Football Ventures

[frank_spencer]

The loyalty to Evatt after the end of last season was admirable, for it to drag on so long and apparently require evatt himself to call time on his tenure wasn't.

[tomski]

1 minute ago, thebells said:

They manage a small number of extremely high wealth pension / investment funds. 

Bolton are one of their diversified investments. It’s a low risk / big reward investment in Bolton. IF we get to the championship, they’re prepared to invest heavily to reach the top flight, as they can then make hundreds of millions. And they’ll continue to invest what they see as reasonable money at this level. If it doesn’t happen (I’d guess within 2-3 years but only speculating) then I’d expect they’ll sell their shares for whatever they’re worth. And we’ll have new owners. Or Sharon will find new backers. 

Clubs of our size can bob around at this level for a while, and there’s no given right for us to be promoted. We’re safe at the moment and they’ll back SS this summer. We’ll go up eventually. 

One more thing. Those criticising Sharon for backing Evatt for so long. I understand the thought process. But to offer an alternative view, that show of loyalty may be what has allowed us to attract a manager of SS’s calibre. Just playing devils advocate.

I’m confident SS will lead us out of this division, without headbutting any opposition players or being abusive to people he works with. Who knows, he might even keep his pants on when making face time calls. 

This crossed my mind. 
 

That said. This seasons likely failure sits at her door. No Sharon out business here but it was handled so badly. 

We really need to go up next season. We don’t have a Devine right as you say. We should be better than the shit this division served up to do a 6 year plus stay though.
 

[Dr. Feelgood]

19 minutes ago, tomski said:

This crossed my mind. 
 

That said. This seasons likely failure sits at her door. No Sharon out business here but it was handled so badly. 

We really need to go up next season. We don’t have a Devine right as you say. We should be better than the shit this division served up to do a 6 year plus stay though.

Agreed entirely. Like you, not a moment of 'Sharon Out !!' but she overdid the loyalty bit. This may be a strength in many ways but not to that extent.

[Tonge moor green jacket]

There would have been no guarantees that getting rid earlier would have worked though.

Once his squad was assembled, a January tinkering by a new man is going to be more difficult if selling clubs can see what the situation is, and try to squeeze evert last bit of coin out that they can.

Still reckon not qualifying for play offs is failure this season, given the start SS had, but it won't be the end of the world, and next season would be the time for judgement.

[Zico]

It was admirable how she backed him for so long to the point where there was absolutely no doubt whatsoever he had to go

But he really should've gone after Stockport for me

[ZiggyStardust]

41 minutes ago, thebells said:

They manage a small number of extremely high wealth pension / investment funds. 

Bolton are one of their diversified investments. It’s a low risk / big reward investment in Bolton. IF we get to the championship, they’re prepared to invest heavily to reach the top flight, as they can then make hundreds of millions. And they’ll continue to invest what they see as reasonable money at this level. If it doesn’t happen (I’d guess within 2-3 years but only speculating) then I’d expect they’ll sell their shares for whatever they’re worth. And we’ll have new owners. Or Sharon will find new backers. 

Clubs of our size can bob around at this level for a while, and there’s no given right for us to be promoted. We’re safe at the moment and they’ll back SS this summer. We’ll go up eventually. 

One more thing. Those criticising Sharon for backing Evatt for so long. I understand the thought process. But to offer an alternative view, that show of loyalty may be what has allowed us to attract a manager of SS’s calibre. Just playing devils advocate.

I’m confident SS will lead us out of this division, without headbutting any opposition players or being abusive to people he works with. Who knows, he might even keep his pants on when making face time calls. 

I think the loyalty that Stoke showed to the 14* managers thay had in 7 years since Hughes left, was a big reason for SS to go there too.

 

* Includes Caretakers, and SS himself, but you get the drift.

[Tonge moor green jacket]

Going to Stoke is always a bit of "a gamble"..

[thebells]

1 hour ago, frank_spencer said:

The loyalty to Evatt after the end of last season was admirable, for it to drag on so long and apparently require evatt himself to call time on his tenure wasn't.

Evatt absolutely didn’t call time on his own tenure, no matter what he says. 

[Farnywhite]

Overall wage bill is £16 million at the club players wage bill we’re supposedly 3rd behind Birmingham and Huddersfield above the likes of Wrexham .
At the end of the day we’re not getting value for money from the team poor recruitment paying stupid amounts on Randal, mcatee and victor we need a clear out in the summer 

[FrancisFogarty]

9 minutes ago, Farnywhite said:

Overall wage bill is £16 million at the club players wage bill we’re supposedly 3rd behind Birmingham and Huddersfield above the likes of Wrexham .
At the end of the day we’re not getting value for money from the team poor recruitment paying stupid amounts on Randal, mcatee and victor we need a clear out in the summer 

I agree on Randall and Vic, but we are getting a return on McAtee now. If we weren’t getting his goals we’d be really struggling.

Recruitment has been shite though recently. 

[Farnywhite]

30 minutes ago, FrancisFogarty said:

I agree on Randall and Vic, but we are getting a return on McAtee now. If we weren’t getting his goals we’d be really struggling.

Recruitment has been shite though recently. 

