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They say a week is a long time in football, but for Wanderers it might not be long enough.
Phil Parkinson seems to have spent his whole summer underlining the need for new recruits. And just a month ago his target of eight new arrivals looked ambitious, but achievable.
Two players – Yanic Wildschut and Marc Wilson – have been added since that statement was made, leaving the manager half a dozen players short, a week before the Championship kicks-off against one of the promotion favourites West Brom.
Concern among supporters has become steadily more vocal in the last week and hit fever pitch yesterday when a detailed statement from Ken Anderson confirmed, among other things, that he had ended all discussions with potential investors.
The chairman says he has made two six-figure bids – one of which is believed to be for Bradford City striker Charlie Wyke - and added that he will not be making any further offers for the players in question for the time being.
He also revealed that talks are ongoing with several other options but with tomorrow’s game at Peterborough effectively a dress rehearsal for the season ahead, there will be many who feel it is time for more decisive action.
Much of Anderson’s rhetoric yesterday centred on finance and his intention to run the club in a commercially prudent manner.
“I won’t be making the same mistake that other clubs do and pay players excessive and unsustainable salaries,” he wrote on the official website.
The sentiment is worthy, yet in a division which is being increasingly skewed by Premier League money, is it realistic? Wanderers needed to evolve their squad this season, and it was only ever going to be done on a higher budget.
In March Anderson discussed his intention to find investment.
“We need to get to a level of budget which gives us the chance to challenge,” he told The Bolton News. “It doesn’t need to be something at the level of Wolves or Derby. But I think somewhere between £10-30million. It is my job to get that.
“I think we know where to go to get it. It’s a fact that most of the money isn’t coming from the UK anymore.
“Middle East, Asia, China, the US – that is really where my background has been in the past. And it’s where I’ll look again.”
Yesterday’s update suggested talks had been held with four parties, only one of which was able to produce the requisite proof of funding. Another, says Anderson, is now being pursued on legal grounds.
Anderson also stated he had not pursued investment, as he had declared four months earlier.
“I want to make it absolutely clear that each of these four parties directly approached us looking to invest or to buy the club. At no point have we sought to proactively seek investment or market the sale of the club. Furthermore, no one has been appointed to sell the club.”
Wanderers will get a cash boost at the start of next month when the first instalment of TV money is injected into accounts but recent events are bound to leave supporters asking questions about what happens next.
At the start of September, the financial arrangement with finance company BluMarble will rear its head once again. Last year’s accounts revealed £4m plus £300,000 in interest is now repayable. Another £700,000 is payable if the club is promoted to the Premier League before 2021.
Anderson has assured the situation is under control and recently announced he had come to an agreement with Prescot Business Park over loans secured against the hotel.
While managing that hard debt will, of course, have a major bearing on Wanderers’ future, the root of most fans’ concerns is something in the shorter term: The team which will run out on to the pitch at the Hawthorns next Saturday.
Parkinson’s brief this summer was to evolve, ideally by bringing down the average age of the squad. And though he has been fishing in that familiar pool of free transfers and loans, he has been able to attract some bigger catches.
There have been few complaints about the quality of Clayton Donaldson, Pawel Olkowski, Jason Lowe, Yanic Wildschut, Marc Wilson and Erhun Oztumer, only that there are still some glaring spaces yet to be filled.
A back-up goalkeeper to challenge Ben Alnwick, some specialist left-back company for Andy Taylor, a centre-back, another midfielder in the mould of released ball-winners Karl Henry and Darren Pratley, and at least one more striker would seem to be the general consensus.
And it is in the last of those positions where Anderson’s desire to remain commercially prudent will be most tested.
The economy on strikers has been inflated since the day Wanderers said ‘yes’ to Arsenal and sold David Jack. And to sign a good one – even on loan – will be a significant outlay.
Seven months on from Gary Madine’s exit to Cardiff City we are yet to see a direct replacement, and though Parkinson can bank on Adam Le Fondre’s penalty box prowess and Donaldson’s hard graft, he longs for an old fashioned number nine to lead the line.
Anderson is confident the squad will go into the new season stronger than it was 12 months ago and - speaking to The Bolton News last night - he revealed his own frustration at not being able to add players earlier in the summer.
“I’m very comfortable that by the close of the window we will be better than we were last season,” he said. “I can understand people want players in now - and ideally I’d have wanted more through the door than we have got - but we have got plenty of options.
“We have got virtually our whole loan quota and that is certainly an area we will be looking into. Premier League and big Championship clubs are only now starting to send players out, the World Cup slowed things up, so I think we should have some movement quite soon.
“There are a number of clubs in this division who need to move players on and I think that’s another area we can look at.
“But as so often happens in football, even when a club accepts a bid for a player it can often hinge on them bringing someone else in. West Ham, for example, have several players waiting to go out but need to bring in their own ones first.”
Wanderers have not paid a cash fee for a player since January 2015 but Anderson remains hopeful that is about to change.
“We have made a couple of bids on strikers,” he said. “I am quite hopeful we will get one of those over the line.
“There are some key positions which need to be filled, both myself and Phil (Parkinson) recognise that, but again it has been a case of waiting for other things to go through before we can bring in the player we want.”
Though Anderson has halted talks with investors - going close at one stage with an interested party who opted instead to buy a club in Egypt - he does expect more interest to materialise in the coming months.
“I fully expect people will continue to approach me, and if someone came in with the funds to buy Premier League players, that would be fine by me,” he added.
Wanderers have brought their spending under control and in a year’s time, Anderson believes he will have struck a perfect balance.
“I have got to leave a legacy that is better than the one when I arrived,” he said.
“I would be surprised if we are not the only club in the Championship who turn something like a profit this season, and I think that is an achievement considering what we inherited.”
