Bolton's current situation

I'm not sure this is going to work

We have players on high wages who we can't get rid of, so until the contracts run out and the players bugger off then we can improve...

All 4 options are absolute shite. I vote for none of the above.

You anarchist Reebok Trotter.  

RT is like our Don Corleone, have some respect or he'll make you an offer you can't refuse.

I would go for 'other' if it were an option.

We all think about the club as 'fans' but the people who own it and run it see it completely differently - they see it as a business.

Serious money as flowed into the club and out again over the last decade - probably in the region of half a billion pounds.

I can't fathom who keeps the club viable with it being £135 million in debt, out of the Premier League and not looking to get back there anytime soon based on the summer transfer market inaction that we have just gone through.

The debt is greater than Davies wealth, so where is the money coming from to keep the club afloat and why hasn't those who have invested it seemingly not in any hurry to get it out of the club before we go bang?

The only logical thing I can come up with is that Davies (and others) are more than happy about how the club is set up in that no matter what the club will financially survive and thus their investment is secure and there will be a return on their investment via interest payments on their loans.

I can only guess that the short term plan now is to see out the contracts on players like Knight, Mears, Mills, etc - as we can't give them away (Owens galacticos!) and try to rebuild again once their wages are freed up.

So we have had recent managers who have overspent on players - and more to the point who have in the main been shit - and who we are stuck with on big wages.

Gartside should have sacked Coyle before the January 2011 transfer window and we would probably still been in the Premier, with vastly more income to the club and without the fecking useless shit that Coyle signed since then and we are still paying for - Knight, Mills, Andrews, Sordell, etc - imo.

It's easy being wise after the event but I was saying this at the time although few listened and most scoffed.

Gone for poor Managerial Appointments although I dont consider us victims.

More like somebody's dropped a few bollox and now we're paying the price.

Are you listening Phil?

Ditto with Banksy

Poor managerial appointments.

As Sluffy and BTID say too many high wages for players that aren't good enough and have no resale value. The fact we splashed such money on Elmander and he went for free was criminal, a proven goalscorer was what we needed and with big cash like that being spent it had to be a wiser investment. We didn't get full value for Cahill because his contract wasn't long enough and we're still paying the price for the contracts Coyle did give out.

With our debt it was vital we stayed in the premier league, the longer we're out of it the bleaker it looks.

Piss poor managers signing piss poor players, end of.

I'm new to this poll starting lark , so I don't quite know the etiquette yet.

I apologise to anyone who has been upset by it.  

Massive WUM

Stop stalking me Boggers or else I'll get my chum Passi on to you.

Stalking? Ah right

If it were an option I'd go for something like "adopting short-term strategies to placate the fans instead of sticking with a manager for a long enough period of stability required to build solid and financially sustainable foundations"

I think we've had far too many short-term (and expensive) "fixes" including loanees, "trophy signings" and journeyman stopgaps to instead of biting the bullet for a few seasons whilst we regroup and implement a long term development plan.

The Board should stick with a manager with a vision and tell the fairweather fans to f*** off if they haven't got the patience to support the club through the process - they'll be back soon enough when the plan comes together and we start winning again.

BWFC is no place for gloryhunters.

None of the above.
The managerial appointment of Coyle looked a great appointment at the time, he was excellent at Burnley and St Johnstone, how anyone can blame Gartside for the fact Coyle turned out to be a dud I don't know.
I don't think Bolton ever overspent, they used to spend about £8m-£10m a season on transfers. Those who say Megson spent £30m plus need to understand he sold Anelka, Diouf and Nolan for about £22m. 

I think the signing of Elmander was a disaster, how can a club Bolton's size spend £8m on a striker and have no resale value on him and he left 3 seasons later for free? Not even Man Utd would do that. Had Megson signed a quality striker who had a good resale value it would have given Coyle more money to strengthen the team. Megson also signed Zat Knight for £5m who is rubbish, Steinsson for £3.5m who also left for nothing 3 years later. Megson's signings turned out (apart from Cahill) to be poor considering he bought £35m worth of players.

I think in the season Bolton went down it was terrible luck that Muamba's career finished and Holden who was so influential had bad injuries. 

The only thing I blame Gartside for is not sacking Coyle when it was clear to see to everyone that Bolton were just shit under him. He didn't act when there was still time for Bolton to be saved.
As for DF, he again looked a promising young manager but he has had so little to spend and the players he has are just not good enough, its not his fault. I don't think Mourinho could get this team promoted.

I think Megson's signings and Coyle's managerial ability are the two biggest factors in the decline of Bolton.

