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From the euphoria of Eddie Davies confirming he was wiping out more than £175million of loans to the despondency of finding out the club is days away from administration, who would want be a Wanderers fan right now?
The answer to that question will not be provided this afternoon – though the atmosphere against Cardiff City is likely to be as compassionate as it has been for a while – it will be given in the coming weeks as a new era dawns at the Macron Stadium.
Winning back the fans is not as simple as sending out a few emotive messages on social media, or even a matter of reducing ticket prices. Gaining their trust will be a long-term process and is extrinsically linked with results.
Wanderers have a head start, in that they have a manager in Neil Lennon who is still hugely popular despite the lowly league position. But even he has plenty of reason to feel slighted by the lack of communication he received until the arrival of insolvency specialist Trevor Birch.
When an article appeared on the Mail Online website earlier this month, the rush to condemn the thought Wanderers would contemplate administration was head-spinning. And yet a month on, the signs were all there.
Lennon was forced to cancel a very public pursuit of Wolves winger Rajiv van la Parra, plus deals being investigated for Liverpool’s Joao Teixiera and Huddersfield Town’s James Vaughan when he was told by vice-chairman Brett Warburton that the financial tap had been turned completely off.
The manager, who has conducted himself in exemplary fashion through some hard-line questioning in recent weeks, hinted at his frustration in Thursday’s pre-match press conference.
“When I came to the club I knew there was a debt, you know, but I knew it was Mr Davies’ debt,” he said. “But the running costs of the club I would have assumed were in order.
“We’ve taken millions off the wage bill as well and that I would have thought would ease things a little bit. But that’s not been the case obviously.
“The problems have run deeper than maybe a lot of people thought, not just me.”
Most people in town have asked at some point: How did it get this bad?
There is no one explanation but a lot seems to stem from a lack of forward planning for the moment Eddie Davies decided to call it a day.
Through all the Premier League years, and to an extent when they were first relegated to the Championship, the Whites survived simply because he underwrote all that was being spent.
Back in July, a financial report came to light that indicated for the first time on the record that Wanderers knew they had to move to a more self-sustaining model.
“After having taken into account a range of possible outcomes arising from on-pitch performance, the forecasts and projections adopted as a basis for going concern show a further funding requirement in excess of the current level of funding facilities immediately available to the directors,” read the annual financial accounts. “Therefore, the directors acknowledge a material uncertainty in the event that the group’s ultimate beneficial owner becomes unwilling at any time to continue providing funding support to the business at its historical levels.
“Accordingly, the directors have identified a number of management initiatives that can be pursued with confidence to mitigate any potential funding shortfall. Options available to the directors include, but are not limited to, the sale of players and other business assets, the securitisations of future season ticket sales, deferral of discretionary capital expenditure, and the release of value from the group’s development land bank through sale or joint venture agreement.”
Six months later it would appear that the “management initiatives” have not been sufficient.
In a statement made to The Bolton News at the time, Wanderers’ finance Director, Anthony Massey said: “The group chairman, Phil Gartside, has made clear several times recently that, after 15 years of outstanding support for the club, the owner, Eddie Davies, had indicated a medium-term intention to step down from that role.
“The board continues to work very closely with the owner and his advisers to ensure a smooth and successful transition for the group as and when he passes on control.”
Six months later, it would appear the medium-term indication that Davies was stepping aside happened a whole lot sooner than some thought.
Caught in the crossfire to a certain extent has been Lennon, who had made an encouraging start to his longer-term rebuilding when he signed players with potential resale value in Derik Osede and Ben Amos over the summer.
Quickly, though, it has appeared a case of snatching at signings with less thought going into the future, the arrivals of Francesco Pisano, Lawrie Wilson and Shola Ameobi, or the extension of Emile Heskey's contract still requiring some substantiating in many fans' eyes.
It is all new to Lennon whose only previous experience of such a frantic financial meltdown was from across town in Glasgow as Rangers went to the wall.
“It’s a surprise that the acceleration of the problems over the past two or three weeks has been how it is,” he admitted. “I wasn’t really aware of how bad finances were. And I would have liked to be maybe kept a little bit more up to date with that. However we are in this situation now and I have to be as positive as I can.”
That seems the general mood around the Macron, with a concerted effort being made by club and fans alike to get a positive atmosphere generated this afternoon.
Asking people to forgive and forget won’t be an easy task, particularly as the key component, Phil Gartside, remains seriously ill and unable to provide his account.
In that respect fans’ anger has been rendered directionless by the chairman’s absence and that conversation will have to wait for another time.
