BWFCST Update – 08 February 2016

Dear all,

We are progressing well with setting up the Trust and investigating how the Trust could take part in a community-led takeover of the club.

At our last Steering Group meeting we had an update on what is happening with the bank account. Frustratingly this isn’t simply a case of walking into a bank and getting one. We’ve had to fill out forms, speak to bank managers and wait. Most of all wait.

We are actively engaged in opening a bank account for the Trust and have submitted 2 applications with 2 banks to open a Community Bank Account and whichever bank completes the paperwork first, we will be going with. Sadly the delay in setting up an account such as this is due to the checks which need to be undertaken by the banks themselves. We are currently calling both banks daily to check on the progress of our application and once we have the account set up we will be able to collect membership fees for the Trust.

We also discussed the elections to the board of the Trust. We have been advised by Supporters Direct that this could take 3 months from membership fees being collected. The Steering Group do not want this process to take that long. Consequently we are now setting up a dedicated working group to investigate how we can reduce this timescale and to ensure that the elections are fully democratic and accessible to all members.

We hope that whilst we are waiting for the bank account to be set up, we can make significant headway in preparing for the elections so that we can announce news of both in as quick succession as possible.

As with all elections there will be a timetable for nominations, sharing the details of the candidates and then the elections – so when we have those details we will share them.

In regards to the takeover of the club. We are still awaiting news on the preferred bid status from the club, but we are still in constant dialogue with them.

We have also continued speaking to a number of local institutions and businesses who have expressed an interest in our Community-led takeover offer. When speaking to all of these potential partners, we have made it abundantly clear that this is a scheme to bring BWFC back into the heart of the Bolton community. We will not be working with anyone who is not committed to this fundamental aim.

We appreciate that people will want to know who we are speaking to, but due to commercial sensitivities and confidentiality at this stage we are unable to list who they are. However, again we reiterate that we will not be working with anyone who does not support and is willing to sign up to the aims of the Trust.

The lack of a credible takeover from the numerous other parties who have expressed an interest in our club has driven us to prepare this offer, albeit far sooner than any of us had envisaged. We are deeply concerned that time is running out and we do not want to see our Club stripped of its prized assets, including the stadium and hotel, and our best young players if the worst were to happen if the winding up petition was to be enforced later this month.

We believe that we can offer an alternative for the Club which is focused on the community. Working together with like-minded institutions, business and individuals we can put our club back at the heart of our community.

Thank you again for your patience whilst we continue to get everything set up, and once we have any further news we will let you know.