term future at Anfield.

The German, who led the club to

the Champions League title and a

close second place behind Man-

chester City in the Premier League

last season, has already had one

contract renewal to take him up to

2022 and owner Fenway Sports

Group is keen to tie him down to

another.

Klopp joined Liverpool in 2015

and, having spent exactly seven

years at previous clubs Mainz and

Borussia Dortmund, there is

already speculation that he could

walk away from the Reds three

seasons from now.

Last week he said he did not

know what would happen “in two

or three years” and his latest com-

ments will only increase concerns

that he has a definite end point in

mind. Asked if he would take some

time off after he finished at Anfield,

Klopp told German sports maga-

zine Kicker: “It looks like it. Who

can now say if he can give it his all

in three years’ time? If I decide for

myself that I can’t go on any more,

I’ll take a break and in that year I’d

have to make a definite decision

[over my career].

“I have absolute energy, but I

have one problem; I can’t do ‘a little

bit’. I can only do ‘all or nothing’.

But the chances are very high that

my energy levels will go up again

[after a year’s break], and that I can

then do the job the way I want to.”

Liverpool, who have won their

first three games in the league this

season, play away to Burnley on

Saturday.

By Sam Wallace

Tottenham Hotspur expect Dele

Alli to return to action in their north

London derby at Arsenal on Sun-

day, and the England international

could be named in Gareth South-

gate’s squad on Thursday for next

month’s Euro 2020 qualifiers

against Bulgaria and Kosovo.

The 23-year-old is still to play this

season and was not on the bench for

the home game against Newcastle

United that ended in defeat, with

Mauricio Pochettino preferring a

cautious approach to Alli’s return.

The attacking midfielder suffered a

hamstring injury over the summer

and returned to training with the

first team only last week.

Alli was injured during pre-sea-

son, a recurrence of the hamstring

problem in his left leg that caused

him to miss all of February’s action

last season. Pochettino said during

pre-season that he was “worried”

about the player’s issues in that area

and has given Alli longer than usual

to recuperate.

The derby will be a considerable

test for both teams after defeats at

the weekend. There are continued

doubts over the future of Christian

Eriksen, making Alli’s availability

crucial to Pochettino. The Spurs

manager could not say on Sunday

whether Eriksen had played his last

game for Spurs.

The European transfer window

shuts next Monday.

Klopp suggests his reign at Liverpool

could end in 2022 with a year’s break

Alli poised to return for

derby and Euro qualifiers

Caution: Dele Alli

has been given

extra time to

recover from a

hamstring injury

The Daily Telegraph Tuesday 27 August 2019 *** 11

RELEASED BY "What's News" vk.com/wsnws TELEGRAM: t.me/whatsnws