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Forest Green Rovers to sue Bolton Wanderers for breach of contract over Christian Doidge transfer saga
The chairman of Forest Green Rovers has launched a scathing attack on Bolton Wanderers owner Ken Anderson and vowed to sue the embattled Championship club for alleged breach of contract over the collapse of the transfer of striker Christian Doidge.
Dale Vince said he was commencing legal proceedings against Bolton after claiming the club reneged on an obligation to buy Doidge for £1 million this month following a loan spell in which Forest Green ended up footing the bill for the player’s wages.
Bolton were due to pay Forest Green the first £250,000 instalment of the transfer fee on Jan 3 but pulled the plug on the deal after being placed under a registration embargo by the Football League (EFL), which prompted Doidge to return to the League Two club despite having agreed a three-year contract with the Championship side.
Vince said the EFL had agreed to reimburse Forest Green for Doidge’s wages from money that is due to Bolton this month, which the EFL confirmed on Monday. It is understood the sum, which Vince said Bolton had agreed to pay under the terms of the loan, is in excess of £30,000.
Bolton said in a statement on Monday that they were still hopeful of a “satisfactory resolution” over Doidge and said they were “disappointed” by a statement Forest Green had issued on Sunday night in which Vince condemned Anderson’s behaviour.
But Vince insisted on Monday that there was “zero prospect” of the transfer being revived and renewed his attack on Anderson while reiterating his claims in his statement that he did not believe the Bolton owner had “the means” or “intention” to complete the deal for Doidge.
“The statement [from Bolton] made me laugh because it made me think of Theresa May still being hopeful of a satisfactory outcome with the European Union,” Vince told The Telegraph. “It’s not happening. We’re not in conversation any more, there’s no dialogue, there’s zero prospect.
“I feel like we have just been fobbed off from the get go. A lot of promises were made in August and a contract was entered into that I don’t think they had the means to honour, or the intention to actually.
“I just think it’s reckless behaviour. They had no care about their ability to pay or honour the contract and I just don’t think they had a genuine intention to see it through.
“We probably won’t need to go to court to reclaim the wages because the EFL … have promised already to pay the money we are owed for Christian’s wages from monies Bolton are due in January. We will sue Bolton for the breach of contract over the transfer - the first £250,000 was due to be paid last week. We will pursue them for that.”
Bolton were placed under a registration embargo last week because they have outstanding football creditors. It is understood Bolton still owe money to the Professional Footballers’ Association after borrowing cash from the union to pay the wages of football staff last month.
The Telegraph has also learned that Bolton owe money to Norwich City for missed payments relating to the loans of forward Yanic Wildschut and goalkeeper Remi Matthews.
It is understood Norwich are owed as much as £195,000 in loan fees and wages for the two players. Wildschut is on loan at Bolton until the end of the season but Matthews has returned to Norwich, even though he was expecting his short-term loan with Bolton to be turned into a permanent deal from this month after agreeing an 18-month contract with the Lancashire outfit. Norwich are now in the process of trying to find a new club for Matthews, who is out of contract at Carrow Road in June and has no future there.
Vince claimed he agreed a new transfer payment structure for Doidge over the telephone with Anderson last week only for the Bolton owner to renege on the arrangement the next day. “That was the breaking point,” said Vince, who added that the situation had had a “big impact” on Doidge.
It is believed the £1 million fee for Doidge was due to be paid in four instalments, with the second due in December, the third in December 2020 and the final payment in December 2021. Anderson and Bolton declined to comment on Vince’s accusations when contacted by the Telegraph.
Vince said he had spoken to Shaun Harvey, chief executive of the Football League, on Monday and been reassured that the governing body were treating the matter seriously. “He [Harvey] put a call into me,” Vince said. “He was keen to make sure he had all the facts and to let me know that they have been doing everything they could behind the scenes and are continuing to do that, which is really nice and good to hear.”
A spokesman for the EFL confirmed Forest Green would be reimbursed for the wages they paid to Doidge during his loan with Bolton. “The issue of non-payment of loan wages was only brought to the EFL’s attention for the first time at the end of last week and as such this has been the earliest opportunity the League has had to intervene,” the spokesman said. “The EFL will deduct any monies owed for the player’s wages from monies that would have otherwise been have paid to Bolton Wanderers.”
The EFL said they were also liaising with Bolton and Forest Green over their situation. “We were advised of the issue towards the end of last week and since that point have been seeking an appropriate solution that meets the requirements of our regulations. The problem has arisen as a result of Bolton Wanderers being placed under a registration embargo which wasn’t in place when both clubs entered into the initial loan agreement in August 2018. We remain in dialogue with both clubs.”
Anderson - who bought Bolton in 2016 along with former striker Dean Holdsworth, who has since left the club - is facing mounting opposition from the club’s fans. Bolton have avoided the threat of administration and winding up petitions in recent years but further challenges lie ahead. Anderson was given a £5 million bridging loan by Eddie Davies, shortly before the death of Bolton’s former owner in September, to pay off a £4.8 million loan to BluMarble, an Essex-based financial company. It is thought that loan is due to be repaid next month.