The Nostradamus file....

[dave the minion]

Aye, had a week off, got a week off afterwards. Play the strongest team without taking any risks. If Derby are 3-0 up at half time you can always take people off then.

This. A million percent.

It's effing sport. Play your strongest team all the time and try to win every game you play, or just don't be involved at all.....

[irie Cee Bee]

Aye, had a week off, got a week off afterwards. Play the strongest team without taking any risks. If Derby are 3-0 up at half time you can always take people off then.

This. A million percent.

It's effing sport. Play your strongest team all the time and try to win every game you play, or just don't be involved at all.....

I hope Evatt ignores this and thinks strategic for a change, to get promoted and not get caught up in fantasy league football. Derby will not lose at home to the bottom club in the league, already relegated, on the last day of the season. Period. So I urge Evatt to be smart.

[dave the minion]

But we don't know that. Carlisle beat us, at home. Their players are essentially playing for contracts and a place next season. Stranger things have happened....**





**Although I do admit, it is VERY unlikely!!!!

[BWFC_Insane]

It’s a completely different scenario but we’ve seen clearly and Evatt has admitted how ‘playing our strongest team’ in the cups hasn’t helped us.

When you are Bolton in league one the only thing that matters and it is the only thing is getting out of the league via promotion.

I think we’ve somewhat got to grip that reality now (we should have done in January too) and ensure we take no unnecessary risks.

Not being promoted is disastrous.

[officer_dibble]

Saturday is the 100/1 shot at promotion - better odds for the play offs. But it’s not like Peterborough will be at full pelt - look at Tuesday.

Say for example Santos is still carrying this calf injury, but could play. I wouldn’t risk him.

If Gethin Jones gets a knock on twenty minutes, Derby is still 0-0, I’d sub him probably. We should still win.

I’m fairly sure this is how Evatt will play it. Will be surprised to see Ramsay, Ashworth, Nlundulu start. But you might get Taylor, Iredale and Morley maybe.

[Worthy4England]

It’s a completely different scenario but we’ve seen clearly and Evatt has admitted how ‘playing our strongest team’ in the cups hasn’t helped us.

When you are Bolton in league one the only thing that matters and it is the only thing is getting out of the league via promotion.

I think we’ve somewhat got to grip that reality now (we should have done in January too) and ensure we take no unnecessary risks.

Not being promoted is disastrous.

It's not a cup, it's a league game that counts to promotion which is the primary objective. The best chance we can give ourselves is to win the game. That doesn't mean playing people who can't stand up but don't hide from it either.

I do wonder about whether Posh see the game as a free hit against some players they might meet three games later, so hoping the Ref is strong.

[BWFC_Insane]

It’s a completely different scenario but we’ve seen clearly and Evatt has admitted how ‘playing our strongest team’ in the cups hasn’t helped us.

When you are Bolton in league one the only thing that matters and it is the only thing is getting out of the league via promotion.

I think we’ve somewhat got to grip that reality now (we should have done in January too) and ensure we take no unnecessary risks.

Not being promoted is disastrous.

It's not a cup, it's a league game that counts to promotion which is the primary objective. The best chance we can give ourselves is to win the game. That doesn't mean playing people who can't stand up but don't hide from it either.

I do wonder about whether Posh see the game as a free hit against some players they might meet three games later, so hoping the Ref is strong.

Yeah it’s the risk. I mean if we and derby were level on points although they’d be big favourites for promotion we’d obviously have to go full pelt for it.

But it’s such a long shot. Say we win 6-0 but Collins gets u injured and you know that outcome without knowing what derby do or we lose 3-0 without any injuries again not knowing derby’s result. I’d take the latter. Let’s say Carlisle pull off a miracle and win. It would be crushing but we’d still have a chance of going up.

[boltonboris]

We can make substitutions depending on the goings-on in the other match. We can remove and replace literally half out the outfield

[BWFC_Insane]

We can make substitutions depending on the goings-on in the other match. We can remove and replace literally half out the outfield

And I suspect that’s the way it will be played. Each player is an individual scenario. Charles needs minutes. Maybe santos does too. Collins if derby are winning probably shouldn’t be risked too long.

