Official - we are bottom of the Championship.

After Bristol City snatching a late draw against Leeds we now sit at the bottom of the Championship.

The only way must be up then.

On the plus side we are below Derby.

the type of thing I'd expect to see on reebok roar. We are only 3 games in!

Boggersbelief wrote:the type of thing I'd expect to see on reebok roar. We are only 3 games in!

Hopefully we won't be after ten games in... avoiding matching Dougie's last two seasons.  But if we continue to strip assets and avoid bringing in a striker, we may be goalless and bottom of table.  Our GD will tell the tale.  I hope that things get better, but after reviewing the financial disclosure and having the club not buy ALF, I'm not so sure.

Which assets have we stripped? The only players the fans wanted to keep at the club wanted to leave. I remember us actually offering Bogdan a wage increase so it's not like we are up shit creek and ready for a fire sale. 

Yes we've let Ream go but he's hardly going to be missed and it means we can bring in a couple newbies. We have no clue what's going on behind the scenes, the club could have a striker deal lined up for all we know.

Boggersbelief wrote:Which assets have we stripped? The only players the fans wanted to keep at the club wanted to leave. I remember us actually offering Bogdan a wage increase so it's not like we are up shit creek and ready for a fire sale. 

Yes we've let Ream go but he's hardly going to be missed and it means we can bring in a couple newbies. We have no clue what's going on behind the scenes, the club could have a striker deal lined up for all we know.

True some wanted to leave, but with the lack of financial prowess, they went elsewhere for more money.  In turn, we can only bring in players for the amount of those leaving. Not bringing in ALF may prove disastrous to us.  Hopefully NL can right the ship.  But don't lose the nature of the beast... the parking area was sold... and players have left.  Meanwhile we did not shore up the weaknesses we all knew were there.  You can quibble with my theory, and I hope I am wrong.  It does appear to be asset stripping to me, and the reason is to improve the balance sheet... which makes me wonder how we keep losing and owing Eddie more money each year.  It's a legal shell game and Eddie keeps Gartside for his accounting proficiency.  The loss grows and the tax gains increase to a point, until he has to sell.

Austerity rather than asset-stripping IMO. It's not that Eddie is actually taking any of the money saved out of the business and nobody in their right mind would suggest that his "debt" will actually be repaid - ever.

I honestly think that he'd grab any offer for the club with both hands even if it meant taking 10p in the pound but nobody is daft enough to buy a club with huge debts in a shrinking town.

We are obviously going to struggle without investment. If Lennon can get this team in the top half he's doing bloody well IMO.

This might be a massive over simplification now but indulge me because I don't really understand all this, but surely, as the "debt" is owed to ED and it's all based on theoretical valuations, amortisation, depreciation and generally made up figures which aren't directly linked to physical assets, if he really wanted to cut his liability and walk away, all he has to do is say "Yeah, I'll take £20 milion cash and you can have the club tomorrow".....?

That way, he gets something (as opposed to nothing, which is what he stands to get back if we carry on as we are) and the club plus what's left of the physical assets passes into new ownership.

Or have I got that completely wrong?

i think the masses of debt is money that has been invest in extra wages/transfer and agent fees but also the buying of property and development etc.

i don't think 20 million would cut it as i think moonshift investments is more than just him and they have either loaned us money through eddie or acted a backer of some sorts

No one wants to invest because the club has a terrible fan base and absolutely no way of making a profit. Pretty simple.

no one in their right mind expects to make money from football nowadays. its like the old joke "how do you become a millionaire investing in football?" "start off a billionaire." There can be an expectation though that loans, to get through short term cash flow, or for a long term investment in infrastructure which will help future sustainability, should be repaid. I am nowhere near close enough to the detail of the finances at Bolton to know what the real situation is...but I do know the balance sheet looks weak, and that trading at the moment must be hugely challenging. Like everyone, I don't like being bottom of the league, but I cant join in the pleas for more spending. Why we are where we are is debatable given premiership money in the past, trying to spend our way out of it not the solution imho.

Hipster_Nebula wrote:No one wants to invest because the club has a terrible fan base and absolutely no way of making a profit. Pretty simple.

I'd say the fan base is actually pretty good.

Nah it's not. Can't even fill a tiny stadium. Have absolutely woeful atmosphere as well and probably have one of the most demanding clueless set of fans in the world.

Hipster_Nebula wrote:Nah it's not. Can't even fill a tiny stadium. Have absolutely woeful atmosphere as well and probably have one of the most demanding clueless set of fans in the world.

You're really fishing today aren't you.

We can't fill it because who in their right mind would want to pay to watch the shit we offer up

y2johnny wrote:

Hipster_Nebula wrote:Nah it's not. Can't even fill a tiny stadium. Have absolutely woeful atmosphere as well and probably have one of the most demanding clueless set of fans in the world.

You're really fishing today aren't you.

Fishing is saying things that aren't true for a reaction....

All of that is true I'm afraid.

Hipster_Nebula wrote:

y2johnny wrote:

Hipster_Nebula wrote:Nah it's not. Can't even fill a tiny stadium. Have absolutely woeful atmosphere as well and probably have one of the most demanding clueless set of fans in the world.

You're really fishing today aren't you.

Fishing is saying things that aren't true for a reaction....

All of that is true I'm afraid.

now i can see why you got funniest poster, well done you

So you're suggesting we pack our stadium every week, the atmosphere is fantastic and we have a patient and knowledgable fan base.

ok...