Bolton will be thrown out of League 1 if they cannot satisfy the EFL of their sustainability by September 12
Wednesday 28 August 2019 15:55, UK
Phil Parkinson told his story about three years of unpaid wages, transfer woes and broken promises while manager of Bolton Wanderers with the club now less than two weeks away from being thrown out of the Football League.
Speaking on the day the EFL lifted the suspension on a 'notice of withdrawal' against the club, Parkinson painted a bleak picture of life at the Macron Stadium, from the day the 51-year-old took over amid a transfer embargo, to being forced to put out a youth side due to a pay dispute with senior players, days before he resigned as manager last week.
Here's what he told The Debate...
I just felt that me and Steve Parkin had taken the club as far as we could. We had gone through a lot last year and into pre-season this year. We felt the takeover was about to happen.
We felt it was the right time for us and our careers going forward but also for the new people about to buy the club - a fresh start. It was very amicable and I've got fingers crossed it can be resolved.
With Bolton, the administrators have had a chance to speak to potential buyers, they have had to show business plans to the EFL too to show they are creditable to take the club forward. At this stage, if this deal gets over the line, it's for the long-term but there are times when clubs get backed into a corner, and instead of letting it go out of business they have to let someone go in, and pick up the pieces going forward.
The EFL have been in a very difficult decision, but the week leading up to the season, we had played two behind-closed-doors friendlies, we had trialists ready to sign, we had looked at loan players we could bring in - the takeover was a couple of signatures way from being done going into the opening game.
The prospective owner Sharon Brittan came to the hotel on the Saturday, had a chat to the players, we got a team out and we all thought great, come Monday the takeover will happen.
But after that people started manoeuvring positions, I think they thought, 'we can sit back and negotiate a bit harder now they've played the first game'. That's why we were able to start the season, because everyone felt the deal was ready to be done even though we didn't really have sufficient players to go through the first period of games.
We got that great result against Coventry, a lot of publicity about the young players we have got and there are some good young players, but the people involved may have thought then that it was an opportunity to stretch things out again, when it was really a time to go bang, let's get the deal done and bring in some senior players to help these youngsters.
Straight away, we were in an embargo when I took the job three years ago. It took a long time to come out of that, straight away there's concerns over that but we managed to deal with it at League 1 level.
When you go in to the Championship it's very difficult, competing against a lot of clubs with spending power, but until that point the wages had always been paid.
The year we stayed in the Championship was his year to sell the club. He's a successful man and that was the moment. There was a deal on the table, but it did not happen.
It was a real blow for the club because he did not have the money to take it forward. In that period we had sold Rob Holding, Gary Madine, Zack Clough, to help him fund the club as it went along.
Without doubt the most difficult was the players and staff not getting paid. It's the first time I have experienced that as a player or a manager and in any walk of life, if you are not getting paid, it's going to affect your ability and motivation to do your job. It went on for five months.
People say, 'Players can afford not to be paid - they earn good money - but we had players on £400, £500 a week at U23 level and that's difficult when people have got mortgages or rent to pay. The staff were putting petrol in their car, continuing to go to work and take training and it became almost impossible in the end. It's dragged on and on.
Previously we had had problems with bonuses, but not with salaries. When that did not come in, I think it was prior to Christmas, initially we got a loan from the PFA and in subsequent months there were problems, and that's when you thought there were serious problems.
The staff come in each day and have to motivate the players to train while they're pretty low themselves, and that causes problems. But the people working at the ground, the ground staff, the people at the training ground, it affects everyone.
Everyone's worrying about the situation, and everyone is trying to help each other. Other clubs in the north west have tried to help out, but ultimately you have to pay your bills.
