Ken Anderson - update.

All this for roughly one weeks pay for Rooney.  The difference between the haves and the have-nots.

Chairman Ken Anderson addresses the Club's supporters

It turned out to be another busy transfer window for the football club and I would like to welcome our new signings Adam Le Fondre, Chris Long and Viv Solomon-Otabor who have all arrived on loan until the end of the season.
 
Wanderers fans will need no introduction to Adam who enjoyed a very fruitful loan spell at Macron Stadium two years ago, while Chris and Viv are two young, exciting forward players who will give us some good varied options up front.

We believe the new signings will freshen things up as we look to get back on track in our quest for promotion.
 
We said goodbye to Zach Clough who joined Championship side Nottingham Forest. It was a very tough decision to let Zach go, especially as he had been at the club since a very young age. 

We received several bids for him and we held out to get the best offer we could for him. The deal helps us out from a financial point of view during what is a very challenging time and we didn’t want to stand in his way. 

Everybody at the club would like to thank him for serving Bolton Wanderers with such distinction and we wish him well for the future.
 
Jamie Proctor and Chris Taylor weren’t getting into the first team, and we allowed them to move out on loan to other clubs. The spells away will hopefully give them regular action which will serve them well when they return in the summer.
 
We had a bid turned down for a defender whose club didn’t want him to join a rival and we knocked back several enquiries for some of our other players. 
 
But we have kept the bulk of our squad intact and now we are actively looking to bring in some free agents to further enhance the team with the two available slots open to us.
 
The lads are back in action this Saturday with a tough trip to MK Dons, but with your continued support, which has been a great constant this season, we will put up a good fight.
 
Let’s be loud, let’s be proud and let’s get behind the boys.
 
Kind regards,
 
Ken

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Anyone know which defender at which "rival team" we expressed an interest in?

wanderlust wrote:Anyone know which defender at which "rival team" we expressed an interest in?

Stephen Darby (Bradford)

Boggersbelief wrote:

wanderlust wrote:Anyone know which defender at which "rival team" we expressed an interest in?

Stephen Darby (Bradford)

Cheers

Chairman Ken Anderson addresses the club's fans on bwfc.co.uk


The amount of trading that took place on transfer deadline day has no doubt had a transitional effect on the squad.

But in my view, it has freshened things up and provides us with a degree of flexibility and versatility which will ultimately give us more options in how we play.

I must praise all the hard work that was put in by the manager and all the football staff to get those new signings on board. 

From the scouting and recruitment staff, to all those who work in the medical department and those in football administration, everybody worked tirelessly.

On balance, the draw we achieved at stadiummk on Saturday was hard fought and well earned. I was pleased with the performance against what was an in-form team who had scored nine goals in their last two games and also played in front of their highest ever crowd in League One.

The point was all the more impressive given that we lost Andrew Taylor during the warm up through a groin injury and had to play the final ten minutes a man down after Lawrie Wilson had to go off with an injury.

Although our new signings will take time to fully acclimatise to their new surroundings, I was pleased with the additional pace and flexibility they offered. 

We will meanwhile be looking to bring in another player who will be a free agent to strengthen our defence.

I'm sure you will all be looking forward to seeing them at Macron Stadium this coming week where we have two games in quick succession when we entertain Walsall and Rochdale.

Our Super 7 season ticket, which begins with the Rochdale game on Tuesday 14 February, has also proved to be very popular. 

It allows you to watch the final seven home games at Macron Stadium at a great value price, as well as giving you the other benefits of being a Bolton Wanderers season ticket holder. These can be purchased online by CLICKING HERE and also in Bolton Central.

We've also got offers on our home and away replica shirts so now is the time to treat yourself and get some of our new players' names on the back of one.

I've already seen some great photographs of our young fans sporting 'Le Fondre' on their shirts. You can buy these online by visiting [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Your support for the club is as crucial now as it has ever been. You have been our twelfth man this season and it's vital that you continue in the same vein as we embark on the final phase of the campaign. 

We have strengthened the squad, we are well placed in the league and we are determined to get over the line to bounce back into the Championship.

