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Home attendances have stood up relatively well in recent years but the Bolton chairman is confident that, with the right incentives, more people can be convinced to attend and watch the town’s team play.
What business Phil Parkinson manages to do before the close of this month’s loan window could have a bearing on whether some stay-away fans return.
But Anderson admits the brand of football will also have an impact.
Wanderers battled against relegation for the whole of last season, during which Parkinson’s side came under heavy fire for their perceived style of play.
With a new-look squad built over the summer, there have already been signs of tactical evolution at Bolton in the opening few weeks.
And Anderson hopes it will lead to a team more people will want to watch.
“I think, in the end, results are the most important factor when you want people to come to the stadium and watch a game,” he told The Bolton News.
“Bringing in new players will hopefully encourage people to come in.
“And I think we need to make it a nicer environment for people to come in and watch the team play football too.
“But playing better football always helps.
“People go and watch Manchester City because of the style of football they play as opposed to Manchester United last season when people said they were playing negative football with hundreds of millions of pounds-worth of players.
“You have to be realistic and say there is sometimes a fine balance between playing attractive football and getting points and climbing the table.
“The manager makes a decision on how he plays and often it is horses for courses.
“When you come up against some clubs we have to play one way – there are plenty of clubs in this league who play possession football and we know we’re going to have games where they have the ball. The key is making sure it isn’t critical.
“I think we have improved the squad over the summer and, man-for-man, we look a better team.
“So if that goes hand-in-hand with a better style of football I am sure more people will come in.”
Anderson expects the Championship environment to be just as unforgiving, even though some of last season’s big spenders are now having to tighten their belts to comply with Financial Fair Play.
“There are probably four or five clubs who are unofficially in quasi-embargo but it hasn’t really been reported,” he said.
“The most difficult thing this season is that the teams who are coming up have spent big money.
“Blackburn allegedly made a £4million offer to QPR for Luke Freeman, Wigan have spent plenty of money too.
“Teams who have been relegated want to go straight back up. West Brom had spent something like £11m when we played them.
“We’re seeing figures now which would have seemed excessive in the Premier League not so long ago.”
Source
What business Phil Parkinson manages to do before the close of this month’s loan window could have a bearing on whether some stay-away fans return.
But Anderson admits the brand of football will also have an impact.
Wanderers battled against relegation for the whole of last season, during which Parkinson’s side came under heavy fire for their perceived style of play.
With a new-look squad built over the summer, there have already been signs of tactical evolution at Bolton in the opening few weeks.
And Anderson hopes it will lead to a team more people will want to watch.
“I think, in the end, results are the most important factor when you want people to come to the stadium and watch a game,” he told The Bolton News.
“Bringing in new players will hopefully encourage people to come in.
“And I think we need to make it a nicer environment for people to come in and watch the team play football too.
“But playing better football always helps.
“People go and watch Manchester City because of the style of football they play as opposed to Manchester United last season when people said they were playing negative football with hundreds of millions of pounds-worth of players.
“You have to be realistic and say there is sometimes a fine balance between playing attractive football and getting points and climbing the table.
“The manager makes a decision on how he plays and often it is horses for courses.
“When you come up against some clubs we have to play one way – there are plenty of clubs in this league who play possession football and we know we’re going to have games where they have the ball. The key is making sure it isn’t critical.
“I think we have improved the squad over the summer and, man-for-man, we look a better team.
“So if that goes hand-in-hand with a better style of football I am sure more people will come in.”
Anderson expects the Championship environment to be just as unforgiving, even though some of last season’s big spenders are now having to tighten their belts to comply with Financial Fair Play.
“There are probably four or five clubs who are unofficially in quasi-embargo but it hasn’t really been reported,” he said.
“The most difficult thing this season is that the teams who are coming up have spent big money.
“Blackburn allegedly made a £4million offer to QPR for Luke Freeman, Wigan have spent plenty of money too.
“Teams who have been relegated want to go straight back up. West Brom had spent something like £11m when we played them.
“We’re seeing figures now which would have seemed excessive in the Premier League not so long ago.”
Source
