William Hill needs to find answers quick if it wants to fend off a possible bid from Rank and 888

The bookmaker is in a mess otherwise the pair of smaller gambling companies - worth £1bn less combined than Hill's - might have been laughed off. Meanwhile others could be waiting in the wings

Odds are against 888 and Rank succeeding with a bid for William Hill (Getty)

Talk about a Rank outsider. On the face of it the proposed takeover of William Hill by a consortium made up of casino operator Rank and online bookie 888 looks like a dog’s breakfast.

Goodness only knows how it would work. Here you have an online gambling outfit teaming up with what is primarily a bricks-and-mortar casino and bingo business to take a tilt at a struggling bookie that has some retail, some online, and that needs to make the both of them work better.

It shouldn’t be forgotten that Rank used to own a bookie but Blue Square struggled and was ultimately palmed off on to Betfair. Meanwhile 888 came within an ace of being taken over by William Hill last year.

Unfortunately for the prospective bidders, details of their discussions started to leak over the weekend. They are very obviously at a very early stage in their planning; too early a stage to answer even basic questions such as “how would you put all these businesses together” “who would run it all” and, crucially, “how would you fund a bid”.

The pair can at least draw some credit for doing the right thing by putting out a prompt announcement to the stock exchange to tell the market about as much as they could, namely that they have formed a consortium to evaluate “a possible offer for William Hill”.

However, while you can raise any number of questions about the “industrial logic” of the possible deal they’re touting, the real questions are for the board of William Hill. And it’s not only me that is going to be asking them over the days and weeks to come, as Hill's directors prepare for what could be some uncomfortable meetings with shareholders.

The fact that two companies that are together worth £1bn less combined than the £2.7bn market value William Hill enjoyed before their interest was made known tells you all you need to know.

Only companies in a real pickle have to deal with this sort of approach, which would have been laughed out of court had the bookie been firing on even half of its cylinders. William Hill is a company that ought to be playing predator, not prey, just as it was regularly doing before the disastrous appointment of James Henderson as chief executive.

Unfortunately, in the past six months Hill’s has put out two nasty profit warnings. It is is coping with an exodus of management. Its most important business unit, the online operation that should be the engine of its growth, is struggling. Given all that, you can’t blame Rank and 888 for having a go. William Hill is a prized property, with a great brand. Its business ought to be fixable.

Others will be aware of that fact. If this consortium goes nowhere – and that’s where my money would be at the moment – William Hill’s bosses still have to cope with the fact that it is now very much in play.

To retain its independence, the bookie’s board members have to convince institutional shareholders that they’re the right people to oversee a turnaround headed by someone who hasn’t even been appointed yet and who might not be in place for another year.

They have to hope that finance director Philip Bowcock can keep the show on the road as interim chief executive in the meantime. As I wrote last week, it’s not impossible that he will. But the going report for his race reads “heavy”.

Hill's directors also have to explain why they allowed the business to get into this state in the first place, why they appointed Mr Henderson and then stuck with him for as long as they did, and what they plan to do after pulling the plug on him last week.

If they don’t come up with some quick and credible answers – it wouldn’t hurt if they showed a willingness to bring in some fresh blood – those shareholders might yet look seriously at whatever Rank and 888 come up. And they might say: “Why not?”