Let's be loud, let's be proud and let's get behind the boys.

Kind regards,

Ken

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Ken Anderson wrote:But in my view, it has freshened things up and provides us with a degree of flexibility and versatility which will ultimately give us more options in how we play.

Exactly what I thought - and then Parky picks Madine as a target man again and that pretty much determined our style of play for us. 
At least we now have more options even if the manager won't try them so if it goes bad from here on in he might be forced to make the necessary changes and then we'll know a lot more about the capabilities of this squad  - one way or the other.

It's been going bad since we beat Scunthorpe and put ourselves in a great position. Parky will be wise to listen to Ka and start with changing the strike force, as in personnel and formation.

Sluffy wrote:

wanderlust wrote:
I don't think any blog sets out to have a go at the club. The function of a blog is to garner a variety of opinions  we certainly have that on here. That leads to speculation and IMO any clarification the club or KA wish to provide can only be a good thing.
Even if KAs objective is to deliver a PR exercise it would be worthwhile listening just to see what they are up to.

As I said above, it would have been nice to have been invited.

As for the two sites I single out, the ST and LoV, the former is not a blog and the latter is unashamedly a 'click bait' site and thus the more outrageous stories it posts up, the bigger the 'clicks' it gets - and the more money it earns from the advertisers whose adverts it hosts.

Thus both have their own agendas for painting the club and its owner/s negatively, the ST because they seek ownership of the club, and LoV to earn itself more money.

The rest of the blogs/forums (apart from the one owned by one of the ST board members) DO lead to debate, opinion and conjecture because we love the club and want to see the best for it - and not the best for ourselves!

Amazing. Wish someone told me about this.

Sluffy - can you let me know which pieces you think are clickbait? Also, if you could out any evidence for your claims about me earning a penny from the site? You are so misinformed, again.

Hhhmmm. An interesting challenge, Sluffy, although I wouldn't be surprised to see some of the 'evidence' go by pm.

Taken from his column in this weekend's programme, Chairman Ken Anderson addresses the club's supporters
There have been some comments on social media sites and in the press about the sale of Zach Clough last Tuesday, which are fully justified and are only to be expected bearing in mind my previous comments about him and Josh Vela. 
 
As previously stated, I am having to make some very difficult and unpleasant decisions to try and achieve a sustainable business plan for the club and hotel going forward. 

Obviously, like everyone else,  I was extremely disappointed to see Zach leave, but Nottingham Forest were very persistent in their pursuit of him and after rejecting their initial approaches, the ever increasing sums of money being offered to both Zach and the club, I had to weigh up the financial benefits for the club of selling him and regrettably, following Dean’s refusal last week to contribute any funds to financially support the club, alongside me, I was left with no alternative but to try and reach the best deal possible with Forest. 
 
Over a number of calls and many hours of negotiations to ensure that we got a substantial portion of the fee paid immediately with further bonuses and a future sell on fee, I reluctantly agreed for Zach, his father and agent to meet with them.

I would mention that despite all the comments made by people who have no knowledge of what the fee was, or how we were selling off the 'crown jewels ' Forest were the only club who made an offer. 

Furthermore, at no time did Zach ever put any pressure on the manager, or me personally, to let him leave. However, Zach's departure has greatly helped the club’s current financial position and also gave us the ability to freshen up the squad and bring in a number of players which also gives us other options, in the style of play, we now have and hopefully will help us achieve our target of promotion this season. 

We all have a great deal to thank Zach for, both on and off the field, and I feel sure, like me, you wish him all the best for the future.
 
The accounts for 2015 – a period covering the year prior to Dean and my involvement with the club – were filed on Tuesday. I would like to draw your attention to the notes to the accounts which refer to the post balance sheet events. I will explain these in more detail in due course.
 
As I have previously mentioned, my aim this season is to try and get promotion back to the Championship but, at the same time, to try to achieve a fully funded, sustainable business plan which will ensure the future of the club going forward. 

