Bolton Wanderers have endured an eventful season with financial concerns and poor performances seeing them languish firmly in the Championship relegation zone.

Following their 2-1 defeat to Ipswich on Saturday, the Trotters sit 23rd in the table and are eight points from safety with just six games remaining.

But their problems on the field have been amplified by their economic situation whereby the club appeared in the High Court last week over an unpaid tax bill.

This had resulted in the club's staff and players being paid late, but the situation was set to improve with ex-Watford owner Laurence Bassini appearing close to completing a takeover.

However, The Sun's Alan Nixon is now reporting that the deal still hangs in the balance despite Bassini's best efforts.

"Bassini was 'still trying but not close' according to my info last night", Nixon told his Twitter followers.

The news comes as a setback for Bolton fans who had reason to feel hopeful following Bassini's encouraging comments last week.

"Two or three things need to be checked, but we're very close in this coming week," Bassini told Talksport.

"Bolton are a great, great club. I looked at them a couple of years ago - they're just a great club, they deserve more. They have the potential to return to the top.

"I don't know whether we'll survive this season - if we do go down we'll be putting a large sum of money in to take them straight back up."

The verdict

Bolton's situation is getting worse by the day and this news only compounds the club's fortunes of late.

The jury is still out on whether Bassini's ownership would benefit Bolton in the long term, as he was handed a three-year ban by the EFL in 2013 for his dealings at Watford.

However, such is the desperation of Bolton's scenario, they need the deal to go through in order to simply ensure the club's survival.