Bolton have been sold for $10.4m to Sport Shield Group Consortium, an investor group headed by former Wanderers striker Dean Holdsworth. The deal was completed on February 23rd and is still pending ratification from the Football League while the club struggles on and off the pitch.

The troubled club has amassed an unpaid tax bill of approximately $4m and has been pursued by the UK tax body HMRC. The agency had sought to force the club into bankruptcy as a result of the unpaid debt, however a two week adjournment was allowed by the overseeing court in light of the pending sale. If the sale has not been approved and the tax debt not paid at the end of the period, bankruptcy proceedings are likely to continue.

New owners Sport Shield Group Consortium are expected to pay an additional $17m over the next five years while current owner and chairman Eddie Davies will remain involved in club operations but not in financial matters. The club is currently under an enforced Football League transfer embargo after breaching financial fair play regulations related to its high debt ratio.

Performances on the pitch have mirrored the club’s woes off it, after their last appearance in the Premier League in 2012, the club has languished in the Championship and currently sits second to bottom of the second tier, seven points adrift of safety. Even with a successful takeover and staving off administration the club’s immediate future is filled with a fight for Championship survival and the threat of an even barer financial budget in League One.