[Mar]

It’s a completely different scenario but we’ve seen clearly and Evatt has admitted how ‘playing our strongest team’ in the cups hasn’t helped us.

When you are Bolton in league one the only thing that matters and it is the only thing is getting out of the league via promotion.

I think we’ve somewhat got to grip that reality now (we should have done in January too) and ensure we take no unnecessary risks.

Not being promoted is disastrous.

It's not a cup, it's a league game that counts to promotion which is the primary objective. The best chance we can give ourselves is to win the game. That doesn't mean playing people who can't stand up but don't hide from it either.

I do wonder about whether Posh see the game as a free hit against some players they might meet three games later, so hoping the Ref is strong.

Peterborough might have fancied their chances against Barnsley and played their midweek game with that in mind. Promotion was a long shot for them so positioning themselves in a way that ensures they play Barnsley means that their final game of the season vs us is a dead rubber.

We'll be having to take the game seriously. We've got to overturn the GD as well as hope Derby lose. It's a long shot, but its a shot. (what a day that would be if it comes off). Last time we got a long shot come off was the Wilbraham moment, lets have another one of them.

Hopefully Peterborough don't play a B team just to kick lumps out of our players.

[dave the minion]

Not being promoted is disastrous.

I'd be happy (or very unhappy...) to be proved wrong, but I don't think it is disastrous at all.

My prediction would be that not being promoted basically means we start next season in League 1 and try to get promoted then, whilst also trying to progress in the cups???

If thats disastrous, then whilst its not what I want and its clearly not what the board or manager want, and not what most fans want, then I think i could get over it.....

[irie Cee Bee]

Not being promoted is disastrous.

I'd be happy (or very unhappy...) to be proved wrong, but I don't think it is disastrous at all.

My prediction would be that not being promoted basically means we start next season in League 1 and try to get promoted then, whilst also trying to progress in the cups???

If thats disastrous, then whilst its not what I want and its clearly not what the board or manager want, and not what most fans want, then I think i could get over it.....

Dave, its just that it would be financially disastrous for us and we would need a fire sale of key players because we would lose out on some millions that the championship offers which would be very helpful to us, considering that our investors currently are losing quite a lot of money with us where we are now in L2. Nobody likes losing money.

[dave the minion]

I hear you, but do we know that is the case?

IE & the board are clear on their objectives to be promoted, and clearly its in the business plan, but they will have a plan B which might involve staying in league 1 for another season (hopefully only 1!!).

I might have missed it, and apologies if I have, but has anyone come out and said that the whole financial workings of the club are predicated on being promoted in 2024, and if we don't do this then we are all doomed and half our squad need to be sold for half their value just to keep the lights on???

Clearly we want the money promotion brings. Clearly we need to balance the books some time, but I'm not sure I've heard anything other than speculation that we NEED promotion this year. I get that the investors don't have bottomless pockets, but equally the are likely in this as a project they want to see through...

As I say, I could well be wrong. In any case, I don't think it matters, as we will win 3-0 on Saturday and Derby will lose and we'll go up anyway, after playing our strongest team .......

[boltonboris]

I might have missed it, and apologies if I have, but has anyone come out and said that the whole financial workings of the club are predicated on being promoted in 2024, and if we don't do this then we are all doomed and half our squad need to be sold for half their value just to keep the lights on???

They pretty much said the opposite I think. The budget this season was not with Champo envisaged the season after and being not being promoted next season will still leave us with a healthy budget for next season

[BWFC_Insane]

Not being promoted is disastrous.

I'd be happy (or very unhappy...) to be proved wrong, but I don't think it is disastrous at all.

My prediction would be that not being promoted basically means we start next season in League 1 and try to get promoted then, whilst also trying to progress in the cups???

If thats disastrous, then whilst its not what I want and its clearly not what the board or manager want, and not what most fans want, then I think i could get over it.....

