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Ok, who wants to tell him....? Alright - go on then. Right - More Labour lead council's applied for funding than Conservative councils because Labour councils are normally in the more deprived areas. Of the 78 local authorities in the top 25% of most deprived areas in England, 13 have received no funding from either the Future High Streets Fund, Community Renewal Fund, Levelling Up Fund round 1, or the Town Deals. This includes five areas which rank in the top 10% for deprivation. The majority repsented by Labour. Among the areas ranked in the 25% least deprived , eight local authorities placed successful bids for funding and were awarded more than £113 million. These are all Conservative areas. IPPR North (a research think tank for Northern England) thinks the process is unfair because of the competative bidding nature - here are their own words; Competitive funding pots only put further pressure on local government to spend time and resources on applications when they are already overstretched. These funding streams are also highly centralised and this top-down approach to addressing regional inequality helps neither Hackney nor Hartlepool. The UK now faces the deepest regional divides of any comparable country, and the failure to close these disparities is holding back the economic success of the country as a whole. To truly empower localities, the government must let go, through sustained regional investment and substantial devolution. Its got nothing to do with the last election, and you can have a Conservative MP and a Labour controlled council tha knows....

I can’t look as I fear there won’t be.

Quite wonderful this

We never had a management / ownership structure like we have now though. As much as Eddie Davies is a saint in my eyes, his ability to just write a cheque to offset the clubs losses, coupled with let’s say a less ‘stringent’ approach to player contracts from Gartside / Allardyce et al. meant that we were never really in a position to drive negotiations. Now though, the club needs to make profit on players to become financially independent and progressive and I really get the sense that between Sharon, Evatt and Markham they are absolutely all over the contract situation and what that means to potential value for each and every one of the players. I imagine they will have pinpointed when they want to extend contracts for all of the players they want to keep and/or believe have value and if they can’t (ie player is unlikely to sign) then when the right time to cash in is before the value decreases too far - e.g. Dapo. I might be giving them too much credit, and obviously there are factors out of our control that might mean we don’t quite get what we want for a certain player, but from everything that I have seen so far under this ownership and management structure I think it’s a fair assumption that they have all the details planned out.

Never noticed. Must be only when you are in You trampy shoed bastard.

In my opinion and it's just an opinion, we're a smaller club than Sheff Weds(not much) same size as Derby County, bigger than Ipswich and Pompey. What we might lack in attendances to others, we make up in years in the top flight, all time league table positioning, major trophies, recent relevancy in the Premier League and also factoring in our geography, being on the doorstep of the some of the world's largest football clubs. I also think little touches like being one of the founding members, scoring the first English league goal and winning the first major final at the Old Wembley in the biggest football crowd of all time are little bonuses that the others don't have. We're almighty powerhouse of a club, spanning nearly 150 years and deeply embedded into English football history. We can all be very proud to support this great club.

Befuddled and confused. For a start I missed the glaring opportunities for slick sales slogans. Fags in jags, bummers in Hummers. Even Lezzers in Tesla's almost works. Not brain washed, just resting

They have a lovely outfit and the hot chicken Dapo will love. Good pension as well and above minimum wage- Dapo will love it there

It looks like it's this Ian Riley then: https://www.vitruvianpartners.com/archives/team_member/ian-riley

That he doesn’t have any/many voting rights like the A shareholders but would potentially receive dividends if we make a profit and pay any. Bigger incentive to get us up the leagues.

If this signing is a view of either him or Mc Neil coming for another season next year i am for it Think Liam Delap is also on that list at 23 he has about 3 goals in 25 in the Championship this season. The top 3 clubs in the N/W trust us with there BEST youngsters got to be a positive.

He looks like a proper no. 10, which, despite some thinking, we don’t have. Lee is an 8, Sadlier is nearly gone. Dapo gone, Kachunga not up to it. We’ve nothing to lose, lad seems quick thinking, can pass and shoot. Stronger no. 9 to come in and we’ll be fine.

Define a big name player that you think we could sign in league 1? Attract known players… he’s been voted into the Nxtgen top 50 worlds best players under 19, he’s won the fa youth cup, he won the youth team player of the year award at United the year before Garnacho (I think) and there’s some mega names that have won that, he’s played in the prem at 17 and is Uniteds youngest ever player to play in Europe. He’s pretty well known for an 18 year old in world football. I know all that doesn’t mean he necessarily will be a success but not sure what level of player you think we should be attracting?? As youth player loans go this is a coup.

Add Toal to that list

Class act Was reading about his education earlier

The ones i dont get are the ones who cant see its possible to hate the red bastards, but still support a player who pulls on our shirt I reckon theyre pinkos

I think we'll offer Bodvarsson another year. As for the new lad..once you pull on a Bolton shirt you get my full support. Don't care who owns him if he does the business while he's here.

I hope he does well for us. I couldn't really give a shit who we bring players in from as long as they improve us. Not everyone will feel this way though.

Don Done

Ah the old pay as you play chestnut.

Yeah, in my distant and drunken memory (it was about 2005 or 2006!) they had some sort of live link up to Blackpool at one point and played the same tunes, like a DJ beamback 😃 Wall to wall trance all night, was mint in there.

Indeed. We also have folk who have put some money in which has already helped us get players in, and perhaps they are due something back. All sorts of costs need covering. We don't know the financial situation, but I'm happy to trust FV to manage that well. Kinell, they even managed to get the government to take a stake when other clubs failed with their applications- they'll more than do for me, particularly after the previous crook.

Certainly not going to make it easy for you Mark , why worry about travelling fans ? Fixture secretary fascists to a man (or women)

another video I got off @gonzo, it was called "FootLong Armstrong into Uranus"

Why? The money's got to come from somewhere to fund these things, and surely it's a better model to fund it from player sales than have an owner pumping their own money until they're losing too much and withdraw completely. Would you rather see Dapo sat on the bench next season, or a brand new pitch?

