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Just twelve years ago: In March 2008, Bolton Wanderers reached the last 16 of the UEFA Cup and were barely eliminated by Sporting Lisbon (1-1, 0: 1 without forward Nicolas Anelka, who was had recently moved to Chelsea)).
Today, the reality for the traditional English club is very different: on Saturday the start of the 4th division against Forest Green Rovers is pending, and the bankruptcy process is ongoing. It is the next chapter of a dramatic catastrophe!
“Trotters” are not a term for most younger soccer fans. The club’s fans, however, are happy that their club still exists.
But the future is still uncertain. This is a sum of around 3.5 million pounds, which the association must repay to its five creditors in bankruptcy until August 2021. Otherwise, there is a risk that 15 meters will be deducted and the license.
Founded in 1874 as Christ Church FC, fans watch the team in the English top division for 73 seasons. There are four cup victories and one super cup title. Between 2003 and 2007, the team finished the season in the Premier League always between sixth and eighth place. The best clubs Chelsea FC, Manchester United, Arsenal FC and Liverpool FC were at your fingertips.
Golden years under Allardyce and Davies
However, the departure of successful coach Sam Allardyce in 2007 ushered in the big downward trend. Another goodbye is closely related to the gigantic disaster: Eddie Davies.
When the money ran out after the successful years, the former club owner gave in to his family’s insistence not to inject more and more millions into the Wanderers. Sold the traditional club in March 2016; what followed was a disaster.
The Wanderers wrote the darkest chapter during Ken Anderson’s tenure: between 2017 and 2019, the American was the owner, under his command the Wanderers headed straight for disaster. In the 2018/19 season, Davies had to temporarily save the club with a loan a few days before his death.
However, the club was threatened with bankruptcy time and again. It was only in the last second that Football Ventures managed to salvage and circumvent the license withdrawal with the acquisition on August 28, 2019. Since then, many contaminated sites have been reduced.
Excerpt from the Burnden Park Big Mistake
How close Bolton had been to the abyss is explained in a report that officials published in December 2019. In more than 30 pages, he tells how bad things had gotten and how difficult it would be to rebuild Football Ventures.
The new owners are currently pushing through the major restructuring. 35 employees will be laid off. The youth academy is being dismantled and the 120-bed hotel on the stadium grounds, which has been in the red for years, is being realigned.
The club moved from Burnden Park in 1997 to earn even more money with the help of the new stadium complex.
Now at least the first successes can be reported. “Significant progress has been made and several major claims have been amicably resolved. Under the terms of the sale, any remaining claims will be resolved by August 2021,” said a Football Ventures spokesperson.
So the financial crisis seems to be slowly coming to an end. The sports crisis, however, will continue to accompany Bolton after it had already started before economic concerns.
In 2012 it went to the second division, in 2017 it dropped one league. The direct return to the second division was only a small rebellion. In 2019 and 2020 there were two declines in a row, which now means the fourth division.
Stars like Anelka, Hamann and Hierro have long been forgotten
While in significantly better times, stars like Jay-Jay Okocha, Fernando Hierro, Dietmar Hamann or the then-young Marcos Alonso wore the jersey alongside Anelka, today Ali Crawford is the most valuable player with a value of 500,000 euros. The entire squad has an estimated value of 3.1 million euros in the transfer market.
After all: there is a real team again. That was not the case in the 2019/2020 disaster season. In August 2019, the club only had seven professionals available. Sometimes they went on strike.
So Bolton practically only played with youth and U23 players. The first negative point was the cancellation of the game against Doncaster Rovers on August 20, “for the sake of young players”, as the club explained in that moment. The second low blow was 1: 7 against Accrington Stanley in November 2019.
When the season was canceled in March, Bolton was only 14 points from the savings bank! One player agreed The Athletic: “The second part of the season felt like death by a thousand points.”
But now the turning point could have arrived. New manager Ian Evatt, 38, who came in for £ 250,000 from new league rivals AFC Barrow, brings a long-unknown spirit of optimism to the club.
Bolton is the championship favorite
21 new players have arrived. This is why Bolton is the big championship favorite among bookmakers.
The fans also seem confident again. “We are happy that the dialogue between us and the club has started. That is all we have asked for since 2016, otherwise the fans cannot help to secure the future of their club,” said a fan spokesperson at Athletic.
“There are still many problems to be solved, but the hope is that our tenure in this league will only last one season, as we all go in the same direction.”
The reboot feeling has hit the bottom line. Evidence: The Bolton Wanderers sold 6,000 season tickets despite Corona.
These are numbers for a second division team. And at this level at least, it should also be sporty as fast as possible.
