Less than 8 years ago Bolton Wanderers were playing the likes of Bayern Munich, Sporting Lisbon and Atletico Madrid in the then known Uefa Cup, now the club sit in the bottom three of the championship (only two games in it must be said) and were knocked out of the league cup at home to lower league side Burton Albion.
There’s no question Bolton fans are concerned about the direction the club is heading, with a lack of investment and debt of over £170m many are calling for the chairman Phil Gartside and owner Eddie Davies to resign. Last year in a poll in the Bolton Evening News a staggering 94% of fans voted for Gartside to leave, and who can blame them. Poor investment in the past may have come back to haunt them, for example Johan Elmander was signed for a hefty £8.2m only to leave on a free after a frustrating 3 years at the Reebok. Money being brought in from transfers such as Tim Ream needs to be spent on bringing in replacements rather than just being used to reduce debt.
There’s no doubt that the clubs relegation in 2012 would have been a grieving setback and any club that struggles to get back under the parachute payments will inevitably suffer for it. Yet it is still surprising to see the speed at which Bolton have unravelled. Unfortunately it is not as easy as to say the owners were a victim of circumstance and there comes a point where they have to hold up their hands and take a significant amount of the responsibility. The transfer policy will also frustrate Bolton fans, loaning good quality players but unable to afford to buy them come the following season, no clearer sign of desperation from the fans was the crowd funder page where one Bolton fan attempting to fund the signing of Adam Le Fondre himself with the help of fellow Bolton fans. Le Fondre did end up joining the Wanderers, unfortunately for Bolton fans it was Wolverhampton, not Bolton he joined.
Admittedly things could be worse, just look at local rivals Wigan Athletic who won the FA cup only 2 years ago are now playing their trade in League One. There are some signs of hope for Bolton fans, there finally seems to be some stability in the management position with most fans satisfied with the work Neil Lennon is doing with no budget, the past few seasons have seen several managers come and go so keeping Lennon in the managers seat should only help the cause. Youngsters such as Zach Clough, Josh Vela and Max clayton have all burst into the first team and looked impressive, that seems to be best hope for the club, with a lack of investment being used for new players, bringing them through the academy may be the best method for success. There’s no question the days of Djorkaeff Okocha and co are long gone and until big changes are made at the club return to the Premier League will be very improbable in the foreseeable future.
Source: DSG
