Nicky’s back with a few words on the season so far
10th March 2016 was a day to remember for our football club. It was the day our club was saved.
Sports Shield Investments completed the takeover of Bolton Wanderers and meant that the club we all love and always will support would have a future.
There were apparently multiple interested parties: there was talk of a bid from Roger Tamraz, bids from Thailand, bids from Korea. However, interest from Dean Holdsworth persisted throughout the process, and despite bumps along the way, the deal got over the line.
Holdsworth was named as the club`s CEO, and was very much the face of the bid throughout.
Meanwhile Ken Anderson, originally involved in the deal in a different capacity, was named as Chairman, also involved in the funding of the deal.
Times still felt uncertain for many Bolton fans who were unsure of what the future held for the club, but were still grateful that there`d be a club for them to support, nonetheless.
Following consecutive losses, the departure of manager Neil Lennon, relegation, staff redundancies and many highly rated youngsters exiting the club, fans` uncertainty grew.
Fans were scared, scared that the future of their club remained bleak.
However, soon after, confidence grew. highly respected Phil Parkinson was put in charge and new, encouraging signings were made by the team in charge of the Wanderers. The likes of Mark Beevers and Chris Taylor joined: seasoned pros at this level.
This, though, was marred by even more uncertainty as Dean Holdsworth stepped down as CEO, moving to the position of Director of Football before subsequently vacating that role while remaining a director. Such matters confused and worried many a Whites fan.
What did the talking, though, was what was happening on the pitch. We won all four of our opening league games. Things started looking good again, with Phil Parkinson`s signature efficient, no frills approach paying off big time.
We weren`t winning games spectacularly, but we were winning games: and lots of them.
Despite a blip in form, we`ve found ourselves back to winning ways and second in the table at the time of writing after a cool 3-1 win over Port Vale. Things are looking good again for Bolton fans.
Now I probably know as much about you about the financials of the deal which saw Deano and Ken take over the club: ie. I know pretty much nothing! However, the fact is that from what we can see, we look to be in a steady position.
We`ve been able to sign the likes of James Henry and Sammy Ameobi: these are players who have played at higher levels and I don`t think came cheap in terms of covering the wages.
The fact that we are able to sign them under the watchful eye of the Football League who have kept a keen eye on our finances, ensuring that we don`t spend too much, suggests that we`re in a decent place as far as all that is concerned.
We`re producing on the pitch, fans are loving it: the thousands that went to Bury were absolutely terrific, and the last couple of months have reminded me why I love this club so much. This is a team we can get behind: they`re giving everything for us and we, as fans, are giving them excellent support through ups and downs (because it hasn`t all been plain sailing this season).
I personally think we have the best manager in the league. We certainly have the best squad in the league on paper. While we mustn`t get carried away or complacent, things on the footballing front are looking pretty good.
We wouldn`t be in this position without a certain someone stepping forward to save our club, and is that someone I would like to pay tribute to. Dean Holdsworth was a popular player here, always working his socks off for Bolton: the club he loves.
He`s stepped up and put everything on the line to save the club again in its bleakest hours. I`ve heard all sorts of criticisms about him over the last six or so months, and what I`ll say is this. Dean Holdsworth saved our club, and we owe it to him that we are where we are.
We owe it to him that Bolton Wanderers (and subsequently Vital Bolton!) still exists. Thank you Deano.