Fat Phil got lucky with BSA, the like I don't expect to see at the Reebok in my life time again. The other appointments since appear to be crap, DF pending. Gartside can be the chairman for the next thirty years and he won't get it right. Perhaps he may have been better sticking with the Jimmy Phillips scenario but that's history now. I don't have an answer, nobody does, but I don't see us smiling for a long time I'm afraid.
Furthermore what kind of idiots are we to respond to a post by a rival supporter who is no doubt wearing a warm glow at this. That's how low we've sunk!!

Michael Bolton wrote:None of the above.
The managerial appointment of Coyle looked a great appointment at the time, he was excellent at Burnley and St Johnstone, how anyone can blame Gartside for the fact Coyle turned out to be a dud I don't know.
I don't think Bolton ever overspent, they used to spend about £8m-£10m a season on transfers. Those who say Megson spent £30m plus need to understand he sold Anelka, Diouf and Nolan for about £22m. 

I think the signing of Elmander was a disaster, how can a club Bolton's size spend £8m on a striker and have no resale value on him and he left 3 seasons later for free? Not even Man Utd would do that. Had Megson signed a quality striker who had a good resale value it would have given Coyle more money to strengthen the team. Megson also signed Zat Knight for £5m who is rubbish, Steinsson for £3.5m who also left for nothing 3 years later. Megson's signings turned out (apart from Cahill) to be poor considering he bought £35m worth of players.

I think in the season Bolton went down it was terrible luck that Muamba's career finished and Holden who was so influential had bad injuries. 

The only thing I blame Gartside for is not sacking Coyle when it was clear to see to everyone that Bolton were just shit under him. He didn't act when there was still time for Bolton to be saved.
As for DF, he again looked a promising young manager but he has had so little to spend and the players he has are just not good enough, its not his fault. I don't think Mourinho could get this team promoted.

I think Megson's signings and Coyle's managerial ability are the two biggest factors in the decline of Bolton.

Pretty much sums up how I feel, although I would add Coyle's signings to your two biggest factors. If we are going to blame one man it has to be Coyle, with Gartside as runner up for not sacking him earlier.

xmiles wrote:

Michael Bolton wrote:None of the above.
The managerial appointment of Coyle looked a great appointment at the time, he was excellent at Burnley and St Johnstone, how anyone can blame Gartside for the fact Coyle turned out to be a dud I don't know.
I don't think Bolton ever overspent, they used to spend about £8m-£10m a season on transfers. Those who say Megson spent £30m plus need to understand he sold Anelka, Diouf and Nolan for about £22m. 

I think the signing of Elmander was a disaster, how can a club Bolton's size spend £8m on a striker and have no resale value on him and he left 3 seasons later for free? Not even Man Utd would do that. Had Megson signed a quality striker who had a good resale value it would have given Coyle more money to strengthen the team. Megson also signed Zat Knight for £5m who is rubbish, Steinsson for £3.5m who also left for nothing 3 years later. Megson's signings turned out (apart from Cahill) to be poor considering he bought £35m worth of players.

I think in the season Bolton went down it was terrible luck that Muamba's career finished and Holden who was so influential had bad injuries. 

The only thing I blame Gartside for is not sacking Coyle when it was clear to see to everyone that Bolton were just shit under him. He didn't act when there was still time for Bolton to be saved.
As for DF, he again looked a promising young manager but he has had so little to spend and the players he has are just not good enough, its not his fault. I don't think Mourinho could get this team promoted.

I think Megson's signings and Coyle's managerial ability are the two biggest factors in the decline of Bolton.

Pretty much sums up how I feel, although I would add Coyle's signings to your two biggest factors. If we are going to blame one man it has to be Coyle, with Gartside as runner up for not sacking him earlier.

Coyle's signings weren't that bad though were they? He never had a lot to spend, he had to sell Al Habsi to fund N'Gog. He signed Holden who was good apart from the fact he is always injured. I thought NRC was excellent for us. Wheater again on paper looked a good signing and yet he got injured. Lee was out for almost a whole season too. Considering we only went down on goal difference we were pretty unlucky to not have picked up one more point had we had Lee, Holden and Muamba.

I find myself largely agreeing with the Chelski gloryhunter. They say the margins between success and failure are tiny in football and to be fair we had some terrible luck in the season we went down by the tiniest of margins. Had we got that extra goal at Stoke, or if Walters shove on Boggers been seen by the linesman we'd have survived and it would have been an entirely different story.
But we are where we are so there's little point in raking over the past and it would benefit the club if our fans accepted it and moved on.