Bolton Wanderers FC is in a bit of a dilemma.
The English Championship side is apparently heavy in debt, and players have not been paid their wages for the month of November. Trevor Birch, adviser to the Bolton board and owner, says that the club is actively looking for investments because the situation has become dire.
“We’re continuing to negotiate with interested parties but unfortunately no one party has demonstrated all the requisite elements needed to conclude a deal yet,” Birch told the club’s website. “The club’s position is increasingly perilous and new investment is needed quickly.
“We’d like to thank the fans for their continued support and all of the behind-the-scenes staff for their continued hard work in difficult circumstances.”
The club was put up for sale by longtime British owner Eddie Davies, and while it is expected that the players will be paid for their work, Bolton head coach Neil Lennon does not think that’s a given.
“I’m pretty confident that they will get their wages paid but I can’t guarantee that,” Lennon said. “That’s what we said to the players — they just need to concentrate on the game. We are in an adverse situation and they are the strength of the club — as are the fans.”
Former U.S. Men’s National Team midfielder Stuart Holden enjoyed a good run with Bolton from 2010 to 2014, and was a fan-favorite at Macron Stadium. He joked about a return to the club mid-November, but serious injuries have kept him away from the game for the past few years.
According to Sky Sports, ex-Bolton striker Dean Holdsworth has expressed interest in acquiring Bolton.
On the field this season, Bolton has only won once all season, leaving it in the relegation zone on the Championship table.
What do you think of Bolton’s issues? Think an investor will be found soon?
Share your thoughts below.
We need pro/rel in the USA
Just a few months ago, I read an article in the UK press that said that all but two Championship teams were in the red. A few were expecting new investment or new owners, a few were planning to reorganize their debt and a few expected to sell off players to EPL or foreign teams for cash, and more than a few were going to get rid of high priced English players and bring in lower priced players from other parts of Europe or abroad.
Why is Bolton and many other Championship teams floundering? Several reasons, but I’ll list some important ones.
Loss of TV revenue. The new TV rights contract from two years ago, was almost 20-25 percent LESS than the previous one, meanwhile the EPL TV rights contracts went UP over 30 percent. The new presenting sponsor of the Championship, Sky Bet, also paid less for the rights over the preceding rights sponsor, Coca Cola.
Higher salaries. The overall salaries of the Championship have gone up. While the relegated teams from the EPL get a golden parachute from the EPL, it still adds to the average. On-loan players from the EPL, also add to the cost. Unless the parent club agrees to take on some salary costs, Championship teams are stuck with EPL salaries if they take a player on loan.
English players. Well, because they are English players. English players are paid higher than foreign players in relationship to their abilities. Part of the reason is that a team is bound to get good press and lots of it, when a UK player does good.
There is a consensus in the FA that unless the EPL steps in and uses some of the incredible riches they bring in, to help the Championship, and even the League one and Two teams, the FA may have a crisis looming.
The cost to invest or even buy some of the distressed or poor Championship teams, is mostly cheaper than buying an MLS franchise or some of the more established MLS clubs.
Strictly as an investment, if you purchase a Championshio club, and did not make it to the EPL inside of a three year period, your investment would go south.
It’s a very complicated situation….the lure of the EPL and the riches that go with promotion to the same have clubs going over their budget because the anticipated jackpot is outweighing the common sense of the risk. If the EPL does use some of their money to help the lower divisions will the clubs learn their lesson or will they continue to engage in the risky behavior knowing that the cash cow may “bail them out again”.
The only problem is that why would the teams in the EPL want to help other people come possibly to take their spots. If the EPL was a closed system then yeah they help but as long as there is relegation then I don’t see their motivation.
I’d buy “some teams losing discipline” if it was just the eager beavers who pursue promotion and fail, then struggle financially. But you just said everyone is in the red. I can’t believe all the teams top to bottom spend into the red pursuing the EPL, they can’t all possibly have that belief realistically. This is more like, as you generally said, the tv deal is down, the sponsorships are down, and meanwhile one presumes player salaries (proprietary and loan) have risen with or even above inflation.
One way of dealing with this has been to be a selling team that sells the best players on the transfer market, when they don’t get promoted. But English players are expensive, post-Bosman a European is as good as an Englishman, and in general the player pool is more cosmopolitan. So I assume it’s harder for a team with some phenom to drive a hard bargain and fill the hole in the balance sheet.
But the point stands — and should be relevant to discussion with the pro/rel set — of how to maintain healthy lower divisions when the money is magnetized in the direction of the top division and particularly its best teams. The purpose of the pyramid is not to “sort” teams that don’t want to compete or spend, or “punish” the foolish — the invisible hand rhetoric of the pro/rel set — but simply to provide varying levels of soccer with rules for how you get from one league to the next. The notion assumes you can do so in a healthy manner.
This is about as interesting to me as a Mexican second division team getting relegated to the third division. Really, who cares?
What I don’t get is when people snidely remark “who cares” or an article on a [sports] news site when there are many other articles to read. You CLEARLY care otherwise why would you read the article.
So you only read about things you’re interested in? CLEARLY That’s a good way to stay ignorant.
Rob….clearly you fail at basic logic. If you read something that you have an option not to read WITHOUT being forced, you clearly have SOME interest in it (no matter how small). Therefore, clearly YOU care (ti whatever degree). On top of that you made snide remarks about having to read it.
I find this article far more interesting than the typical Rob comment.
Feel bad for the club, as they’ve always given Americans chances. But I can’t help but think they never recovered from selling Gary Cahill to Chelsea. They barely got relegated and then have swan-dived in the Championship. Thank goodness Ream jumped ship to Fulham!