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Emile Heskey has urged Wanderers to find strength in unity as a financial nightmare continues to shroud the club.
With staff facing the prospect of not being paid at Christmas and administration looming large, the veteran striker wants everyone involved to rally round at a difficult time.
Players were not paid in November and, according to manager Neil Lennon, are unlikely to receive their salary in December.
But it is with the non-playing staff that the squad’s sympathies lie and Heskey is requesting that the whole club stay unified despite the problems piling up on and off the pitch.
“We have to stick together and drag ourselves through it,” he told The Bolton News.
“It isn’t just the players – it’s everyone. People are not getting paid and that’s the groundstaff, the people who are cooking the food, people who are washing the laundry.
“We’re all in the same boat. We need to pull through together.”
Heskey remains adamant that Wanderers can get themselves out of the bottom three, despite the gap to safety now extending to five points at the weekend.
Some of that could be clawed back against Charlton Athletic tomorrow night but the former England striker is taking nothing for granted.
“We’re the ones out there and the responsibility lies with us,” he said. “There are no financial people out there on the pitch.
“We have seen it all before, Leeds United, Leicester City – they went down to League One with good, good squads. It can happen.
“You have to be confident in yourself to believe you can get out of the situation. I believe we can, but as a team and as a squad we have to believe that more.
“You see it in little spells but it’s not enough over the whole duration of a game.”
Wanderers have won just once in 20 league games this season, or 26 if you include the Capital One Cup defeat against Burton Albion and the tail end of the previous campaign.
With everything else going on at the club confidence levels have understandably taken a dip but Heskey reckons the survival fight hinges on the players’ mental attitude from here on in.
“I think it’s a matter of belief,” he said. “You can see it fluctuate too much in a game – it’s from up there to down there.
“We need to believe that we can perform and get results.
“We won’t say we’re too good to go down - too many teams have said that and ended up looking daft.
“We need to perform and get the results that we feel we deserve.
“I keep saying we’re not far off it but we keep doing the same things wrong.
“We need to keep plugging away and hopefully things will change. We hit the post there and maybe could have had a couple of shots more than we did. We didn’t trouble them too much.”
Whether the players can put all the troubles behind them when they go out at The Valley tomorrow night is debatable.
“You’d like to think we can,” Heskey argued. “When you cross over the line, nothing else should be in your mind other than trying to win the game.
“I’d like to think you could blank all the bad stuff out and then when you get back in then maybe you can think about it again.”
Heskey could be the last striker standing against Charlton following Shola Ameobi’s second-half injury at Hull, which is likely to put him out of action for the next couple of weeks.
Gary Madine was unavailable for selection at the weekend and Zach Clough is only just recovering from long-term injury.
“Zach will train tomorrow but it might be a little too early for him,” Lennon said after the game at the KC Stadium. “We need something because the amount of ball we have, we’re not doing nearly enough with it. That is what I have taken from that game.
“I’m looking at some senior players as well and I’m wanting more from them. They are just not giving enough for the team at the moment.”
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With staff facing the prospect of not being paid at Christmas and administration looming large, the veteran striker wants everyone involved to rally round at a difficult time.
Players were not paid in November and, according to manager Neil Lennon, are unlikely to receive their salary in December.
But it is with the non-playing staff that the squad’s sympathies lie and Heskey is requesting that the whole club stay unified despite the problems piling up on and off the pitch.
“We have to stick together and drag ourselves through it,” he told The Bolton News.
“It isn’t just the players – it’s everyone. People are not getting paid and that’s the groundstaff, the people who are cooking the food, people who are washing the laundry.
“We’re all in the same boat. We need to pull through together.”
Heskey remains adamant that Wanderers can get themselves out of the bottom three, despite the gap to safety now extending to five points at the weekend.
Some of that could be clawed back against Charlton Athletic tomorrow night but the former England striker is taking nothing for granted.
“We’re the ones out there and the responsibility lies with us,” he said. “There are no financial people out there on the pitch.
“We have seen it all before, Leeds United, Leicester City – they went down to League One with good, good squads. It can happen.
“You have to be confident in yourself to believe you can get out of the situation. I believe we can, but as a team and as a squad we have to believe that more.
“You see it in little spells but it’s not enough over the whole duration of a game.”
Wanderers have won just once in 20 league games this season, or 26 if you include the Capital One Cup defeat against Burton Albion and the tail end of the previous campaign.
With everything else going on at the club confidence levels have understandably taken a dip but Heskey reckons the survival fight hinges on the players’ mental attitude from here on in.
“I think it’s a matter of belief,” he said. “You can see it fluctuate too much in a game – it’s from up there to down there.
“We need to believe that we can perform and get results.
“We won’t say we’re too good to go down - too many teams have said that and ended up looking daft.
“We need to perform and get the results that we feel we deserve.
“I keep saying we’re not far off it but we keep doing the same things wrong.
“We need to keep plugging away and hopefully things will change. We hit the post there and maybe could have had a couple of shots more than we did. We didn’t trouble them too much.”
Whether the players can put all the troubles behind them when they go out at The Valley tomorrow night is debatable.
“You’d like to think we can,” Heskey argued. “When you cross over the line, nothing else should be in your mind other than trying to win the game.
“I’d like to think you could blank all the bad stuff out and then when you get back in then maybe you can think about it again.”
Heskey could be the last striker standing against Charlton following Shola Ameobi’s second-half injury at Hull, which is likely to put him out of action for the next couple of weeks.
Gary Madine was unavailable for selection at the weekend and Zach Clough is only just recovering from long-term injury.
“Zach will train tomorrow but it might be a little too early for him,” Lennon said after the game at the KC Stadium. “We need something because the amount of ball we have, we’re not doing nearly enough with it. That is what I have taken from that game.
“I’m looking at some senior players as well and I’m wanting more from them. They are just not giving enough for the team at the moment.”
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