BWFC – Where Are We Going?

Article by e-Bolton Wanderer's Alan Houghton

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The season kicks off this weekend for most teams, except our rich cousins in the Premier League who get an extra week’s lie-in. So what lies in store for my beloved Bolton Wanderers and my mental health over the next nine months?

Last season we got off to the worst start on over a century and our season was effectively over by the middle of October, which is how long it took us to register our first league win. Liam Feeney, Neil Danns and Kevin MacNaughton were all brought in on loan to save a sinking ship and they managed to bail the team out up to Christmas. It was only from the second loan window when Joe Mason and Lukas Jutkiewicz arrived, that we looked like a team that might do something but by then it was far too late to achieve anything other than avoiding relegation. Granted we had our fair share of injuries with Marc Tierney, Mark Davies, David Wheater, Stuart Holden and others missing for long periods of the season but we still had a substantial squad in terms of numbers, compared to others in the Championship. Most weeks our player list in the programmes was larger than the opposition.

Our problems seemed to be not having the right players to make a balanced team that could produce a positive style of football to turn us into a team challenging for promotion and having some players with the wrong attitude, too content with picking their wages up for the minimum effort.

Our financial problems became clearer throughout last season. Chairman Phil Gartside assures us that we owe very little to the bank and that most of the massive £164m debt is owed to our owner Eddie Davies or his company and is a form of equity that means that there is no danger of it having to be repaid quickly, if at all. Like most fans I do not fully understand the world of commercial finance but the bottom line seems to be that whilst we are not under any serious financial risk to our survival, there are very tight limits to what finance is available to the club and for Dougie Freedman to work with. Being relegated two years ago with a massive wage bill, dwindling parachute money about to disappear after this season and the constraints of the Financial Fair Play rules have all placed further pressure on Bolton Wanderers.

It was never going to be an easy or a short term job to turn the club around. Dougie Freedman came to Bolton Wanderers under no illusions about the clubs financial position and what he would have to work with. In fairness, I think that he has made a fair start to changing the club, given the financial and contractual straight-jacket he was had to bear.

He has struggled to get the wage bill down quickly because it is difficult to unload high earning players when most other clubs that are likely to want these players, are in a similar financial plight. Owen Coyle started the mass exodus of high earners and Dougie Freedman has continued that process. No team can lose that many experienced quality players and not take a hit on the playing field. It had to be done and the only aspect that I would criticise is we got almost nothing in financially from most of them. Johann Elmander, Marvin Sordell, David Ngog, Keith Andrews, Chris Eagles, Zak Knight and Tyrone Mears all left for nothing or next to nothing, just to get them off the wage bill.

Dougie Freedman set about replacing these players at both the first and development levels. Last season he brought in Jay Spearing to be the captain he can build his team around. During this close season, he set about his business early, releasing Chris Eagles, Zak Knight and Tyrone Mears, selling Marvin Sordell to Burnley and loaning Keith Andrews to Brighton, effectively seeing out his contract with us.

He quickly brought in on a permanent basis, several loan players who had done the business for us last season; Liam Feeney, Neil Danns, Liam Trotter and Kevin McNaughton (season long loan). He has also recruited defenders Dean Moxey and Dorian Dervite, along with youngsters Ross Fitzsimmons and Quade Taylor and veteran Andy Hughes as a player-coach. He’s also managed to get Tim Ream to extend his contract for another three years. He also recruited young Andy Robinson from Southampton following his loan period at the end of last season but he has already been released because he was homesick. If that is the real reason, then someone must ask Andy why he came back in the first place, as he must have known what living in the North was like from his previous spell here.

That is where Dougie Freedman has come to a grinding halt. He’s managed to sort out the defence and midfield but it’s up front where we are desperately short and he acknowledges this himself. We lost out to Burnley on bringing Lukas Jutkiewicz back to Bolton. The lure of the Premier League and our financial handcuffs didn’t help that situation. But who had heard of Lukas Jutkiewicz before Dougie Freedman brought him to Bolton in February? The pressure is on Dougie Freedman to find the right players. We seem to be favourites to bring Joe Mason back but nothing is definite until it happens. Reality says that we might have to wait until the end of the transfer window or even into the loan period in October to get the right players in. Currently the football hierarchy is kicking in as the top Premier clubs sort their squads before the end of the transfer window and the European squad announcements deadlines. When these top clubs have got who they want, then players might become available for loans. We’re not in the market where transfer fees are involved. None of the players recruited so far this summer have cost anything.

So we are starting the season with the same problem as last season, i.e. a lack of strikers. Jermaine Beckford keeps promising but it is time he delivered. He’ll never be the target man we need up front to keep the ball, which is so important as it gives our defence some relief from the constant pressure they are otherwise under. Craig Davies has been given the chance to claim a place up front in the pre-season friendlies but having seen all of them, he’s failed to impress. Young Conor Wilkinson has impressed me when he has come on and there should certainly be a regular place on the bench for him this season.

The defence seems better organised and there seems to be more of a togetherness about the squad now. There has been a lack of creativeness in midfield in most of the friendlies, so it is vitally important that we keep players like Mark Davies and Chung Yong Lee at Bolton and also keep them fit, as these are the players who are most likely to attract bids from other clubs. What has been a worry in the pre-season is how little Mark Davies has played. The injury list has already started with Marc Tierney’s return delayed for another few months, Stuart Holden without a return date, Adam Bogdan not even able to train and youngsters Andy Kellett and Samni Odelusi sidelined until Christmas.

For most fans, the jury is still out on Dougie Freedman. Both he and the team needs a good start, otherwise the pressure will be on quickly. A lot of fans are deeply disappointed not to get Lukas Jutkiewicz back and will vent their frustration and soon get on the backs of Jermaine Beckford and Craig Davies if they don’t deliver. In fairness, Dougie Freedman must be as frustrated as the rest of us but he has to soldier on with the resources he has got. He has appealed to the fans to be with him and the team, so that we can move forward together. This is vitally important and I just hope the fans will give their support as things are not going to go right overnight.

Should I be optimistic about our chances this season? At the moment I’m not. As things stand, I can only see a repeat of last season. I cannot see us challenging for even a play-off place, never mind automatic promotion. However if we can bring in the necessary strikers, then a good season is possible. A good season would be defined as a decent challenge for a play-off place. I have faith in Dougie Freedman bringing the right players in, I just hope it doesn’t take him until February like last season.

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