THE fate of Bolton Wanderers could be decided within a month after a £1million HMRC winding-up petition officially got a court date.

Ken Anderson confirmed earlier today that he had struck an outline agreement to sell the club to a consortium, believed to be Football Ventures (Whites) Limited, headed by London-based Parminder Basran and Sharron Brittan.

But the deal is far from complete and it is understood that Anderson must first negotiate with the family of former owner Eddie Davies on how to pay back a £5million bridging loan taken out in September last year, which is now due.

Davies, who passed away days after supplying the loan, was also owed significant bonuses depending on future sporting success as part of the package agreed with Anderson and Dean Holdsworth when they bought the club in March 2016.

Solving that situation is not the only pressing concern for Anderson, who also has the February salaries – estimated at around £600,000 - to pay next Thursday.

The HMRC winder will be heard at the High Court in London on March 20, where the claimant is likely to pursue either administration, or worse, liquidation, as they did in early 2016 before the last takeover.

Any of the club’s major creditors – including Davies’s company Moonshift Investments and Anderson himself – may also seek to recover their debt through administration, which would carry with it an instant 12-point penalty in the Championship if triggered by March 28.

Anderson took aim at several media reports of the takeover but confirmed: “The facts are that there is a consortium with which heads of terms were agreed and discussions are ongoing.

“There has, over the last week or so, been further interest from several other consortiums who have all signed NDAs and discussions are also ongoing with them.”

Anderson vehemently denied involvement with a North West consortium backed by Russian money and added: “As far as l am aware, the comments about a Turkish buyer are pure fiction and to the best of my knowledge are yet more speculation that seems to have been generated by the media.”