Bolton Wanderers: Why fans chose to protest prior to West Bromwich Albion fixture
- Published
Bolton Wanderers fans continued their protest inside the ground during the game against West Brom by throwing tennis balls on to the pitch
Thousands of angry Bolton fans spent 45 minutes voicing their displeasure at chairman Ken Anderson before Monday's Championship game against West Brom.
During it they tried to drape an 'Anderson out' banner over an executive box as tensions mounted.
It is the latest twist in a saga in the history of what legendary forward John McGinlay says has turned into "an unhappy club".
So, how did Wanderers, a founder member of the Football League, four-time FA Cup winners, and a club who were playing Bayern Munich and beating Atletico Madrid fewer than 12 years ago, get to this point?
What is the situation at Bolton Wanderers?
Despite a fine start to the season, Bolton Wanderers are currently second from bottom in the Championship and three points adrift of safety
"Simply, they haven't got enough money coming in to the club to satisfy the expenditure," says BBC Radio Manchester's Bolton commentator Jack Dearden.
"They've been under transfer embargoes, they have been given winding-up petitions from people they owe money to and it's not helped that the club's biggest-ever benefactor Eddie Davies sadly passed away."
Dearden has seen the ups and the downs over his decades covering the club, with more of the latter in the past few years.
In the not too distant past they finished in the top eight of the Premier League in four successive seasons, finishing above Manchester City every time, reached a domestic cup final and the last 16 of the Uefa Cup.
However, since their relegation from the top tier in 2012, the club have experienced a decline in fortune.
In 2015, former owner Davies, who bankrolled Bolton's Premier League heyday, said he would no longer provide funding, although he did write off nearly £200m of debt owed to him by the club.
Nevertheless, an unpaid £2.2m tax bill saw the club go within minutes of being wound up when former striker Dean Holdsworth agreed a £7.5m takeover after taking out a high-interest loan from a company called BluMarble Capital, and secured financial backing from businessman Anderson.
But at the end of the 2016-17 season, the club was issued with a winding-up petition after the £5m loan Holdsworth took out to buy the club went unpaid. Holdsworth resigned as a director.
Then, in September 2018, the club avoided administration again after receiving a £5m loan from Davies just days before his death to pay off outstanding debt to BluMarble Capital.
It is understood that loan is due to be paid within the next couple of months, although there is a dispute over the repayment terms.
The precise size of Bolton's debt is unknown but is thought to exceed £10m.
How bad is Bolton's situation?
Forest Green Rovers produced T-shirts referring to Ken Anderson following the collapse of Christian Doidge's transfer to Bolton Wanderers
Bolton have struggled on the pitch since boss Phil Parkinson led them to promotion from League One in 2017, only avoiding relegation on the final day of last season thanks to a dramatic 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest.
They started this term brightly, winning three of their first four Championship games. But they have won only twice in the league since and sit second from bottom in the table, three points from safety.
In addition to struggles on the field, things have continued to go badly off it, with the players going on strike in pre-season over unpaid wages and bonuses.
The Professional Footballers' Association said they paid November and December's wages, something Anderson denied, claiming they had only paid a portion of the amount.
With the club having been placed under a transfer embargo as a result, the loans from the PFA were repaid, albeit with money paid directly from the EFL.
"In my honest opinion, Bolton have been mismanaged for 10-12 years," Dearden told BBC Sport.
"I know Ken Anderson isn't everyone's favourite person - and he has managed to improve the structures at the club - but this latest situation is just a mess.
"Looking at the situation objectively, he can either sell the club, as they are desperate for new investment, or they're facing either administration or liquidation. I don't see any other option."
The BBC has learned that some players were forced to stand up on a train to an away game at Millwall earlier in the season, the team chef had to buy food on his way to the training ground after the caterer would not deliver and staff have been forced to take cold showers at the training ground because of a lack of hot water.
Rival clubs have also been surprised by the time it has taken them to receive ticket money they are owed by Bolton.
Who is Ken Anderson and why is he under fire?
Bolton chairman Ken Anderson admitted that the club "needs someone with greater financial resources that I have" earlier this month
In early 2016 when Holdsworth was mounting his takeover, his business partner pulled out and Anderson stepped in to cover the remaining money needed to finalise the deal.
Anderson, who prior to joining Bolton had been banned in 2005 from acting as the director of a company for eight years, now owns a 95% stake in the club after acquiring all of Holdsworth's shares in 2017.
Since his arrival, Bolton have been issued with several winding-up petitions by unpaid creditors but it is Anderson's recent activities that have drawn the ire of the fans, leading to Monday's protest.
The situation came to a head following a war of words with Forest Green chairman Dale Vince concerning the collapsed transfer of striker Christian Doidge.
Bolton initially signed Doidge on loan in the summer with an agreement to buy him on a permanent basis this month. However, the deal fell through, with Vince describing Anderson's behaviour as "shocking".
Doidge's Bolton treatment 'shocking' - Vince
Anderson responded by saying Vince's comments were "very disrespectful" and "misleading".
In turn, Vince started selling 'No Ken Do' T-shirts and invited Bolton fans to Rovers' home game with Bury on Saturday.
"It's quite unprecedented for a club chairman to to criticise another in such a public way so obviously feelings have been very high indeed," Maggie Tetlow of the Bolton Wanderers Supporters' Trust told BBC Sport.
"The spat went very public, lots of accusations were made by Dale Vince and Ken Anderson responded to that in very strong terms. It's brave in a way because Forest Green Rovers are a small club standing up to a Championship club."
Christian Doidge scored one goal in 17 games at Bolton
On top of that, Anderson banned Bolton News reporter Marc Iles from the club last month, accusing the long-standing correspondent of "negative" and "factually incorrect" coverage., external
And McGinlay, who scored 118 goals in 245 appearances for Bolton in the 1990s, was also refused access to the press box to work on Monday's game for BBC Radio Manchester because of criticism of the club's ownership during a recent fans' forum on the station.
The opposing view
There is a view that Bolton are being singled out because of the negative publicity that surrounds them, when other clubs in a similar plight have not been subject to such scrutiny because they have managed to keep their predicament in-house.
The overriding belief is that Anderson came into the club believing he could turn it around quickly and sell it for a profit. Those hopes have not materialised.
"He started issuing his 'notes from the chairman' early on but he's turned down all requests for interviews as long as I can remember now and neither can I remember when he last came to a game," said Dearden.
"Previously, before all the seriousness of the situation became apparent, he was attending games home and away on a regular basis."
What do fans think?
Some Bolton fans attended Forest Green Rovers' home game on Saturday after being invited by chairman Dale Vince
"The minute the wider world knows about what is happening, it becomes quite embarrassing. That's really the situation we are in now," said Tetlow.
The Supporters' Trust did not organise Monday's demonstrations, but Tetlow says recent events inspired some fans to try to make their voices heard.
"The fans have had a lot of patience considering what has been going on," she said.
"But once the club's name was being dragged through the mud, people started to say enough is enough. That is what prompted the protest."
What happens next?
Anderson has made no secret he is trying to sell the club. Now it comes down to whether he is willing to put any more money in.
There is no doubt he is a tough negotiator, the master of brinkmanship. But, financially, can he do the deal he needs?
The BBC has learned that there are four parties interested in a takeover but the feeling is they are waiting until Anderson is at his most vulnerable.
Meanwhile, the fans will carry on their fight, as they did on Monday after the West Brom game had started by throwing tennis balls on to the pitch in protest.
Eight questions were put to Bolton for Anderson to answer before publication of this article. In addition, an interview request was made. The club declined to comment.