Swansea saved from receivers

Swansea City has been pulled back from the brink of receivership after a majority of the club's creditors approved a plan that will see its £1.7m debts repaid over the next two years.

The creditors' decision – made on Monday and ratified yesterday when the formal Company Voluntary Arrangement report was filed at Swansea County Court – will see most of them receive 5p in the pound of the money they are owed. "Secured" creditors, such as the Inland Revenue, will receive all they money they are owed. "Unsecured" creditors, such as former manager John Hollins, will get five per cent.

Following Monday's vote, Hollins, who was sacked in September, is now scheduled to receive a £4,000 pay-off instead of the £250,000 that was owing on his contract when he was dismissed. He did not attend Monday's vote and due to a technicality was not able to cast a proxy vote. The League Managers' Association has said Swansea's treatment of Hollins has been "outrageous". The LMA has said it will continue to lobby for managers to be treated as "secured" creditors in such situations, in the same way as other "football creditors", such as players.

A consortium led by Mel Nurse, a former Swansea and Wales centre-half, will now formulate a plan to take the Third Division club forward.

Bolton are trying to rush through the signing of the Manchester City defender Paul Ritchie on a play-and-pay basis. Bolton had an earlier bid to take Ritchie on loan rejected and have now offered City a nominal fee with a big bonus if Ritchie helps Wanderers avoid relegation this season.

Bolton are also signing the Greek centre-half Kostas Konstantinidis, but have pulled out of a deal for the Belgian Didier Dhedeene after he failed to impress in a closed-doors trial.

The Wimbledon midfielder Kevin Cooper has signed for Wolves for an initial £1m fee.

The teenage strikers Rudy Alberto Manso and Fernando Romero Garcia, both from the Spanish club El Palo, have been given a week-long trial with Chesterfield.