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Failure to get promotion in the play-off final has cost Wanderers up to £10million in extra revenue.
Defeat against Oxford United at Wembley means a fourth successive season in League One, and a summer of big decisions on several fronts at the Toughsheet Stadium.
Having invested significantly in pursuit of automatic promotion, including a £750,000 deal to sign Aaron Collins from Bristol Rovers in the January transfer window, Bolton must now decide whether they can sustain their current budget, or whether cash can be generated by other means, either by player sales or outside investment.
The last set of financial accounts, for 2022/23, showed a £5.6m loss.
Oxford United chief executive Tim Williams forecast that the 2-0 win would provide his club with a significant financial boost next season.
He said: “It’s the £10 million game. The reality is that somebody with my background would be foolish for not already looking at the numbers.
“Revenues will increase by eight to 10 million quid next year. It’s incredible. That means a huge amount of throughput for just about everything.”
Whereas sponsorship and television revenues would certainly have increased in the division above, so too would wages and transfer costs.
Wanderers chairman Sharon Brittan discussed in Parliament last week the potential financial ramifications of promotion, estimating that to “compete” in the division could cost investors around £20m per season.
Ms Brittan is one of several key campaigners who have called for better distribution of payments from the Premier League down the football pyramid, including a re-think on the parachute payment system.
Promotion to the Championship would also have triggered a 10 per cent bonus for investors in the club’s bond scheme, which was launched last summer, raising more than £4.5m.
Whilst Oxford celebrated their promotion with an open top bus parade yesterday, Wanderers began the solemn process of planning for next season.
Senior players Cameron Jerome and Jon Dadi Bodvarsson are out of contract and loanees Zac Ashworth, Paris Maghoma, Calvin Ramsay, Caleb Taylor and Nat Ogbeta have reached the end of their agreement.
Meetings with all professional players will be held this week in advance of a published retained list.
Part of Ashworth’s deal when he arrived at the start of the season from West Brom was that an agreed fee could be paid to make the deal permanent.
Reports yesterday indicated that Bolton were willing to press ahead despite not gaining promotion.
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