Bolton 1-4 Aston Villa EFL Cup

Ten Bobsworth wrote:I couldn't help wondering why SKY hadn't secured the services of Doctor Dean Holdsworth for last night's presentation at the University of Bolton Stadium.      

I expect he could do with another pay day. The Sports Shield money's all gone now and Sports Shield Investments Ltd was 'dissolved' last month.

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I found the TV punditry very patronising and setting us up for a fall.

We are not the same club that we once were and banging on about the likes of Jay Jay and digging out players from our premiership years was neither useful nor relevant.

The narrative should have been this once great club was hours from extinction and has clawed it's way back from the brink on a very limited budget trying to play an attacking style. We have no big names and our players have never reached premiership standard. We are/were massive underdogs but will give it a shot with what we have.

They banged on about the past selectively (without ever mentioning our 4 FA Cup wins for example) but avoided talking about our present struggle to survive, our squad of lower league and non-league players and our limited resources - because the media want to portray our fall from grace more than our fightback. They revel in telling the world how far we've fallen because they think it's a better story than our rise from the ashes.

I found it really annoying and am sick to the back teeth of hearing pundits - and as a result, fans of other clubs - focusing on our decline and fall.
We'll always have our history, but what we are doing now is the only thing that matters.

SKY’s narrative was to look at the history with the same rose-tinted specs as the present. The reality is that we are overspending now just as we were in the past and unless somebody comes in with new money we will again end up unable to pay current bills let alone long outstanding debts.

But isn’t that the nature of the beast that SKY created?

Ten Bobsworth wrote:SKY’s narrative was to look at the history with the same rose-tinted specs as the present. The reality is that we are overspending now just as we were in the past and unless somebody comes in with new money we will again end up unable to pay current bills let alone long outstanding debts.

But isn’t that the nature of the beast that SKY created?

it is although in Bolton's case money problems have never been far away since the maximium wage was abolished in the 1960s.Crashing to the 4th Division and building a supermarket on the Embankment in the 1980s wasn't Sky's fault.

I get a little fed up of people criticising the money we’ve spent as if we’re the only club doing it. The football world changed the minute Sky took over the game and more so since the abominable PL was formed. Look at League 1 and it tells you everything you need to know. The size and quality of half the clubs in there, Derby, Wednesday, Ipswich, Portsmouth, Charlton, ourselves tells its own story and it’s not just us that’s suffered. Even teams who’ve now escaped it like Leeds, Sheffield United and Sunderland have all been in a similar boat previously. 

How are you expected to get back to the highest level if you don’t invest in quality players? Owning a football club today isn’t an investment to make money unless you’re in the PL, even for the biggest clubs, so without some big pocketed investor no club, however much potential crowd size, is going to get there. I’m happy with what FV are doing just now and I’m not remotely concerned about finances. They knew what they were getting into when they took us over so I’m sure they know their business plan and I trust them to deliver it. Personally I don’t much care what division we’re in as long as the footballs enjoyable and we’re competitive. Right now we are so I’m happy to see how it goes. With the crowds and support both home and away I think most fans agree with me.

Whitesince63 wrote:I get a little fed up of people criticising the money we’ve spent as if we’re the only club doing it. The football world changed the minute Sky took over the game and more so since the abominable PL was formed. Look at League 1 and it tells you everything you need to know. The size and quality of half the clubs in there, Derby, Wednesday, Ipswich, Portsmouth, Charlton, ourselves tells its own story and it’s not just us that’s suffered. Even teams who’ve now escaped it like Leeds, Sheffield United and Sunderland have all been in a similar boat previously. 

How are you expected to get back to the highest level if you don’t invest in quality players? Owning a football club today isn’t an investment to make money unless you’re in the PL, even for the biggest clubs, so without some big pocketed investor no club, however much potential crowd size, is going to get there. I’m happy with what FV are doing just now and I’m not remotely concerned about finances. They knew what they were getting into when they took us over so I’m sure they know their business plan and I trust them to deliver it. Personally I don’t much care what division we’re in as long as the footballs enjoyable and we’re competitive. Right now we are so I’m happy to see how it goes. With the crowds and support both home and away I think most fans agree with me.

I have to agree that most fans seem to have fallen for the diet of twaddle they’ve been fed for most of the last 25 years.

Whitesince63 wrote:I get a little fed up of people criticising the money we’ve spent as if we’re the only club doing it. The football world changed the minute Sky took over the game and more so since the abominable PL was formed. Look at League 1 and it tells you everything you need to know. The size and quality of half the clubs in there, Derby, Wednesday, Ipswich, Portsmouth, Charlton, ourselves tells its own story and it’s not just us that’s suffered. Even teams who’ve now escaped it like Leeds, Sheffield United and Sunderland have all been in a similar boat previously. 

How are you expected to get back to the highest level if you don’t invest in quality players? Owning a football club today isn’t an investment to make money unless you’re in the PL, even for the biggest clubs, so without some big pocketed investor no club, however much potential crowd size, is going to get there. I’m happy with what FV are doing just now and I’m not remotely concerned about finances. They knew what they were getting into when they took us over so I’m sure they know their business plan and I trust them to deliver it. Personally I don’t much care what division we’re in as long as the footballs enjoyable and we’re competitive. Right now we are so I’m happy to see how it goes. With the crowds and support both home and away I think most fans agree with me.

I agree with you, i think i need a lie down now as it may be the first time ever 

Growler wrote:
it is although in Bolton's case money problems have never been far away since the maximium wage was abolished in the 1960s.Crashing to the 4th Division and building a supermarket on the Embankment in the 1980s wasn't Sky's fault.

It is true that the abolition of the maximum wage made it more difficult for traditional town clubs like Bolton to compete at the top level. However it is the monetisation of football through SKY that has created the grotesque distortions in competitiveness today.

The TV money has changed the game, as has the formation of the Premiership which has increasingly focused the money on a handful of clubs. That in turn gave them the power to attract the best players and especially young players into their academies which further consolidated their spot at the top. It reflects global capitalism.
There have been many other clubs who have gambled to get a piece of the big money and many have been burned and fortunes lost. We as BWFC fans were lucky enough to enjoy an extended period at the top table but we simply didn't manage our spend well enough to make it sustainable and in ED there was no bottomless pit to draw on although he did go above and beyond the call of duty IMO.
Whilst SKY initiated the initial TV rights bidding war - much to the horror of the BBC and ITV - they turned Brit football from a primarily domestic product where TV money played a relatively small part in overall club finances into an international best seller and that brought in other bidders and resellers in a global market. It was revolutionising the product and all that entailed including globalising merchandising that made the difference. Shame they didn't have the foresight to spread the new money around the league more equitably to consolidate the development of British players and strengthen domestic competitiveness instead of undermining it.
Given the small scale of our current alleged overspend, just one season in the PL - and the subsequent parachute payments - would make it all worthwhile financially to our investors - and there's nowt wrong with being a yoyo club if the fans can maintain realistic expectations - but we're still a long way from that on both counts.

Norpig wrote:
I agree with you, i think i need a lie down now as it may be the first time ever 

I agree with you, Norpig. You do need a lie down. Remember to keep the rose-tinted specs on just in case you wake up from your slumbers.

Villa scored direct from a corner again last night against Arsenal.

Might make Dixon feel a bit better about it.