What utter and total bollocks. That goes against all creativity ever. So you can never do a new version of an old song? Always have boys playing women in Shakespeare? Never re-shoot an old film? Nothing is created to be set in aspic. Everything is set to be reinterprited for whatever time you are living in, that's what keeps great art and culture alive and relevant. Give two directors the same script and you'll have two different versions. Basically you don't like things changing to give other voices. You are looking to seek cultural ownership over something that isn't 'yours' And as for speaking on benhalf of dead creators of these works - you can get to fuck, that's beyond ignorant.

I kind of liked it when we had a player who both scares and winds up opposition fans like Dapo did. Good luck to the lad but I’ll miss him.

Agree with that You're not going to get decent money for a player who's not consistently been in form for over a year Good luck to him, he'll probably end up playing top flight in Germany and if there's a sell on clause even better all round

If the fee really is £500k then that's because nobody thought he was worth more than that. If, at any time during his tenure here, anybody had thought him good enough to offer, say, £1m for him then he'd have been sold. The value of something, or someone, is only what someone else will pay for it. Ultimately, had we turned down St Pauli's offer then we'd be stuck with an unhappy player who's value would've only decreased. I can't see why anyone would think the club have got anything wrong here.

Exactly! It was 'non-divisive' because it could be ignored. Had all players made a pre-kick off gesture before every game for Kick It Out then the gammons would've been in uproar about that too due to it being rammed down their throats, etc, etc.

Well remember that game -as someone else said for a youngster it was a frightening experience being in the Lever end at the start of that match When they scored there were loads of their fans in the Manchester Road Stand corner block where it merged into the Wing Stand and it kicked off there - think that was our first home defeat in best part of a year This picture popped up on twitter a while ago and my first thoughts were of that Luton game

It was incredible.

Have Time Team finished with him then?

The thing about Kick it Out was you didn't have to engage with it. Now these mard arses have to see people kneeling down for 5 seconds and they can't process it.

correct. folk would go mad if we paid £500k for someone who isn't first choice

Think my lad has a load he shoved in the back of his wardrobe, will let you know.

There's no coming back from that I'm afraid.

Possibly a bit early to be sure but from what we’ve seen I tend to agree Mounts. I’d also stick Morley in there based on his age as a player that could go for a 7 figure fee in future years. If Santos gets back to his best then a champ club would maybe spend a half decent amount on him as well.

Even if the £500k fee is right, it’s 6x Aaron Morley’s - that’s moneyball. Very few players in L1 demand fees in the millions but as long as we’re making profits and reinvesting in the right players then we might just land upon the one or two that bring in the big money.

Exactly, I mean Morley was 75k plus bonuses… he’s an unbelievable footballer for that money.

Couple of factors in that really. Only 18 months left and not playing his favoured position or enjoying his football. We weren’t in any position of power on this one we can’t expect to pick up Charles, Dempsey and Morley for a pittance than complain when it works against us

500k plus a sell on %. We’d have got more last summer for him for sure but 18 months left on deal and he hasn’t been as effective since we switched systems it’s not the worst deal. I saw a great tweet the other day that said changing systems has devalued Dapo over the past 6-12 months but in turn increased the values of several other players like Johnston, Gethin, Rico (and even the likes of Aimson now) etc who have been better with the 3 atb. so it’s more than balanced out.

Struth. You’d do well to find a coal shovel these days let alone be hit by one. Bet that hurt!!!

They were on Manny Road after the game (some at least). All kicked off near Orlando Bridge. The lad who seemed to be leading them didn't have all the Clockwork Orange garb on - he was a sharp fucker in a crombie with Staprest, Royals etc. He dived through the back doors of a black cab and out the other side to get away from the baying mob after he'd thrown a few punches and legged it around those cobbled back streets behind the shops and houses opposite Orlando Bridge. The bastard hit me with a coal shovel and broke a tooth when I pushed a back gate open trying to find him. Them were the days (was looking for a smiley with a tooth missing).

Do you know how much the Kick It Out campaign is funded? Taking the knee has given that underfunded charity triple their usual annual money. Sorry, I know its tough when facts hit your reality, but thems the facts Percy Grower, so maybe look outside of your growbag of Bolton.

Yeah I was in the Lever end that day and it was like the Bermuda Triangle as they just disappeared after getting chased out of the Lever end . Also remember Luton away having to leave are shoes outside the stand didn’t make any difference after the games as Luton disappeared again. I remember a small group of Bolton jump on a bus with Luton lot on it they couldn’t escape !

Aye, Luton fans turned up on the Lever End wearing war paint & for Bolton's next game, i think, away at York , a lot of Bolton fans wore war paint. It didn't catch on. & when Luton fans appeared at the top of the steps in the corner of the Lever End in war paint & i think a couple of darts were thrown there was quite an initial surprise but Bolton quickly bailed into them & they were cleared out well before half time. I don't know where they went, it would be tricky blending in anywhere wearing war paint & nobody could find them later.....maybe they went straight back to the station. & the other thing i remember from Luton was that it was one where we had to stand on the open end in our socks because the police made us take our boots off !!

Don't you walk through a shoping cnetre at Derby to get to the ground? Anyway, when I've had the misfotune of having a meeting Derby, I've been to this pub, the Brunswick, near the station. Has its own Brewery https://www.brunswickbrewingcompany.co.uk/ There was a nice gig pub near the station as well but can't remember it's name.

Hello everyone nice to meet you all, Been a reader from a far for a while but now looking forward to getting involved in the bans etc. All the best