FOOTBALL chief Gordon Hargreaves has denied a report that Bolton Wanderers are at odds with the chairman of the club's parent company, Burnden Leisure plc.

Mr Hargreaves said there was no foundation to a claim of a "boardroom split" and insisted the company was "driving hard" on the commercial side of the business to deliver income that will benefit football in the future.

But an unattributable report on the financial pages of a Sunday newspaper claims Burnden Leisure boss, the entrepreneur David Williams, was being frustrated in his attempts to persuade the rest of his board to diversify.

His plans to expand by way of raising new money in The City were being thwarted, according to sources, by the resistence of football club members on the board of the plc who do not want to see their shareholding diluted.

But Mr Hargreaves, who is chairman of Bolton Wanderers and chief executive of Burnden Leisure, rubbished the suggestion of a lack of financial ambition.

"Would I block anybody bringing in more cash?" he asked rhetorically. "The hotel plan shows how we are prepared to develop."

Last month a partnership with brewers Greenalls was announced to build the £12 million 125-bedroom Whites Hotel inside the South Stand of the Reebok Stadium. Plans for a theme restaurant and pub in the North Stand have also been confirmed. Nevertheless, Mr Williams is said to consider the potential of the Reebok site is still under-exploited.

Wanderers went public two years ago when they attained a listing on the Stock Market by way of a 'reverse takeover' of Williams' company, Mosaic Investments. The football club's directors - four of whom sit on the plc board - own or control just under 60 per cent of Burnden Leisure shares.

So, although Bolton Wanderers is a subsidiary of the plc, the football club's directors effectively control the parent company!

That's how the takeover was explained to fans and existing shareholders when pledges were made that football would remain the core business of the new company and that the club was not selling out to City speculators.

"Going public was only part of a long-range strategy for Bolton Wanderers, " Mr Hargreaves explained. "We see football and leisure being linked. For football to survive it has to have commercial income and the drive is still there to get the commercial side of the business successful so that it can deliver the income we need."

The weekend report - however unsubstantiated - suggests all may not be well with Burnden Leisure. Mr Williams, although he has made no comment himself, appears to be frustrated that the shares, which fell by two pence to 20p last week, continue to be mainly reliant on the results of the team rather than the performance of the company as a whole.

"I can't comment on the thinking behind the report," Mr Hargreaves said. "I don't know where it has come from and why it appeared. There's certainly no split in the boardroom as far as I am concerned."

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