BOLTON Wanderers have finally sold their former Burnden Park home, more than two years after playing their final match at the famous old stadium.

The disposal of the site was expected to be announced on the Stock Exchange later today, but the BEN understands a deal has been struck to sell the site for £6.75 million.

The final touches were being put to the transfer documents this morning ahead of a formal announcement.

The sale has been agreed between Burnden Leisure plc - the football club's parent company - the United Co-operative Estates, who own the key area of the 13-acre site, and a development company.

The deal will bring to an end a long-running saga that has been a major financial burden on Wanderers, costing more than £1 million in interest charges alone. Once formalised, the sale will repay the £6.75 million loan to the club's bankers but will not be used to fund transfers.

Nevertheless, it represents welcome good news on the financial front for Wanderers, brings development of the derelict site nearer for the residents of Burnden Ward and ends three years of frustration for officials of the football club and the Co-op, who in a joint venture, have used the most eminent planning consultants of London and Manchester to determine the future of the site. A scheme to relocate the Normid Superstore to an enlarged central site on the old ground was at an advanced stage when the planning application and two others were called in for a public inquiry by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott amid concerns that it could have a major impact on Bolton town centre trade.

Directors of Burnden Leisure were advised an inquiry would mean a long delay, involving huge legal bills, and every likelihood of eventual defeat in view of the rejection of similar applications elsewhere in the country.

In July, Wanderers chairman and Burnden Leisure chief executive Gordon Hargreaves confirmed in an open letter to fans through the BEN that a deal for the "phased disposal" of the the land over a two-year period was close to being finalised.

That deal has now been agreed and the burden of the old Burnden Park - the home of Bolton Wanderers for 102 years - has now been unloaded.

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