Bolton Wanderers face a High Court battle to avoid becoming the third English club to be liquidated Bolton Wanderers have no buyer in sight and no way of paying their debts Championship club has been hit by their sixth winding-up petition in 18 months They now face a High Court battle on Wednesday to avoid being liquidated By Ian Herbert For The Daily Mail Published: 22:30 GMT, 19 March 2019 | Updated: 00:59 GMT, 20 March 2019 7 Viewcomments Bolton Wanderers face a High Court fight on Wednesday to avoid becoming only the third English club to be liquidated, with no buyer in sight and no way of paying their debts. The club have been hit with their sixth winding-up petition over unpaid tax and VAT in 18 months, after the withdrawal of a consortium who had expressed interest in buying them. Football insolvency experts believe the High Court’s reluctance to see a community club liquidated, like Aldershot in 1992 and Chester City in 2010, will see them avoid that nightmare outcome. The Championship team will almost certainly enter administration instead, incurring an immediate 12-point deduction. Bolton Wanderers will be hoping to avoid liquidation as they enter a High Court battle The club has been hit by their sixth winding-up petition regarding unpaid tax in 18 months Sportsmail understands HMRC, who brought the petition, have been pushing the courts to liquidate a club for some time, setting an example to those who expect to be made a special case when they fail to meet their debts. Wanderers’ biggest challenge will be convincing the court there is any sign of a buyer. The Football Ventures (Whites) consortium, led by private equity investor Parminder Basran and his business partner Sharon Brittan, have pulled out of talks, to the dismay of chairman Ken Anderson, who has become a detested figure and wants out. Corporate recovery specialists say that Bolton’s geographical location works against them. ‘Foreign buyers want London clubs,’ said one source. ‘Lancashire does not hold the same appeal and unless there is a consortium of locals, it is very difficult to see where a buyer is coming from.’ The team will almost certainly enter administration instead, incurring a 12-point deduction Bolton’s woes were compounded on Tuesday by confirmation Forest Green owner Dale Vince has instigated legal proceedings against them over the collapsed Christian Doidge transfer in January. Vince alleges Anderson reneged on a contract to sign the player and that Forest Green ended up paying Doidge’s wages after he was loaned to Bolton with a permanent move agreed to follow. Bolton confirmed on Tuesday night that takeover talks had failed but claimed ‘discussions are ongoing with other parties’. Meanwhile, Leeds united owner Andrea Radrizzani is being sued for £750million by Chinese investors. Radrizzani’s sports rights company MP & Silva was bought out by the group in 2016, but collapsed in October. The Chinese are suing Radrizzani and business partner Riccardo Silva for commercial fraud. Share or comment on this article: All rights reserved for this news site dailymail and under his responsibility