Unfortunately, this entails me making decisions that, as I already have said, may be unpleasant and continuing to look at our cost base and in particular, review long term existing contracts that are not commercially favourable to the club, with the likes of Macron, Heathcote & Co, energy suppliers, several agents and professional advisors.
 
As I have said in the past, our actions to date have already saved the club hundreds of thousands of pounds, but I am hopeful we can increase this to several millions, which will go a long way to securing the club’s future. As they say though, 'Rome was not built in a day'.
 
We have also suffered both on and off the field this season with several of our 'big hitter' players being not available through season-long injuries. 

The financial cost of this to the club has been circa £4m. To put this in to perspective, the Premier League last week released an article on the cost of injured players to Premier League clubs and we would have ranked in the top 10 - something hopefully which we can avoid going forward. Please feel free to read that article by CLICKING HERE. 

Suzanne Speak and her team are continuing to work tirelessly to help drive revenue for the hotel despite the challenging circumstances. The versatility of our venue will be superbly showcased with plenty of events lined up over the coming months. 

TV stars from a popular soap opera will be in the Premier Suite for the ‘Dancing With The Dales’ charity event on May 5, while also in May there will be ‘An Evening With Anthony Joshua’ dinner. 

With other events including an ‘80s music night and a White Collar Boxing tournament, make sure you follow Bolton Whites on their various social media channels (Twitter @BoltonWhitesHtl and Facebook/BoltonWhitesHotel) to keep up to date with what is taking place here at Macron Stadium. 

As has been well reported, at the end of the season, we will have a number of players whose contracts come to an end, which will enable us to renegotiate and also bring in a new batch of players on a more sustainable cost basis. 

Our budget this season, at circa £10m, is amongst the highest in Sky Bet League One and indeed the Championship, and it is imperative that going forward, we control our squad budget and work within a framework that is financially sustainable.
 
We are currently in discussions with the council about the level of rates that we as a business are paying, which is circa half a million pounds per annum for the hotel and almost a million pounds for the stadium in 2017 – each more than double that of other local hotels and football stadia of a comparable size. 
 
If we are successful with these negotiations, we could save several millions of pounds from previous, current and future payments. This alone would go a long way to securing our aim of a sustainable business plan. I hope the press and supporters will get behind us on this quest.
 
The biggest challenge of all will be reaching a solution with Blu Marble and Sports Shield which could, in my opinion, save us several millions of pounds, but this is likely to go to litigation and unfortunately, may take several years to finalise. 

For the record, I would also like to mention that I took no part in the original discussions with Blu Marble. Furthermore, the club does not have an agreement with Blu Marble; it has an agreement with Sports Shield and I am currently disputing the validity of this.
 
We are extremely fortunate and grateful for the support and patience we have had and are continuing to receive from our trading partners, which is essential to the future of the club.
 
The support of our season ticket holders and all our supporters has not only helped us on and off the field to date, but will continue to play a major part in us trying to achieve promotion this season.
 
I am delighted meanwhile to have accepted an invitation to be a guest at the Bolton Wanderers Supporters Association event on March 1. Please visit [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] for more information about the evening and how to become a member if you aren’t one already.
 
Please continue to support us and encourage your friends, family and colleagues to come along and get behind us, starting this Saturday for our game against Walsall, which is closely followed by our neighbours Rochdale on Tuesday evening.
 
As always, let’s be loud, let’s be proud and let’s get behind the boys.

Kind regards,

Ken

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To be fair to KA he is trying to keep fans informed, it's fair to question what he says but after years of silence the fact the guy is speaking out whilst others remain silent to me suggests he is not afraid to put his side of things.

He's got a tough job to do and i can't complain about anything in that article other than he has a lot of shit to sort out from the previous regime and the mess Deano created when he borrowed money he couldn't cover

Bolton Wanderers chairman Ken Anderson: I had no choice but to sell Zach Clough to Nottingham Forest

KEN Anderson says he had “no alternative” but to sell Zach Clough to Nottingham Forest last week.

The Wanderers chairman admits some of the disappointment felt at the striker’s exit was understandable, given his previous statement that the club would not cash in on its young stars.