Source
Phil Parkinson seems to have spent his whole summer underlining the need for new recruits. And just a month ago his target of eight new arrivals looked ambitious, but achievable.
Two players – Yanic Wildschut and Marc Wilson – have been added since that statement was made, leaving the manager half a dozen players short, a week before the Championship kicks-off against one of the promotion favourites West Brom.
Concern among supporters has become steadily more vocal in the last week and hit fever pitch yesterday when a detailed statement from Ken Anderson confirmed, among other things, that he had ended all discussions with potential investors.
The chairman says he has made two six-figure bids – one of which is believed to be for Bradford City striker Charlie Wyke - and added that he will not be making any further offers for the players in question for the time being.
He also revealed that talks are ongoing with several other options but with tomorrow’s game at Peterborough effectively a dress rehearsal for the season ahead, there will be many who feel it is time for more decisive action.
Much of Anderson’s rhetoric yesterday centred on finance and his intention to run the club in a commercially prudent manner.
“I won’t be making the same mistake that other clubs do and pay players excessive and unsustainable salaries,” he wrote on the official website.
The sentiment is worthy, yet in a division which is being increasingly skewed by Premier League money, is it realistic? Wanderers needed to evolve their squad this season, and it was only ever going to be done on a higher budget.
In March Anderson discussed his intention to find investment.
“We need to get to a level of budget which gives us the chance to challenge,” he told The Bolton News. “It doesn’t need to be something at the level of Wolves or Derby. But I think somewhere between £10-30million. It is my job to get that.
“I think we know where to go to get it. It’s a fact that most of the money isn’t coming from the UK anymore.
“Middle East, Asia, China, the US – that is really where my background has been in the past. And it’s where I’ll look again.”
Yesterday’s update suggested talks had been held with four parties, only one of which was able to produce the requisite proof of funding. Another, says Anderson, is now being pursued on legal grounds.
Anderson also stated he had not pursued investment, as he had declared four months earlier.
“I want to make it absolutely clear that each of these four parties directly approached us looking to invest or to buy the club. At no point have we sought to proactively seek investment or market the sale of the club. Furthermore, no one has been appointed to sell the club.”
Wanderers will get a cash boost at the start of next month when the first instalment of TV money is injected into accounts but recent events are bound to leave supporters asking questions about what happens next.
At the start of September, the financial arrangement with finance company BluMarble will rear its head once again. Last year’s accounts revealed £4m plus £300,000 in interest is now repayable. Another £700,000 is payable if the club is promoted to the Premier League before 2021.
Anderson has assured the situation is under control and recently announced he had come to an agreement with Prescot Business Park over loans secured against the hotel.
While managing that hard debt will, of course, have a major bearing on Wanderers’ future, the root of most fans’ concerns is something in the shorter term: The team which will run out on to the pitch at the Hawthorns next Saturday.
Parkinson’s brief this summer was to evolve, ideally by bringing down the average age of the squad. And though he has been fishing in that familiar pool of free transfers and loans, he has been able to attract some bigger catches.
There have been few complaints about the quality of Clayton Donaldson, Pawel Olkowski, Jason Lowe, Yanic Wildschut, Marc Wilson and Erhun Oztumer, only that there are still some glaring spaces yet to be filled.
A back-up goalkeeper to challenge Ben Alnwick, some specialist left-back company for Andy Taylor, a centre-back, another midfielder in the mould of released ball-winners Karl Henry and Darren Pratley, and at least one more striker would seem to be the general consensus.
And it is in the last of those positions where Anderson’s desire to remain commercially prudent will be most tested.
The economy on strikers has been inflated since the day Wanderers said ‘yes’ to Arsenal and sold David Jack. And to sign a good one – even on loan – will be a significant outlay.
Seven months on from Gary Madine’s exit to Cardiff City we are yet to see a direct replacement, and though Parkinson can bank on Adam Le Fondre’s penalty box prowess and Donaldson’s hard graft, he longs for an old fashioned number nine to lead the line.
Anderson is confident the squad will go into the new season stronger than it was 12 months ago and - speaking to The Bolton News last night - he revealed his own frustration at not being able to add players earlier in the summer.
“I’m very comfortable that by the close of the window we will be better than we were last season,” he said. “I can understand people want players in now - and ideally I’d have wanted more through the door than we have got - but we have got plenty of options.
“We have got virtually our whole loan quota and that is certainly an area we will be looking into. Premier League and big Championship clubs are only now starting to send players out, the World Cup slowed things up, so I think we should have some movement quite soon.
“There are a number of clubs in this division who need to move players on and I think that’s another area we can look at.
“But as so often happens in football, even when a club accepts a bid for a player it can often hinge on them bringing someone else in. West Ham, for example, have several players waiting to go out but need to bring in their own ones first.”
Wanderers have not paid a cash fee for a player since January 2015 but Anderson remains hopeful that is about to change.
“We have made a couple of bids on strikers,” he said. “I am quite hopeful we will get one of those over the line.
“There are some key positions which need to be filled, both myself and Phil (Parkinson) recognise that, but again it has been a case of waiting for other things to go through before we can bring in the player we want.”
Though Anderson has halted talks with investors - going close at one stage with an interested party who opted instead to buy a club in Egypt - he does expect more interest to materialise in the coming months.
“I fully expect people will continue to approach me, and if someone came in with the funds to buy Premier League players, that would be fine by me,” he added.
Wanderers have brought their spending under control and in a year’s time, Anderson believes he will have struck a perfect balance.
“I have got to leave a legacy that is better than the one when I arrived,” he said.
“I would be surprised if we are not the only club in the Championship who turn something like a profit this season, and I think that is an achievement considering what we inherited.”
Source