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Like many around the Macron, Andy Taylor holds out some slim hope Jay Spearing will reconcile with Wanderers this summer.
While the midfielder’s wage demands and the club’s budget remain disparate, there seems little chance the former Liverpool man will come back into the fold.
Spearing is still looking for a club with a fortnight remaining in pre-season, and while that is the case, fingers will remain crossed in the Wanderers dressing room.
But Taylor is trying not to attach too much importance to the 28-year-old’s absence, and believes the club will ‘move on’ if he were to sign elsewhere.
“It’s one of those things,” he told The Bolton News. “We were all close to Jay and he was a great lad. He was a big influence on the squad but it is what it is. That’s football.
“I believe he hasn’t signed for anyone as of yet, so while he hasn’t I suppose there’s always a bit of hope he might come back.
“It’s out of our hands and we can’t do anything about it. We can only worry about the group who are here and trust the manager, the chairman and everyone else is doing the best they can to put together a squad that is capable of competing.
“We know there are plenty of good players in that dressing room, professional people, and that group has already been added to this summer.
“Would we like to see Jay back as a person? Well, of course we would. But we have to trust in other people’s judgement.”
The last time Wanderers began a Championship campaign, they had little warning of the chaos to come. By Christmas the club’s financial problems were spilling daily into the public domain and the impact upon the players from there on in was obvious.
Since then, everyone at Bolton has had to develop a thicker skin. Problems still emerge periodically – wages and bonuses paid late, winding-up orders from the HMRC – and the embargo remains, but Ken Anderson is insistent the Whites’ financial situation is being “gradually improved”.
Taylor does not foresee the current squad allowing off-the-field issues affect their performance this time around.
“It comes down the character of the group,” he said. “It would be easy to use things that are going on outside as an excuse. But they are things that are not in our control so it’s pointless moaning or worrying.
“We are still a group of professionals who come the first game of the season want to be going out there and getting a good start.
“If we sit here moaning about all the things which have been well publicised it won’t help us. We can affect our fitness, our focus, our effort, team shape, and the rest of it will take care of itself.”
Phil Parkinson presses on with his pre-season this afternoon at Fleetwood, a club who rivalled Wanderers for promotion for much of last year in League One.
The Whites boss has changed little of the approach he used last season in Scandinavia to prepare his players for the Championship and is still placing a heavy emphasis on fitness and organisation.
And Taylor thinks the squad’s familiarity with the coaching set up this summer means they will be even better prepared to hit the ground running against Leeds United on August 6.
“Last pre-season was a bit different, there was a new staff, new players, and maybe it took two or three months to know what we were all about,” he said. “The manager took time to bed in his views on fitness and everything else he wanted and the lads took a bit of time to take it on board.
“This season is a bit different. We have practically kept the whole squad together and we know the expectations the coaching staff have of us. We have those same standards ourselves.
“I think that helps the lads who come in because they know right away what levels they need.”
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While the midfielder’s wage demands and the club’s budget remain disparate, there seems little chance the former Liverpool man will come back into the fold.
Spearing is still looking for a club with a fortnight remaining in pre-season, and while that is the case, fingers will remain crossed in the Wanderers dressing room.
But Taylor is trying not to attach too much importance to the 28-year-old’s absence, and believes the club will ‘move on’ if he were to sign elsewhere.
“It’s one of those things,” he told The Bolton News. “We were all close to Jay and he was a great lad. He was a big influence on the squad but it is what it is. That’s football.
“I believe he hasn’t signed for anyone as of yet, so while he hasn’t I suppose there’s always a bit of hope he might come back.
“It’s out of our hands and we can’t do anything about it. We can only worry about the group who are here and trust the manager, the chairman and everyone else is doing the best they can to put together a squad that is capable of competing.
“We know there are plenty of good players in that dressing room, professional people, and that group has already been added to this summer.
“Would we like to see Jay back as a person? Well, of course we would. But we have to trust in other people’s judgement.”
The last time Wanderers began a Championship campaign, they had little warning of the chaos to come. By Christmas the club’s financial problems were spilling daily into the public domain and the impact upon the players from there on in was obvious.
Since then, everyone at Bolton has had to develop a thicker skin. Problems still emerge periodically – wages and bonuses paid late, winding-up orders from the HMRC – and the embargo remains, but Ken Anderson is insistent the Whites’ financial situation is being “gradually improved”.
Taylor does not foresee the current squad allowing off-the-field issues affect their performance this time around.
“It comes down the character of the group,” he said. “It would be easy to use things that are going on outside as an excuse. But they are things that are not in our control so it’s pointless moaning or worrying.
“We are still a group of professionals who come the first game of the season want to be going out there and getting a good start.
“If we sit here moaning about all the things which have been well publicised it won’t help us. We can affect our fitness, our focus, our effort, team shape, and the rest of it will take care of itself.”
Phil Parkinson presses on with his pre-season this afternoon at Fleetwood, a club who rivalled Wanderers for promotion for much of last year in League One.
The Whites boss has changed little of the approach he used last season in Scandinavia to prepare his players for the Championship and is still placing a heavy emphasis on fitness and organisation.
And Taylor thinks the squad’s familiarity with the coaching set up this summer means they will be even better prepared to hit the ground running against Leeds United on August 6.
“Last pre-season was a bit different, there was a new staff, new players, and maybe it took two or three months to know what we were all about,” he said. “The manager took time to bed in his views on fitness and everything else he wanted and the lads took a bit of time to take it on board.
“This season is a bit different. We have practically kept the whole squad together and we know the expectations the coaching staff have of us. We have those same standards ourselves.
“I think that helps the lads who come in because they know right away what levels they need.”
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