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RELEGATION, promotion, boardroom battles, embargos and a continual fight to beat the odds: Welcome to the unpredictable world of life under Ken Anderson.
After somewhat reluctantly jumping in to save Wanderers from administration alongside Dean Holdsworth two years ago, the former football agent turned business impresario has found himself playing good guy, bad guy and everything in between.
Inheriting a club struggling to get off its knees financially and – by his own admission – lacking the time to do proper homework on the mess he had walked into, it is fair to say Anderson has spent a large portion of his tenure attempting to right the wrongs of others.
His methods have, and continue to, divide opinion. Yet for all the criticism levelled at him the Londoner can point to the fact the big decisions have proved correct.
Appointing Phil Parkinson, who led the club to immediate promotion, backing him after a difficult start to the current campaign, and scrapping tooth and nail with the Football League for transfers – on these issues Anderson has produced the goods.
No other Bolton chairman, or owner, has provided such a running commentary on club affairs. Anderson’s very regular website columns are well-read and unashamedly designed to give supporters the air of transparency they craved under the previous regime.
As such, the range of terrace opinion on complex topics like club finance are more diverse than ever before. A fan-base schooled quickly in accounting jargon over the past couple of years are now often debating the merits of loan rates rather than left-backs.
Wanderers issued their latest accounts last week, giving a hint to the wide-scale rationalisation which has happened under Anderson’s watch. Provided the so-called ‘hard-debts’ are as manageable as the chairman claims, the club is as stable as it has been for a good few years.
So when Anderson agreed to a chat with The Bolton News about his first two years, you may have expected him to paint a fuzzy, rose-tinted picture. Not so.
“The first 18 months were an absolute nightmare,” he said, summing up in headline-grabbing glory.
“If I wasn’t finding skeletons in closets I never knew existed, there was in-fighting with Dean (Holdsworth). And in hindsight, I really wish that hadn’t been done in public.
“I have had a fair few battles. It hasn’t been easy.
“Some of the club contracts which had been signed before I arrived had no way out. I couldn’t understand the commercial logic.
“ “From day one I had to make decisions I didn’t like. But, to be honest, I thought I’d have to make some that were even worse. We’d considered the possibility of redundancies but the numbers I anticipated never materialised, and I am very glad.
“We just didn’t know the level of debt on contracts we’d walked into, BluMarble being the biggest case in point.”
Anderson has never been shy to speak his mind, or indeed commit it to print.
There have been crossed swords with this very newspaper – but problems have been quickly resolved.
“They told me that today’s newspapers are tomorrow’s fish and chip papers and I’m not sure I believed it – but sitting here now, it’s incredible how quickly things can change,” he said. “That’s no criticism of the media. I have just learned that people move on, we say something one week and then circumstances alter.
“It is important not to let things fester. We all care about the club.”
Anderson eventually struck a deal to purchase shares from Dean Holdsworth in early September last year, after which he feels the landscape changed.
Wanderers recovered from a nightmarish start in the Championship and began their slow ascent of the table and helped by experienced football consultant Paul Aldridge, the clutter started to clear.
“The last six months, when things have started to come together, it has been much easier,” Anderson said. “The finances have been better. We don’t have the same issues with HMRC, salaries have all been paid on time and the commercial side of things is getting better.
“We’ve brought pop concerts to the stadium with major acts that have sold out in an hour or less. I am already talking about two more for the following summer.
“But the major thing to change in my time here has been the spirit of the squad, top to bottom.
“It seems a long time ago now but I remember being sat at Fulham and seeing the sign ‘no pride, no passion’.
“I don’t think it was necessarily correct. Some of the players who were out there on the pitch stayed with us, and some are still with us. But I think it was a defining point in the time I have been here.”
Last season’s promotion is, of course, the highlight of Anderson’s two years in charge, not that it proved straightforward.
“I won’t forget having it snatched away at Port Vale and having to go through it all again.” he laughed. “To have done that, though, with everything we had gone through. The embargo was another obstacle we just couldn’t get rid of – but I battled for every single player who came through the door, pushed every rule I could. And we know there were other teams who didn’t like that I was doing it, but sometimes you have to fight.”
