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“If you only look short-term and don't worry about the future, there may be no football club and no future ... football disaster leads to financial disaster.”
These, Wanderers fans may be amazed to know, were the sentiments of Eddie Davies in 2002 when he spoke exclusively to the Bolton Evening News, preaching a sensible business approach as the club looked to establish itself in the Premier League.
Instances of the Isle of Man-based businessman and lifelong fan speaking in public are rare but given the current financial plight of his club, this seemed as good a time as any to bring the interview out of the archives.
“I do adopt a low profile," he said, "but I have a keen interest in how the club is run and I believe there is no other way to live than the way we are operating at the moment. We've got to be realistic. People who have run football clubs in the past have not been too concerned about the long term; their interest has been in short-term results.”
A generation of supporters have grown up with Davies at the helm of Wanderers, his silence maintained as chairman Phil Gartside presented the public persona to the business.
Many may not recall that back at the start of the millennium, financial problems were also being aired in public and Allardyce was facing up to the prospect of selling some of his top players, such as Jay Jay Okocha.
The situation was not necessarily as serious as it is right now, and the numbers involved were by no means as large. But at that moment in time Davies stepped in to answer the club’s prayers when they might not have had a prayer at all.
At that point “the debt” stood at £38million; and everyone in town has a theory on why it rose nearly five times higher in the intervening 13 years. Few would argue, however, that the Premier League glory days would have been impossible had Davies not reneged on the statement above, and pushed the boat out further than he should.
Even by the time he took on the majority shareholding in 2003 reports in the Bolton Evening News reckoned he was the single biggest benefactor in the club’s history, having invested £14million.
When he paid out just over £2m to take his stake from 29.7 per cent to 97.99 per cent, many supporters who had dug deep into their pockets during previous years found their shares rendered virtually worthless. Even more than a decade on it is a thorny subject with some and may account for the reason he has not been unilaterally supported.
At the time, a club spokesperson urged shareholders to vote Davies in, stating: “Without Eddie's involvement, this club would be in a perilous situation.
“There's no question that Mr Davies has got the club's best interests at heart.
“As well as being director for the last four years, he has been a fan for the last 40 years and grew up in Farnworth. Eddie Davies is Bolton Wanderers through and through.”
Of course, they did vote him in, and thus began the most successful top flight period the club has enjoyed since the 1920s. Davies created a legacy that included a stadium, training ground, hotel, car parks and an academy bearing his own name.
Yet in the last few years all that goodwill has been whittled away as financial mismanagement at Championship level leaves the club in the mess they find themselves in today.
How odd to think that just 18 days ago Trevor Birch, the man appointed by Davies to broker a deal for a new owner, announced the owner would wipe off more than £175m in loans for any prospective buyer, triggering an outpouring of emotion from fans, even suggestion that a statute be erected in his name.
A week later, Birch’s name was attached to another statement that made the footballing world sit up and take notice, using almost exactly the same words as those from 2003.
“The club's position is increasingly perilous and new investment is needed quickly,” he warned.
We have since revealed that players were unpaid in November, that all staff could go without their salary over Christmas and that the HMRC issued a winding up petition over an unpaid tax bill of around £600,000, which will be heard in January.
Bills are stacking up and Davies is suffering a backlash from supporters, accusing him of leaving the club in the lurch.
By all accounts it is a year since he told Wanderers he would be withdrawing his financial support, which raises significant questions of the management since then.
The infrastructure that Davies created, entrusted, could well have been the main contributory cause to the PR disaster that is unfolding before our eyes.
Just like in 2003, Wanderers need someone to save the club. The football and financial disaster Davies once spoke about is suddenly threatening to wreck what should have been a perfect footballing story for the local boy made good.
Source
These, Wanderers fans may be amazed to know, were the sentiments of Eddie Davies in 2002 when he spoke exclusively to the Bolton Evening News, preaching a sensible business approach as the club looked to establish itself in the Premier League.
Instances of the Isle of Man-based businessman and lifelong fan speaking in public are rare but given the current financial plight of his club, this seemed as good a time as any to bring the interview out of the archives.
“I do adopt a low profile," he said, "but I have a keen interest in how the club is run and I believe there is no other way to live than the way we are operating at the moment. We've got to be realistic. People who have run football clubs in the past have not been too concerned about the long term; their interest has been in short-term results.”
A generation of supporters have grown up with Davies at the helm of Wanderers, his silence maintained as chairman Phil Gartside presented the public persona to the business.
Many may not recall that back at the start of the millennium, financial problems were also being aired in public and Allardyce was facing up to the prospect of selling some of his top players, such as Jay Jay Okocha.
The situation was not necessarily as serious as it is right now, and the numbers involved were by no means as large. But at that moment in time Davies stepped in to answer the club’s prayers when they might not have had a prayer at all.
At that point “the debt” stood at £38million; and everyone in town has a theory on why it rose nearly five times higher in the intervening 13 years. Few would argue, however, that the Premier League glory days would have been impossible had Davies not reneged on the statement above, and pushed the boat out further than he should.
Even by the time he took on the majority shareholding in 2003 reports in the Bolton Evening News reckoned he was the single biggest benefactor in the club’s history, having invested £14million.
When he paid out just over £2m to take his stake from 29.7 per cent to 97.99 per cent, many supporters who had dug deep into their pockets during previous years found their shares rendered virtually worthless. Even more than a decade on it is a thorny subject with some and may account for the reason he has not been unilaterally supported.
At the time, a club spokesperson urged shareholders to vote Davies in, stating: “Without Eddie's involvement, this club would be in a perilous situation.
“There's no question that Mr Davies has got the club's best interests at heart.
“As well as being director for the last four years, he has been a fan for the last 40 years and grew up in Farnworth. Eddie Davies is Bolton Wanderers through and through.”
Of course, they did vote him in, and thus began the most successful top flight period the club has enjoyed since the 1920s. Davies created a legacy that included a stadium, training ground, hotel, car parks and an academy bearing his own name.
Yet in the last few years all that goodwill has been whittled away as financial mismanagement at Championship level leaves the club in the mess they find themselves in today.
How odd to think that just 18 days ago Trevor Birch, the man appointed by Davies to broker a deal for a new owner, announced the owner would wipe off more than £175m in loans for any prospective buyer, triggering an outpouring of emotion from fans, even suggestion that a statute be erected in his name.
A week later, Birch’s name was attached to another statement that made the footballing world sit up and take notice, using almost exactly the same words as those from 2003.
“The club's position is increasingly perilous and new investment is needed quickly,” he warned.
We have since revealed that players were unpaid in November, that all staff could go without their salary over Christmas and that the HMRC issued a winding up petition over an unpaid tax bill of around £600,000, which will be heard in January.
Bills are stacking up and Davies is suffering a backlash from supporters, accusing him of leaving the club in the lurch.
By all accounts it is a year since he told Wanderers he would be withdrawing his financial support, which raises significant questions of the management since then.
The infrastructure that Davies created, entrusted, could well have been the main contributory cause to the PR disaster that is unfolding before our eyes.
Just like in 2003, Wanderers need someone to save the club. The football and financial disaster Davies once spoke about is suddenly threatening to wreck what should have been a perfect footballing story for the local boy made good.
Source
