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Darren Pratley has urged Wanderers to “act now” and start making provisions for life in League One.
The club captain held up his hands and conceded the team deserves to be relegated after a campaign that has seen them win just four times.
Wanderers are on course to set a new club record for defeats in a season – which currently stands at 25 – and had their fate confirmed with a demoralising 4-1 defeat at Derby County.
But while Pratley accepts the players deserve their portion of the blame for the club’s vast underachievement this season, he also argued that decisions in the boardroom have accelerated Wanderers’ demise.
“We have had a terrible season, on and off the pitch,” he told The Bolton News. “We are going down and over the course of a 46-game season we have not been good enough. You finish where you deserve to.
“People have to take responsibility upstairs too because, let’s not kid ourselves, this rut has been going on for a couple of years now.
“There needs to be changes now if there is any chance of getting out of League One.”
Though players have consistently denied “off-the-field” matters have had an impact on results, Pratley believes the constant stream of negative news that has emerged from the club has had an impact on morale.
“Of course it has,” he said. “And that’s not an excuse, by the way, we haven’t been good enough.
“But every day there is a different negative story coming out of Bolton.
“As I said to Marc (Iles), I’d love to stick two fingers up at the press because there’s something every day. It needs a whole new change.
“It needs a whole new squad. Upstairs the finances seem like they are sorted but it needs to be a positive vibe.
“Everything goes back into the changing room whether you like it or not. You can say it doesn’t affect you, but it does.”
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The club captain held up his hands and conceded the team deserves to be relegated after a campaign that has seen them win just four times.
Wanderers are on course to set a new club record for defeats in a season – which currently stands at 25 – and had their fate confirmed with a demoralising 4-1 defeat at Derby County.
But while Pratley accepts the players deserve their portion of the blame for the club’s vast underachievement this season, he also argued that decisions in the boardroom have accelerated Wanderers’ demise.
“We have had a terrible season, on and off the pitch,” he told The Bolton News. “We are going down and over the course of a 46-game season we have not been good enough. You finish where you deserve to.
“People have to take responsibility upstairs too because, let’s not kid ourselves, this rut has been going on for a couple of years now.
“There needs to be changes now if there is any chance of getting out of League One.”
Though players have consistently denied “off-the-field” matters have had an impact on results, Pratley believes the constant stream of negative news that has emerged from the club has had an impact on morale.
“Of course it has,” he said. “And that’s not an excuse, by the way, we haven’t been good enough.
“But every day there is a different negative story coming out of Bolton.
“As I said to Marc (Iles), I’d love to stick two fingers up at the press because there’s something every day. It needs a whole new change.
“It needs a whole new squad. Upstairs the finances seem like they are sorted but it needs to be a positive vibe.
“Everything goes back into the changing room whether you like it or not. You can say it doesn’t affect you, but it does.”
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