Read part two of Ken Anderson’s interview in The Bolton News tomorrow where the chairman discussed the academy, financial gambles and a positive Wanderers’ future.
http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/wanderers/16115595._quot_The_first_18_months_were_a_nightmare_quot____Ken_Anderson_looks_back_on_two_years_at_the_Wanderers_helm/
After somewhat reluctantly jumping in to save Wanderers from administration alongside Dean Holdsworth two years ago, the former football agent turned business impresario has found himself playing good guy, bad guy and everything in between.
Inheriting a club struggling to get off its knees financially and – by his own admission – lacking the time to do proper homework on the mess he had walked into, it is fair to say Anderson has spent a large portion of his tenure attempting to right the wrongs of others.
His methods have, and continue to, divide opinion. Yet for all the criticism levelled at him the Londoner can point to the fact the big decisions have proved correct.
Appointing Phil Parkinson, who led the club to immediate promotion, backing him after a difficult start to the current campaign, and scrapping tooth and nail with the Football League for transfers – on these issues Anderson has produced the goods.
No other Bolton chairman, or owner, has provided such a running commentary on club affairs. Anderson’s very regular website columns are well-read and unashamedly designed to give supporters the air of transparency they craved under the previous regime.
As such, the range of terrace opinion on complex topics like club finance are more diverse than ever before. A fan-base schooled quickly in accounting jargon over the past couple of years are now often debating the merits of loan rates rather than left-backs.
Wanderers issued their latest accounts last week, giving a hint to the wide-scale rationalisation which has happened under Anderson’s watch. Provided the so-called ‘hard-debts’ are as manageable as the chairman claims, the club is as stable as it has been for a good few years.
So when Anderson agreed to a chat with The Bolton News about his first two years, you may have expected him to paint a fuzzy, rose-tinted picture. Not so.
“The first 18 months were an absolute nightmare,” he said, summing up in headline-grabbing glory.
“If I wasn’t finding skeletons in closets I never knew existed, there was in-fighting with Dean (Holdsworth). And in hindsight, I really wish that hadn’t been done in public.
“I have had a fair few battles. It hasn’t been easy.
“Some of the club contracts which had been signed before I arrived had no way out. I couldn’t understand the commercial logic.
“ “From day one I had to make decisions I didn’t like. But, to be honest, I thought I’d have to make some that were even worse. We’d considered the possibility of redundancies but the numbers I anticipated never materialised, and I am very glad.
“We just didn’t know the level of debt on contracts we’d walked into, BluMarble being the biggest case in point.”
Anderson has never been shy to speak his mind, or indeed commit it to print.
There have been crossed swords with this very newspaper – but problems have been quickly resolved.
“They told me that today’s newspapers are tomorrow’s fish and chip papers and I’m not sure I believed it – but sitting here now, it’s incredible how quickly things can change,” he said. “That’s no criticism of the media. I have just learned that people move on, we say something one week and then circumstances alter.
“It is important not to let things fester. We all care about the club.”
Anderson eventually struck a deal to purchase shares from Dean Holdsworth in early September last year, after which he feels the landscape changed.
Wanderers recovered from a nightmarish start in the Championship and began their slow ascent of the table and helped by experienced football consultant Paul Aldridge, the clutter started to clear.
“The last six months, when things have started to come together, it has been much easier,” Anderson said. “The finances have been better. We don’t have the same issues with HMRC, salaries have all been paid on time and the commercial side of things is getting better.
“We’ve brought pop concerts to the stadium with major acts that have sold out in an hour or less. I am already talking about two more for the following summer.
“But the major thing to change in my time here has been the spirit of the squad, top to bottom.
“It seems a long time ago now but I remember being sat at Fulham and seeing the sign ‘no pride, no passion’.
“I don’t think it was necessarily correct. Some of the players who were out there on the pitch stayed with us, and some are still with us. But I think it was a defining point in the time I have been here.”
Last season’s promotion is, of course, the highlight of Anderson’s two years in charge, not that it proved straightforward.
“I won’t forget having it snatched away at Port Vale and having to go through it all again.” he laughed. “To have done that, though, with everything we had gone through. The embargo was another obstacle we just couldn’t get rid of – but I battled for every single player who came through the door, pushed every rule I could. And we know there were other teams who didn’t like that I was doing it, but sometimes you have to fight.”
Read part two of Ken Anderson’s interview in The Bolton News tomorrow where the chairman discussed the academy, financial gambles and a positive Wanderers’ future.
http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/wanderers/16115595._quot_The_first_18_months_were_a_nightmare_quot____Ken_Anderson_looks_back_on_two_years_at_the_Wanderers_helm/