Wanderers set for crunch talks with playing squad today

Wanderers’ new ownership will hold face-to-face talks with their playing squad this afternoon to assess whether they will stay next season.

Co-owners Dean Holdsworth and Ken Anderson will address the playing and coaching staff to speak about potential budget cuts in League One.

It is believed the Whites will look to operate within a playing budget of between £5-6million next season, which will mean wholesale changes in the first team squad and the removal of several higher earners.

But while the likes of David Wheater, Neil Danns, Emile Heskey and Liam Feeney are out of contract in the summer, others such as Ben Amos, Dean Moxey, Darren Pratley and Jay Spearing are tied to the club for next term.

Speaking to The Bolton News, Anderson admitted the process of cutting down a wage budget that currently stands in excess of £10m will not be a simple task over the coming months.

“I think the honest answer is we all know a number of players are going to leave,” he said.

“My first thing today is asking the players – who wants to be here and work with us next season? I'm sure there will be some that do and a few that don't.

“The biggest thing to manage is the players with the biggest salaries and whether we can find clubs who will take them.

“Several of them won't want to be here because they won't want to play in League One, they will want to play in the Championship.

“Their salary bands will probably ensure it's not going to be an easy job to find another club.

“If the player doesn't want to be here, we don't want them to be here. We'd rather they move on.”

Anderson, a former agent whose son Lee is also in the business, says the club will not be giving out ‘golden handshakes’ to get big wages off the books.

“What we won't be doing, if we can control it, is we're not going to pay players large amounts of money to leave – a compromise agreement,” he said.

“If it comes to the stage where a player's on £20,000 a week and finding a club who are offering 15 and the player and his agent are saying, 'I want you to pay the £5,000 shortfall for the next two years'. We're not going to do it.

“We will try and get the player out on loan and if he goes out on loan I may have to subside, which I don't want to do, but it's a lot easier to find £5,000 a week than £500,000 in one go. If I pay all the players off that want to go we won't have sufficient funds to bring in the players we want to bring in.”

Source

We don't want him to subside.

That'd be terrible.

And if it did happen, it'd prove all those people who slagged us off for building the ground on top of Red Moss Tip right.

It appears that the club needs shoring up in more than just the metaphorical sense....

It's as if they've only just realised, now it's too late, that there are a bunch of millionaires who want paying next year.

And everything else pales into insignificance by comparison financially.

There'll be some red faces when they all turn round and say "No Deano - I always intended to see out my contract with my beloved BWFC".

wanderlust wrote:It's as if they've only just realised, now it's too late, that there are a bunch of millionaires who want paying next year.

And everything else pales into insignificance by comparison financially.

There'll be some red faces when they all turn round and say "No Deano - I always intended to see out my contract with my beloved BWFC".

We were told that SS has enough money to keep us going next season. So surely they looked at the waged due. One would presume that was the first thing on the list.

terenceanne wrote:

wanderlust wrote:It's as if they've only just realised, now it's too late, that there are a bunch of millionaires who want paying next year.

And everything else pales into insignificance by comparison financially.

There'll be some red faces when they all turn round and say "No Deano - I always intended to see out my contract with my beloved BWFC".

We were told that SS has enough money to keep us going next season. So surely they looked at the waged due. One would presume that was the first thing on the list.

Depends on how you define "keeping us going". I believe they've assumed that they'd be able to get rid of unwanted players in contract if we get relegated - without fully thinking it through.

I think yesterday's meeting was to appeal to some of them to leave voluntarily and not expect a payoff.

I assume the players know that nobody else will pay them the fat salary they are on and that - in conjunction with JP saying that the club wouldn't be prepared to subsidise loan deals means it is very, very likely we are stuck with them.

Wonder if/when they'll announce what the players and their agents said about their contracts and the idea of leaving voluntarily without a payoff?

I would imagine it's somewhere along the lines of "f*** off".

Ken: Right then I am laying you off your job ..... please go without any redundancy pay or salary owed.  Pratts: Are you fooking crazy
Ken: C'mon Pal ...do it for BWFC
Pratts:  Stuff it cock

I imagine similar conversation with the other players.