I am the right man to lead Bolton, says boss Dougie Freedman

Dougie Freedman believes he is the right man to manage Wanderers during their current financial predicament.

Tuesday’s announcement that the club lost an incredible £50million over the last financial year, inflating debt levels to more than £163m, has cast a cloud over the Reebok ahead of tomorrow’s FA Cup clash against Blackpool.

Whites’ fans, uncertain about the direction the club is taking, voiced their frustrations in the New Year’s Day draw against Middlesbrough.

Freedman – who has also come under fire from fans in a dismal first half of the Championship season – insists he was in full possession of the facts before the accounts were published.

Well-versed in managing a club under serious financial constraints from his time at Crystal Palace, the Scot is confident he can still keep Wanderers competitive and invest in the current transfer window despite not having the budget of some of his predecessors.

“The club have a policy and I’m here to implement it,” he said.

“We want to stay with a team that can challenge on the pitch but I also know I have to get the wage budget in line with the Financial Fair Play.

“It is very challenging but on both fronts we understand where we are.

“When teams come down from the Premier League into the Championship they carry with them such a large wage bill and sometimes you can’t get the club moving until it is brought back down.

“I am trying to do small deals so that the club keeps going forward but we’ve got such a great level of debt we have to do it very carefully.

“The level of debt has not come as a surprise to me. “When you work as a professional coach at any club it will be difficult. Nothing has been hidden from me at all.

“We’re not a team who can go out and splash money but I think the money I have spent has been done quite wisely.”

Freedman is looking to make defensive signings this month but anything beyond loan deals could hinge on him moving on some of the bigger earners in his squad.

David Ngog, who scored the goal to salvage a point against Middlesbrough, remains the most likely to leave but, as yet, no firm bids have come forward.

“There has been absolutely no concrete interest in anyone,” said Freedman. “In fact, I don’t think anyone has come in and bought a player since I have been at the club.

“No-one has put a bid on the table for one of my players.

“I can’t keep stacking players up – you have got to be sensible in what you are doing. I still believe we are competitive even though it’s not quite going our way.

“It’s not through lack of commitment or organisation or quality. It’s down to simple concentration at the beginning of games. “It is having such a big effect on our season.”

Source

Why is he surprised there are no bids for the players they are shit.

He's here for a long time coming.

It'll be 12,000 gates at the Reebok next season, I'll take my earplugs.

Dougie's right though.
Can't think of another manager prepared to work with no budget. We'll just have to beg, borrow and steal our way back.

he's not doing it for free, i'm sure the only reason he came here in the first place was because of a big bump in wages

wanderlust wrote:Dougie's right though.
Can't think of another manager prepared to work with no budget. We'll just have to beg, borrow and steal our way back.

We have more financial clout than 75% of teams outside the Prem. I don't get your point.

Good point Natasha.
People think because the club's in the shit, Dougie's got nothing to work with.

Medo was a Spurs target only last year, he'll be on a good wage. We outbid several Championship clubs for Baptiste. Beckford was on nearly £40k a week at his last club. It won't have been easy to tempt Spearing away from Liverpool. Tierney won't be on peanuts.

Don't forget, Coyle used to go on about a "long-term plan" and the club having a "top strategy in place" and it being "my job to implement it".
Really, the plan consisted of not much more than Gregg Wylde, Josh Vela and Marvin Sordell.

Apparently came on half a million a year to us. Highest paid Championship manager at the time reputedly.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

wanderlust wrote:Dougie's right though.
Can't think of another manager prepared to work with no budget. We'll just have to beg, borrow and steal our way back.

We have more financial clout than 75% of teams outside the Prem.

That's not true. Nobody has anything like the amount of debt we have and this last year's investments were in the leisure industry generically rather than the football club in particular - all of which means that we are in a decent position to borrow even more money against our assets to buy players but it's been made fairly clear that isn't going to happen.

The fact that Dougie mentioned he'd like to bid for Dawson and McNaughton this week as well as a left back (in conjunction with a club statement that the plan is to push for promotion next season) suggests there is some money for specific targets but it has also been mentioned that it will only happen if we sell first - not that I can imagine that bringing in much.

Dougie has been pretty stingy with the dosh so far, so maybe they'll give him a little more leeway to get what he needs as he's already demonstrated he won't be taken for a ride as previous managers have.