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AFTER months of confusion Wanderers are a step closer to finding a new manager but life at the Macron will be very different than it was for his predecessors.
Final interviews will take place with four candidates next week in what will be the first appointment made by the club’s new ownership.
Though relieving Neil Lennon of his first-team duties in March seemed something of a futile exercise, unlikely to affect relegation, both Ken Anderson and Dean Holdsworth are well aware of the enormity of their next decision.
Wanderers need a man who can step into the loose staffing framework which still exists, work with a squad comprised of under-performing, highly-paid players and home-grown kids and, most crucially, expect very little by way of investment. Oh yes, and keeping the team in contention for an immediate return to the Championship would be a bonus too.
An impossible job, perhaps? Well not quite.
The manager’s position at Wanderers is still sought after, even if not as appetising as it was when Lennon took over ahead of Chris Hughton and Malky Mackay in October, 2014.
Anderson said back in mid-April there had been 50 applicants. Others, such as Nigel Adkins, have become available in the meantime.
One wonders whether Steve Evans – still walking the tightrope at Leeds United – would have been another name in the frame had Massimo Cellino decided his fate sooner?
On the face of things, Wanderers’ search for a new manager has been disjointed, a muddled mess of mixed messages and expired deadlines.
Whether bad translation was to blame, or plain naivety, the early indication given by Anderson things were further along than they were have left both him and the club open to criticism.
Realistically, Wanderers were fishing in the same pond as several sides of similar size – Nottingham Forest, Blackburn Rovers, Sheffield United and potentially Leeds United among them, so nothing could be taken for granted.
Anderson wisely checked his words in the last match-day programme to describe the situation as “fluid” which, in layman’s terms indicated his original plans had changed through no fault of his own.
Wanderers fans have yearned for communication from the top for years, so you have to feel a little sorry for Anderson when a message meant to keep up spirits ended up being a stick with which to beat him.
The other half of the coin, Dean Holdsworth, had his own ideas on the new manager. Whether they link up with those of Anderson only time will tell.
His energy in the last couple of months has been taken up with a comprehensive review of the football department, resulting in a lot of unpopular and difficult decisions designed to cut costs.
It has been a testing time for the former striker, who has had to draw on every reserve of his Crazy Gang spirit. But he knew after chasing the club doggedly in the takeover process that popularity doesn’t necessarily come with the territory.
The consultation, performed in part with one of Sam Allardyce’s trusted allies Mark Taylor, resulted in the loss of several staff and 21 players. There are some who believe the next manager should have been privy to those decisions, as was certainly the case for Lennon last summer under different ownership.
And that may be the first indication decision making will not be made entirely in the manager’s office next season and beyond.
Who exactly has the final say after the interviews next week is now the pertinent question and may boil down to the agreement between Holdsworth and Anderson when they bought Eddie Davies’s majority shareholding and stopped Wanderers from sliding into administration.
That marriage of convenience – just weeks after Holdsworth had lost his former business partner Bruce Gordon – has thrown up its own challenges.
How much the existing transfer embargo and the overdue accounts have affected the search for a manager we can only speculate. It is clear, however, the situation has been more complicated to solve than it first appeared.
Though his words on the manager search may have been unfairly over-analysed a few months ago, there will be no sympathy whatsoever if his assurances about Sports Shield BWFC’s business plan turn out to be wide of the mark.
“We wouldn't have got through the Football League,” Anderson told The Bolton News in March when asked about its sustainability. “The Football League asked us if we had enough to get through this season.
“Afterwards, before the approval, they wanted us to show where the funds were and prove those funds were available to get us through to next season.
“We have sufficient funding to get us through until next season and beyond.”
http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/14508827.Appointing_new_Wanderers_boss_is_first_of_many_big_decisions_for_co_owners/
Final interviews will take place with four candidates next week in what will be the first appointment made by the club’s new ownership.
Though relieving Neil Lennon of his first-team duties in March seemed something of a futile exercise, unlikely to affect relegation, both Ken Anderson and Dean Holdsworth are well aware of the enormity of their next decision.
Wanderers need a man who can step into the loose staffing framework which still exists, work with a squad comprised of under-performing, highly-paid players and home-grown kids and, most crucially, expect very little by way of investment. Oh yes, and keeping the team in contention for an immediate return to the Championship would be a bonus too.
An impossible job, perhaps? Well not quite.
The manager’s position at Wanderers is still sought after, even if not as appetising as it was when Lennon took over ahead of Chris Hughton and Malky Mackay in October, 2014.
Anderson said back in mid-April there had been 50 applicants. Others, such as Nigel Adkins, have become available in the meantime.
One wonders whether Steve Evans – still walking the tightrope at Leeds United – would have been another name in the frame had Massimo Cellino decided his fate sooner?
On the face of things, Wanderers’ search for a new manager has been disjointed, a muddled mess of mixed messages and expired deadlines.
Whether bad translation was to blame, or plain naivety, the early indication given by Anderson things were further along than they were have left both him and the club open to criticism.
Realistically, Wanderers were fishing in the same pond as several sides of similar size – Nottingham Forest, Blackburn Rovers, Sheffield United and potentially Leeds United among them, so nothing could be taken for granted.
Anderson wisely checked his words in the last match-day programme to describe the situation as “fluid” which, in layman’s terms indicated his original plans had changed through no fault of his own.
Wanderers fans have yearned for communication from the top for years, so you have to feel a little sorry for Anderson when a message meant to keep up spirits ended up being a stick with which to beat him.
The other half of the coin, Dean Holdsworth, had his own ideas on the new manager. Whether they link up with those of Anderson only time will tell.
His energy in the last couple of months has been taken up with a comprehensive review of the football department, resulting in a lot of unpopular and difficult decisions designed to cut costs.
It has been a testing time for the former striker, who has had to draw on every reserve of his Crazy Gang spirit. But he knew after chasing the club doggedly in the takeover process that popularity doesn’t necessarily come with the territory.
The consultation, performed in part with one of Sam Allardyce’s trusted allies Mark Taylor, resulted in the loss of several staff and 21 players. There are some who believe the next manager should have been privy to those decisions, as was certainly the case for Lennon last summer under different ownership.
And that may be the first indication decision making will not be made entirely in the manager’s office next season and beyond.
Who exactly has the final say after the interviews next week is now the pertinent question and may boil down to the agreement between Holdsworth and Anderson when they bought Eddie Davies’s majority shareholding and stopped Wanderers from sliding into administration.
That marriage of convenience – just weeks after Holdsworth had lost his former business partner Bruce Gordon – has thrown up its own challenges.
How much the existing transfer embargo and the overdue accounts have affected the search for a manager we can only speculate. It is clear, however, the situation has been more complicated to solve than it first appeared.
Though his words on the manager search may have been unfairly over-analysed a few months ago, there will be no sympathy whatsoever if his assurances about Sports Shield BWFC’s business plan turn out to be wide of the mark.
“We wouldn't have got through the Football League,” Anderson told The Bolton News in March when asked about its sustainability. “The Football League asked us if we had enough to get through this season.
“Afterwards, before the approval, they wanted us to show where the funds were and prove those funds were available to get us through to next season.
“We have sufficient funding to get us through until next season and beyond.”
http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/14508827.Appointing_new_Wanderers_boss_is_first_of_many_big_decisions_for_co_owners/