WANDERERS are preparing to hand over control of the club to Isle of Man-based businessman Eddie Davies.
Mr Davies, born in Little Lever, has made significant funds available to the Wanderers since being appointed a non-executive director in October 1999.
These have amounted to £14m, which make him the biggest single investor and supporter in the club's history.
But now he is preparing to pay £2.25m to cover a further share issue, which is exclusive to him, and will take his shareholding from 29.7 per cent to 94.5 per cent. He could, ultimately, own 97.99 per cent of the football club.
Wanderers' chairman Mr Phil Gartside said that without Mr Davies' involvement, the club would be facing serious difficulties.
"He has effectively underwritten the losses we've made in establishing Bolton Wanderers in the Premier League.
"We are watching Jay Jay Okocha, Youri Djorkaeff and Ivan Campo courtesy of Eddie Davies and it is his continued support that will allow us to keep them as well as giving us a stable base to continue to work from.
"He is putting his money in, he's paying for it, why shouldn't he own it?"
The injection of cash will help pay off a loan of £1.7m, which is due to the Co-op Bank next month.
But the overall effect to existing shareholders is that the value of their shareholding will be significantly reduced.
Shares valued in excess of 50p when the club floated on the stock market in 1997 will be worth 0.1p.
Shareholders will vote on the proposal at the annual meeting of Burnden Leisure -- the club's parent company -- on December 29. The plan is expected to be approved, but the board is urging all individual shareholders to support the move. If it is voted down Wanderers could be forced to sell players, including Jay Jay Okocha, in the January transfer window.
"This would mean we would not have to do that," Mr Gartside said.
The Burnden balance sheet, which is now in the hands of shareholders, shows a loss of £5.6m on the year up to June 30 this year from a turnover of £38m. That, coming after the previous two years' losses of £1.4m and £8m, means that achieving, and keeping, Wanderers in the Premiership has cost a total of £15m.
The wage bill increased from £16.6 million to £21.7 million and interest charges totalled £2.8m. But the sale of Michael Ricketts to Middlesbrough last January led to a profit of £2.6m on player transfers.
Mr Gartside says the club has tried various attempts to relieve the debt, which currently stands at £38m, but appeals at the last three annual meetings have brought no approaches from potential investors.
In a 16-page supplement to the club's annual report outlining the financial reorganisation, he says: "The financial pressures currently being experienced by many professional football clubs continue to have a negative impact on the Board's ability to refinance the £38m debt.
"The consequence of that is that the club urgently requires further investment.
"The Board considers that this funding can realistically only be secured from one source, namely Eddie Davies."
And he adds: "Without the commitment of Eddie Davies it would have been difficult to see the club's financial burden being eased and, overall, there was little to suggest that it would have done so in the short-term."
Despite his commitment to the club, Mr Davies has always kept a low profile. He was unavailable for comment on Monday, but is understood not to be considering any changes to the day-to-day running of the club with Mr Gartside remaining chairman.
TAKEN FROM THE BOLTON EVENING NEWS ON MONDAY 8TH DECEMBER 2003