Bolton Wanderers and Bury have this evening learned whether their league openers would go ahead or not.
Both League One clubs, who will be starting the season on minus twelve points, had until 5pm today to show they can meet “all outstanding commitments”.
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At just after 12pm today, EFL’s statement read: “Following extensive discussions with the Administrators of Bolton Wanderers, the ownership at Bury and the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) over the course of the weekend some progress has been achieved in regard to the respective challenges they currently face.
“However, concerns do remain and both Clubs are required to provide confirmation to the League’s satisfaction that they can meet all outstanding commitments.
“To give both Clubs the maximum opportunity to comply with the request, a deadline of 5pm on Monday 29 July has been set for them to provide the EFL with the necessary evidence. The 5pm cut-off point replaces the noon deadline issued to Bury, which was confirmed on Friday evening.
“If the information is not received, the EFL Board is likely to suspend the opening day fixtures against Wycombe Wanderers (Bolton Wanderers) and MK Dons (Bury) under the provision of EFL Regulation 28.2.
“The EFL will continue to offer its full assistance and support to both Clubs in order to achieve the objective of securing long-term futures for them but with the season now a matter of days away there is no other option but for all outstanding matters to be brought to a conclusion.”
Following the news, Wycombe immediately suspended ticket sales to away fans.
Fans of both those in crisis and the opponents for the opener patiently waited whether or not there was going to be a game or not on Saturday.
Well the deadline passed and the EFL revealed:
BOLTON WANDERERS
“At its meeting today, the EFL Board was appraised of the position in regard to the outstanding information requested in respect of ongoing matters at Bolton Wanderers.
“The Board has fully considered the Club’s further submissions and is satisfied that they are sufficient to meet the requirements of the League subject to the completion of formal documentation.
“As a result the EFL Board has opted not to suspend their opening day fixture with Wycombe Wanderers and it will remain as originally scheduled on Saturday 3 August 2019 at 3pm.”
BURY
“Following continued and comprehensive discussions with the ownership at Bury and other interested parties throughout Monday, the EFL Board is not satisfied it has received the necessary evidence in regard to the outstanding information it requires that demonstrates how the Club will be funded moving forwards.
“As a result of not meeting Monday’s 5pm deadline, which had been extended on two previous occasions, the EFL Board feels it has been placed in an unenviable position and, regrettably, has opted to take the reluctant decision to suspend Saturday’s opening day fixture with MK Dons under the provision of EFL Regulation 28.2.
“In addition, the EFL Board, if not in possession of the necessary evidence by 12pm on Friday 2 August 2019, will make a determination as to whether to suspend Bury’s away fixture at Accrington Stanley on Saturday 10 August 2019.
“As has been the case throughout this entire process, the EFL will continue to offer its full assistance to the ownership at Bury, but remains clear that while the League is here to support the Club through some extremely complex and complicated issues, the outstanding matters can only be resolved with the cooperation from the Club itself.”
After finding out the outcome, fans took to give their thoughts on Twitter – check out what they had to say on the next page.
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