In the here and now Wanderers have two issues to sort: One in the boardroom and another on the pitch. A big step in the right direction can be taken on both this weekend.
Source
The answer to that question will not be provided this afternoon – though the atmosphere against Cardiff City is likely to be as compassionate as it has been for a while – it will be given in the coming weeks as a new era dawns at the Macron Stadium.
Winning back the fans is not as simple as sending out a few emotive messages on social media, or even a matter of reducing ticket prices. Gaining their trust will be a long-term process and is extrinsically linked with results.
Wanderers have a head start, in that they have a manager in Neil Lennon who is still hugely popular despite the lowly league position. But even he has plenty of reason to feel slighted by the lack of communication he received until the arrival of insolvency specialist Trevor Birch.
When an article appeared on the Mail Online website earlier this month, the rush to condemn the thought Wanderers would contemplate administration was head-spinning. And yet a month on, the signs were all there.
Lennon was forced to cancel a very public pursuit of Wolves winger Rajiv van la Parra, plus deals being investigated for Liverpool’s Joao Teixiera and Huddersfield Town’s James Vaughan when he was told by vice-chairman Brett Warburton that the financial tap had been turned completely off.
The manager, who has conducted himself in exemplary fashion through some hard-line questioning in recent weeks, hinted at his frustration in Thursday’s pre-match press conference.
“When I came to the club I knew there was a debt, you know, but I knew it was Mr Davies’ debt,” he said. “But the running costs of the club I would have assumed were in order.
“We’ve taken millions off the wage bill as well and that I would have thought would ease things a little bit. But that’s not been the case obviously.
“The problems have run deeper than maybe a lot of people thought, not just me.”
Most people in town have asked at some point: How did it get this bad?
There is no one explanation but a lot seems to stem from a lack of forward planning for the moment Eddie Davies decided to call it a day.
Through all the Premier League years, and to an extent when they were first relegated to the Championship, the Whites survived simply because he underwrote all that was being spent.
Back in July, a financial report came to light that indicated for the first time on the record that Wanderers knew they had to move to a more self-sustaining model.
“After having taken into account a range of possible outcomes arising from on-pitch performance, the forecasts and projections adopted as a basis for going concern show a further funding requirement in excess of the current level of funding facilities immediately available to the directors,” read the annual financial accounts. “Therefore, the directors acknowledge a material uncertainty in the event that the group’s ultimate beneficial owner becomes unwilling at any time to continue providing funding support to the business at its historical levels.
“Accordingly, the directors have identified a number of management initiatives that can be pursued with confidence to mitigate any potential funding shortfall. Options available to the directors include, but are not limited to, the sale of players and other business assets, the securitisations of future season ticket sales, deferral of discretionary capital expenditure, and the release of value from the group’s development land bank through sale or joint venture agreement.”
Six months later it would appear that the “management initiatives” have not been sufficient.
In a statement made to The Bolton News at the time, Wanderers’ finance Director, Anthony Massey said: “The group chairman, Phil Gartside, has made clear several times recently that, after 15 years of outstanding support for the club, the owner, Eddie Davies, had indicated a medium-term intention to step down from that role.
“The board continues to work very closely with the owner and his advisers to ensure a smooth and successful transition for the group as and when he passes on control.”
Six months later, it would appear the medium-term indication that Davies was stepping aside happened a whole lot sooner than some thought.
Caught in the crossfire to a certain extent has been Lennon, who had made an encouraging start to his longer-term rebuilding when he signed players with potential resale value in Derik Osede and Ben Amos over the summer.
Quickly, though, it has appeared a case of snatching at signings with less thought going into the future, the arrivals of Francesco Pisano, Lawrie Wilson and Shola Ameobi, or the extension of Emile Heskey's contract still requiring some substantiating in many fans' eyes.
It is all new to Lennon whose only previous experience of such a frantic financial meltdown was from across town in Glasgow as Rangers went to the wall.
“It’s a surprise that the acceleration of the problems over the past two or three weeks has been how it is,” he admitted. “I wasn’t really aware of how bad finances were. And I would have liked to be maybe kept a little bit more up to date with that. However we are in this situation now and I have to be as positive as I can.”
That seems the general mood around the Macron, with a concerted effort being made by club and fans alike to get a positive atmosphere generated this afternoon.
Asking people to forgive and forget won’t be an easy task, particularly as the key component, Phil Gartside, remains seriously ill and unable to provide his account.
In that respect fans’ anger has been rendered directionless by the chairman’s absence and that conversation will have to wait for another time.
In the here and now Wanderers have two issues to sort: One in the boardroom and another on the pitch. A big step in the right direction can be taken on both this weekend.
Source