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Jimmy Phillips says he will seek talks with Dean Holdsworth over his plans to rebuild the squad next season.
Facing the last eight games of the season without senior stars like Jay Spearing, Liam Feeney and Mark Davies, the interim boss will look for guidance from the club’s new owners before tomorrow’s loan deadline.
A number of high earners have been told they can leave on loan – leaving Phillips unsure what kind of squad he will have to play with over the last eight games of the campaign.
Relegation to League One looks a near certainty with the Whites now 12 points adrift of safety at the foot of the table.
Phillips has given no indication if he has longer-term ambitions in the job but if the drop is inevitable he is hoping to know which players are being seen as viable options.
“If that is the case then I need to speak with Dean Holdsworth, who has been working very hard off the field to try to put building blocks in place on moving the club forward, and see how he sees the future,” he said of the relegation threat.
“I need to know what players he sees playing next season. That’s a conversation which is probably going to happen sooner than it would have done if we’d got a positive result (at Bristol City).
“There are a lot of players out of contract in the summer and either they will want to renegotiate or they won’t. That has to start next week.
“As I said earlier I am sure that Dean has got his own thoughts on how he wants to manage the first team and which direction he wants to take it.
“I have agreed to help until the end of the season and that’s all I am looking at.”
Phillips and his right-hand men Peter Reid and Nicky Spooner will assemble the players again tomorrow following the weekend’s embarrassing 6-0 defeat at Ashton Gate.
While captain Darren Pratley apologised for the performance in a statement on Monday morning, Phillips expects a reaction from every player involved in a dark day for the club.
“This week the work starts on the training ground, getting some organisation and some structure into the players,” he told The Bolton News.
“We need to make sure they are much, much harder to play against in the future.
“We have got to look forward to next season irrespective of what league we are in. We have got to start a rebuilding process.
“Between now and the end of the season I don’t want to see another repeat of that.”
Wanderers will have to stew on the six-goal thrashing for more than a week before their next home game against Reading.
Phillips is looking on the break in a positive light, however, and is hoping that the team he puts out against the Royals on April 2 will be much more organised.
“We always knew there would be a two-week window to work with the players and even if we had got three points we would have been working hard,” he said.
“It isn’t a bad thing from my point of view because it means I can get them on the training ground and working harder for each other.
“I need them more disciplined, get them to know their roles in the team better, and it gives me an opportunity to make sure there is no repeat of that next time.”
While the first team are licking their wounds, Iain Brunskill’s Under-21s enjoyed their first away win of the season at Brentford on Monday.
Goals from Jamie Thomas, Enock Likoy-Elumba and Alex Samizadeh earned a 3-1 win on a bobbly pitch in West London.
“It was a superb performance and although there’s always room for improvement, it’s all part of their development,” Brunskill said.
“We’ve had a couple of really good away performances this season which have definitely warranted more and while we’ve been pretty solid at home this year, it’s always nice to get a win on your travels too.”
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Facing the last eight games of the season without senior stars like Jay Spearing, Liam Feeney and Mark Davies, the interim boss will look for guidance from the club’s new owners before tomorrow’s loan deadline.
A number of high earners have been told they can leave on loan – leaving Phillips unsure what kind of squad he will have to play with over the last eight games of the campaign.
Relegation to League One looks a near certainty with the Whites now 12 points adrift of safety at the foot of the table.
Phillips has given no indication if he has longer-term ambitions in the job but if the drop is inevitable he is hoping to know which players are being seen as viable options.
“If that is the case then I need to speak with Dean Holdsworth, who has been working very hard off the field to try to put building blocks in place on moving the club forward, and see how he sees the future,” he said of the relegation threat.
“I need to know what players he sees playing next season. That’s a conversation which is probably going to happen sooner than it would have done if we’d got a positive result (at Bristol City).
“There are a lot of players out of contract in the summer and either they will want to renegotiate or they won’t. That has to start next week.
“As I said earlier I am sure that Dean has got his own thoughts on how he wants to manage the first team and which direction he wants to take it.
“I have agreed to help until the end of the season and that’s all I am looking at.”
Phillips and his right-hand men Peter Reid and Nicky Spooner will assemble the players again tomorrow following the weekend’s embarrassing 6-0 defeat at Ashton Gate.
While captain Darren Pratley apologised for the performance in a statement on Monday morning, Phillips expects a reaction from every player involved in a dark day for the club.
“This week the work starts on the training ground, getting some organisation and some structure into the players,” he told The Bolton News.
“We need to make sure they are much, much harder to play against in the future.
“We have got to look forward to next season irrespective of what league we are in. We have got to start a rebuilding process.
“Between now and the end of the season I don’t want to see another repeat of that.”
Wanderers will have to stew on the six-goal thrashing for more than a week before their next home game against Reading.
Phillips is looking on the break in a positive light, however, and is hoping that the team he puts out against the Royals on April 2 will be much more organised.
“We always knew there would be a two-week window to work with the players and even if we had got three points we would have been working hard,” he said.
“It isn’t a bad thing from my point of view because it means I can get them on the training ground and working harder for each other.
“I need them more disciplined, get them to know their roles in the team better, and it gives me an opportunity to make sure there is no repeat of that next time.”
While the first team are licking their wounds, Iain Brunskill’s Under-21s enjoyed their first away win of the season at Brentford on Monday.
Goals from Jamie Thomas, Enock Likoy-Elumba and Alex Samizadeh earned a 3-1 win on a bobbly pitch in West London.
“It was a superb performance and although there’s always room for improvement, it’s all part of their development,” Brunskill said.
“We’ve had a couple of really good away performances this season which have definitely warranted more and while we’ve been pretty solid at home this year, it’s always nice to get a win on your travels too.”
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