How Wolves plunged to the lower leagues and nearly ceased to exist - Part 24: ASDA presents a deal
A 5pm deadline in July 1986 to formulate a takeover of Wolves sparked a frantic weekend of activity, with hopes beginning to fade that a deal could be done.
Then, on deadline day itself, the Express & Star revealed that supermarket giant Asda had thrown Wolves a lifeline.
This followed a flurry of activity that saw Asda executives rushing down the motorway to hurriedly thrash out an agreement that might give the club a fighting chance.
On July 28, the day before the deadline, a meeting of Wolverhampton Council's sub-committee to save Wolves took place, with council officials re-iterating that the authority had no legal right to run the club. Officers were instructed to begin talks with Asda, and the company's executives swiftly left their head office in Leeds for lengthy talks with council leaders in Wolverhampton.
A deal with Asda was approved by the sub-committee the same day. As had previously been outlined, the council would buy Molineux and the surrounding land for £1.1 million. In turn, Asda would pay off the remaining £1.8 million owed by Wolves, on condition it could build a supermarket on land behind the North Bank. Birmingham-based developer J J Gallagher was brought in to oversee the development of the site.
Was this the breakthrough that was needed?
There were still plenty of obstacles. As Doug Hope was at pains to point out, it was Wolverhampton Council's refusal to allow a supermarket on the site which had led to the collapse of the Bhattis' business model for the club. It was still council planning policy to reject major retail development outside of the ring road.
And there would be a fresh twist the following day, when Bird, council chief executive Mike Lyons and other council officials met the receiver at Gallagher's offices.
During the meeting, the receiver announced that a consortium headed by Walsall builder's merchant Barry Edwards had offered £3.2 million for the club in its entirety. The council immediately suspended its proposal, saying it was not going to become embroiled in a 'Dutch auction'.
By August 1, talks with the council had resumed, and officials were locked in a meeting at the receiver's office in Birmingham which went on until 3am.