But in a statement released on the official website he insisted the decision was unavoidable, given the club’s financial situation at that point.

“There have been some comments on social media sites and in the press about the sale of Zach Clough last Tuesday, which are fully justified and are only to be expected bearing in mind my previous comments about him and Josh Vela,” he said.

“As previously stated, I am having to make some very difficult and unpleasant decisions to try and achieve a sustainable business plan for the club and hotel going forward.

“Obviously, like everyone else, I was extremely disappointed to see Zach leave, but Nottingham Forest were very persistent in their pursuit of him and after rejecting their initial approaches, the ever increasing sums of money being offered to both Zach and the club, I had to weigh up the financial benefits for the club of selling him and regrettably, following Dean’s refusal last week to contribute any funds to financially support the club, alongside me, I was left with no alternative but to try and reach the best deal possible with Forest.

“Over a number of calls and many hours of negotiations to ensure that we got a substantial portion of the fee paid immediately with further bonuses and a future sell on fee, I reluctantly agreed for Zach, his father and agent to meet with them.

“I would mention that despite all the comments made by people who have no knowledge of what the fee was, or how we were selling off the 'crown jewels ' Forest were the only club who made an offer.

“Furthermore, at no time did Zach ever put any pressure on the manager, or me personally, to let him leave. However, Zach's departure has greatly helped the club’s current financial position and also gave us the ability to freshen up the squad and bring in a number of players which also gives us other options, in the style of play, we now have and hopefully will help us achieve our target of promotion this season.

“We all have a great deal to thank Zach for, both on and off the field, and I feel sure, like me, you wish him all the best for the future.”

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Holdsworth hits back!


It is with regret that I have to respond yet again to allegations which are misleading and without foundation. 
In a statement made by Ken Anderson, he alleges that I am to blame for the sale of Zach Clough – this is untrue. The sale of Zach Clough was never even brought to my attention prior to the sale – it happened without any communication to me and was not brought to the attention of, nor approved by, the Board. Ken Anderson made that decision, and negotiated the terms of the deal alone. I had no involvement in the sale. Unfortunately, for many months I have been excluded from management business including negotiations about players 
Ken’s allegation that I have refused to contribute funds to the club is also untrue. I have not refused to pay, but am unwilling to advance funds until I receive the proper financial information required for me to make financial investment into the club. That critical financial information has been withheld from me by Ken Anderson. It is worth noting that when Ken has provided funds to the Club, he has withdrawn those funds as soon as cashflow has allowed, without prior approval of the Board. The significant delays in completing the audit and the filing of the Burnden Leisure Limited accounts, together with Mr Anderson’s previous issues in his role as a company director, in my opinion, together give rise to concern about Ken’s management of the Club.
The fact is that Ken Anderson and I are in dispute over a number of matters. For the benefit of the Club and the supporters, I have been keen to keep the details of the dispute out of the press, and have suffered in silence.

– Dean Holdsworth 

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Circus is back in town.. this shit will cost us promotion

Boggersbelief wrote:Circus is back in town.. this shit will cost us promotion

I fear it could cost us a hell of a lot more than promotion.

St Dean eh!

To my mind it is his duty and responsibility to keep the business going - you don't just pick up your ball and walk away because things are going wrong.

If Anderson didn't pay the bills then no one would have done and the club would be in Administration!

What exactly has Holdsworth done?  

He's taken out a loan with a pay day lender type company and secured on the assets of the club even though the loan is to his company Sports Shield.

What if anything has he repaid on this loan?

If nothing much then I, you, or anyone could have done the same.

Seems not much to do to own half a football club and let someone else pay to keep it going don't you think?

There doesn't seem to be much trust left between them now does there?

There's plenty of interest regarding new owners, The pair need to stop being greedy/Childish and get it sold

It's just embarrassing. As much as I like knowing what's going on these guys need to sort their shit out behind closed doors and come to an arrangement one way or another or we'll end up being an even bigger laughing stock than we already are. Firing shots at each other in public is not the way to go here.