Having checked my dossier…
Denglen (one of the original directors was Peter Gilman (based in Leeds), by the way) was incorporated at Companies House in February 1988, just days before Maurice Miller’s consortium bought the club and Fellow’s Park from Terry Ramsden. Miller (based in Leeds) knew Bonser (also in the consortium) because by then JW Bonser Engineering was a subsidiary of Whittington Engineering (based in Leeds), just in passing.
Denglen (originally Lanesmead Investments Ltd) was set up specifically develop two Walsall properties, accoridng to what little accounting records remain. It’s sister company, Davenmanor. was set up to run the club, and with this simple little action, the club and the land were originally separated - ostensibly to protect the club from the development if it went sour (imagine!).
Denglen’s only set of accounts (issued in year one) reveal the club owed Denglen GBP397,949. One has to assume this was the debt hangover from the Ramsden era. It probably means the company paid nothing for it’s position as developer, merely guaranteeing the club’s debts - an easy thing to do with a substantial freehold for sale.
Bescot was developed by a Leeds-based construction business, GMI. GMI was (I believe) founded in 1983 by one Peter Gilman. The ground was to be a carbon copy of Scunthorpe’s old ground, Glanford Park. That cost just GBP2,500,000, and was completed in 18 weeks, according to records from the time.
Anyway. The freehold. Looks like, although this is really, really, murky, Denglen bought it, or expected to buy it, from Severn Trent, but when they went under, without filing anything like a coherent set of accounts (Gilman had resigned as director at this stage, by the way, being replaced by Charlie Mander (sir), Severn Trent, original and maybe still owner, exercised a clause in whatever contract was in place (nobody knows save those involved) to serve a termination notice on the retail development (which was intended to be owned by the club, or sold to provide capital).
It would appear that Denglen owned the land because a certain KR Whalley (not from Leeds) said in 1991 (after Denglen went under) that the land had received expressions of interest from several different parties to the official receiver, and Severn Trent were definitely not in receivership.
So, in summary, WFC got sold to Miller, whose consortium had set up two companies - one for the club, one for the development. The development company, Denglen, bought Bescot, but had a contract that was subject to various things that they did not fulfil and Severn Trent bought the land back, or reacquired it under contract for whatever reason. (Note 1 below)
The land was eventually sold to the JW Bonser pension fund in 1995, for the princely sum of GBP200,000. Apparently because all other avenues had been exhausted, according to official records (club website). Like other transactions of the 1988-1995 period, secrecy prevailed.
This is a personal summary from my own research and draws certain conclusions that may or may not be accepted as accurate by the parties involved at the time. This and other research is why I will never support having Peter Gilman on the board. I firmly believe he should be dismissed and replaced.
The rest of the story (there’s plenty more) will have to wait for another day.
Note 1 - it has just occurred to me that they may not have been paid for it… I do not have a list of Denglen creditors to hand.