Millwall boss Holloway's blast at Wanderers over 'pursuit' of midfielder Liam Trotter

Millwall boss Ian Holloway has taken a swipe at Wanderers, accusing them of trying to unsettle midfielder Liam Trotter.

The Lions boss was unhappy that Dougie Freedman had enquired about the 24-year-old former Ipswich Town trainee – even though the Wanderers boss claimed yesterday that he had actually been offered Trotter’s services by his agent.

Trotter is out of contract in the summer but it is understood that Freedman would only make his move if another one of his midfield players moves out today.

Holloway said last night: “I'm not very happy with Bolton at the moment, to say the least.

"They have had a sniff but are waiting on someone going out before they can push ahead. If that deal falls through, they will have upset and disgruntled one of my players.

"I don't have a cat in hell's chance of keeping Liam because a club like Bolton will be able to offer him a big contract and I can't compete with that.

"With that being the case, I will have a massive problem if they don't come up with a deal."

Freedman denied actively pursuing Trotter’s signature at his press conference yesterday.

“He is a player his agent has been pushing on me for a long time,” said the Wanderers boss. “He is a free transfer at the end of the season and he’s a good player.

“There is no interest as we speak to bring in any players of that position. But if it was a left back we could definitely start the rumours.”

Source

Is Holloway a bit demented. He saying that a club like Bolton could offer him a massive contract?
We're  skint, broke, scraping the barrel. There's no way we're offering massive contracts even compared with lowly Millwall

I love Ian Holloway, his press conferences are always entertaining. I do wish he'd tell us all what he's on though because it must be really good stuff. How else can he think we're offering "BIG" contracts to anybody? I hear we've signed the lad Bastos, another one who goes straight to the development squad and Trotter is reportedly signing for us for 400K but I bet he ain't on any sort of mega bucks deal. We still need a LB desperately, even if Ream is cleared to play tomorrow we've got no backup and he ain't that great in the position to begin with. Come on Dougie, sort that one out please.

There seems to be a perception outside Bolton that we're not actually screwed financially, despite carrying a debt that would make several African countries blush.

Gartside's not helping by keep saying that the "real" debt is only about £8m.


WE all know we're screwed but the outside world seems to think we're rolling in it.

This cannot be helping with trying to sign players.

i bet even though we are in the shit financially we still offer better wages than most Championship clubs.

It doesn't helpt that players coming in may be aware that we still have high earners on our books and will be wanting parity with our own players.

rammywhite wrote:Is Holloway a bit demented. He saying that a club like Bolton could offer him a massive contract?
We're  skint, broke, scraping the barrel. There's no way we're offering massive contracts even compared with lowly Millwall

I'm sorry but you're wrong. Bolton can and do offer big contracts. This myth that we can't compete financially in this division is bollocks. What's another £20k per week on top of £165m debt?

Bolton will always be an attractive club for most footballers - which is why it's so shocking that Freeedman has assembled such a pisspoor squad.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

rammywhite wrote:Is Holloway a bit demented. He saying that a club like Bolton could offer him a massive contract?
We're  skint, broke, scraping the barrel. There's no way we're offering massive contracts even compared with lowly Millwall

I'm sorry but you're wrong. Bolton can and do offer big contracts. This myth that we can't compete financially in this division is bollocks. What's another £20k per week on top of £165m debt?

Bolton will always be an attractive club for most footballers - which is why it's so shocking that Freeedman has assembled such a pisspoor squad.

Nat- in the past we might have been, hence the furore over the high wage non performers and Freedman's attempts to offload them. He's succeeded with just one- N'gog, and we're left with three or four others that need to be moved on. But Freedman, for all his sins, has been busting a gut to bring players in. We'll never know the full story, but he has intimated that he tried about 6 leftbacks and could land none of them.
Why?
Because we are no longer an attractive proposition and the reason for that is that we are now offering much lower wage packets than we did in the glory days. Lots of players refused to join us.
You know as well as I that all they really care about is the money- and so if they won't join us all we can put it down to is the fact that we're no longer offering the fat payoffs that the greedy sods are looking for.