The manager is going to have a real problem shifting some them on .
under contract players not looking to take a pay cut and only  few out of contract in the  summer to release and very few capable of bringing a decent fee in 

[FrancisFogarty]

6 minutes ago, Farnywhite said:

The manager is going to have a real problem shifting some them on .
under contract players not looking to take a pay cut and only  few out of contract in the  summer to release and very few capable of bringing a decent fee in 

Yes, but is it a case of shifting them on (the best solution) or getting more out of what we've got ?

Hopefully SS has more to him than what we've seen ?

[Farnywhite]

42 minutes ago, FrancisFogarty said:

Yes, but is it a case of shifting them on (the best solution) or getting more out of what we've got ?

Hopefully SS has more to him than what we've seen ?

Hopefully he can that’s is job if we’re stuck with them .
But like evatt said they seem mentally weak and he signed the lot of them .
The  group as a whole as failed for 3 seasons to get us up and this season will be further away than ever . Time for a overhaul if budget allows and we can ship most out 

Edited March 31, 2025 by Farnywhite

[Traf]

13 hours ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

Going to Stoke is always a bit of "a gamble"..

Bet responsibly with Bet365?

[Whitesince63]

13 hours ago, FrancisFogarty said:

Yes, but is it a case of shifting them on (the best solution) or getting more out of what we've got ?

Hopefully SS has more to him than what we've seen ?

Exactly that. We certainly haven’t seen the best from some of the expensive signings like Randall and maybe we did pay a bit too much but I suspect with a few experienced recruits in the summer and a full pre season we’ll see much better from them next season under SS.

[Tombwfc]

14 hours ago, Farnywhite said:

Overall wage bill is £16 million at the club players wage bill we’re supposedly 3rd behind Birmingham and Huddersfield above the likes of Wrexham .
At the end of the day we’re not getting value for money from the team poor recruitment paying stupid amounts on Randal, mcatee and victor we need a clear out in the summer 

 

26 points off Birmingham. 17 off Wrexham. 14 off Wycombe.

Christ there's more than a few absolutely stealing a living at the club at the moment. Bluffers, as Roy Keane would say. Wouldn't be sad to see any of them go in the summer.

[gonzo]

I'm getting post Dougie Freedman vibes where we'd spent our last bit of decent cash on throwing shit at the wall and now we have to somehow root out the lads without bollocks and those who are just here for the money.

[Cheese]

15 minutes ago, gonzo said:

I'm getting post Dougie Freedman vibes where we'd spent our last bit of decent cash on throwing shit at the wall and now we have to somehow root out the lads without bollocks and those who are just here for the money.

If that's the case, a return to League 2 beckons.

[thebells]

1 hour ago, gonzo said:

I'm getting post Dougie Freedman vibes where we'd spent our last bit of decent cash on throwing shit at the wall and now we have to somehow root out the lads without bollocks and those who are just here for the money.

Our investors are 'invested'. SS will have money this summer so we aren't at that point, or close.

Naturally, there will be some player attrition, and some will go. There are some on decent salaries who may not want to go, and they may be the issue for SS. 

But we're ok for now. 

[Rival Son]

31 minutes ago, thebells said:

There are some on decent salaries who may not want to go, and they may be the issue for SS.

I think that will be our new Sporting Director’s job. Schumacher’s job is to try and make a silk purse out of the sow’s ears he’s been given!

Edited April 1, 2025 by Rival Son
Typo

[kent_white]

I still think Randall will end up being a good signing for us - but he needs the right players around him in midfield (which we don't have). 

[TrickyTrotter]

Need to keep the wage bill under some sort of control.

Presumably Santos, Jones and Coleman will be off the payroll this summer and possibly Baxter. Santos must be one of the higher earners as IE has built all his teams around him. 

Think one of our more valuable assets will have to be sold to fund an out and out striker unless there's a good option for a loan.

Vic, Dempsey, Johnston, Southwood, Tutu, Forrester and Mendes Gomes out of contract in 2026 and I'd be trying to move 2 or 3 of those on at least.

[kent_white]

3 minutes ago, TrickyTrotter said:

Need to keep the wage bill under some sort of control.

Presumably Santos, Jones and Coleman will be off the payroll this summer and possibly Baxter. Santos must be one of the higher earners as IE has built all his teams around him. 

Think one of our more valuable assets will have to be sold to fund an out and out striker unless there's a good option for a loan.

Vic, Dempsey, Johnston, Southwood, Tutu, Forrester and Mendes Gomes out of contract in 2026 and I'd be trying to move 2 or 3 of those on at least.

Vic, Dempsey and Mendes Gomez out of that list for me. 

[boltonboris]

19 minutes ago, kent_white said:

I still think Randall will end up being a good signing for us - but he needs the right players around him in midfield (which we don't have). 

If we go out and sign the right players, he won't get a sniff. We are missing a proper defensive midfielder. But that would get more out of Sheehan and Morley than Randall, who won't suddenly grow enough bollocks to take a tackle - He's been a terrible signing and I think most people saw that coming. 

Unbelievable that it was sanctioned really. 

[Rival Son]

16 minutes ago, kent_white said:

Vic, Dempsey and Mendes Gomez out of that list for me. 

Pardon. If he recovers full fitness, Dempsey is everything Thomason wants to be. Energy and commitment allied to some talent.

He’s our only box-to-box midfielder and , even if we brought another in, we’d need two of them.