By that thinking any season irrespective of what happens is a success. But every season bolton wanderers are in league one should be considered a failure by anyone who is wanting to see this club get back to where it should.

The words of Evatt ‘one way or another we’ve just got to do it’.

That is his words from two weeks ago. Not mine. Because he sees the division as being stronger next season. And if that’s the case and we stay down again we have to suffer more of this horrific lower league stuff.

I get some people don’t care. They’d be happy surviving in the national league. We can still watch the games type thing. But in the same way as we needed to escape in the 90’s we need to find a way to do so now. The longer we are down here the worse it gets.

It’s also a simple fact of life. Investors aren’t here to see a club trundle on in league one with increasing losses. So something at some point would have to give unless you think an investor will just keep dipping into the well regardless. We are losing more money year on year and if that isn’t backed up with success and promotion how long does that continue for?

[BWFC_Insane]

I might have missed it, and apologies if I have, but has anyone come out and said that the whole financial workings of the club are predicated on being promoted in 2024, and if we don't do this then we are all doomed and half our squad need to be sold for half their value just to keep the lights on???

They pretty much said the opposite I think. The budget this season was not with Champo envisaged the season after and being not being promoted next season will still leave us with a healthy budget for next season

That’s not what is being said but never mind. When Sharon originally came in aim was championship in 5 seasons. Which would be next season.

But at that stage there wasn’t the extra Swiss investment and they weren’t spending £750K on top players in January. Nobody is going to say ‘financially we need to go up’ because it’s a bit meaningless. But can we stay down and improve the squad to be better next season over and above the fact the division will be stronger given we already are losing 5M a year. Given we’d need to have a better squad than this season and more on top given perceived extra strength of the top sides next year….id be highly doubtful anyone is dipping into pockets for that .

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

The problem is the Championship is a financial basket case. It will become imperative to get promoted again because the finances make even less sense. Then it will become about surviving in the Premiership because of the financial disaster of getting relegated. If we're to be financially stable then folk need to accept we're going to bob around between here and the championship and hope we can do it a bit better than Rotherham.

Don't get me wrong, I always want us to try and get promoted, but I'm not sure our supporters are ready for what will come after.

[BWFC_Insane]

The problem is the Championship is a financial basket case. It will become imperative to get promoted again because the finances make even less sense. Then it will become about surviving in the Premiership because of the financial disaster of getting relegated. If we're to be financially stable then folk need to accept we're going to bob around between here and the championship and hope we can do it a bit better than Rotherham.

Don't get me wrong, I always want us to try and get promoted, but I'm not sure our supporters are ready for what will come after.

The championship is as you say a basket case. I think we probably can survive it with a fair wind but even worst case we came down the financial impetus would either mean we had the ability to build again or the squad had higher value and we had a good chance to go up again.

The top end of league one is rapidly becoming not that different financially to the bottom half of the championship yet there is less finance to sustain it.

[Worthy4England]

I might have missed it, and apologies if I have, but has anyone come out and said that the whole financial workings of the club are predicated on being promoted in 2024, and if we don't do this then we are all doomed and half our squad need to be sold for half their value just to keep the lights on???

They pretty much said the opposite I think. The budget this season was not with Champo envisaged the season after and being not being promoted next season will still leave us with a healthy budget for next season

That’s not what is being said but never mind. When Sharon originally came in aim was championship in 5 seasons. Which would be next season.

But at that stage there wasn’t the extra Swiss investment and they weren’t spending £750K on top players in January. Nobody is going to say ‘financially we need to go up’ because it’s a bit meaningless. But can we stay down and improve the squad to be better next season over and above the fact the division will be stronger given we already are losing 5M a year. Given we’d need to have a better squad than this season and more on top given perceived extra strength of the top sides next year….id be highly doubtful anyone is dipping into pockets for that .

I doubt when Sharon came in any bugger expected COVID and fairly sure she said that had a significant impact, not just "as it did with every club," but over and above in respect of the terms of our admin debts pay-offs.

The people who will let us know if they're comfortable based on where we end up, will absolutely be those holding the purse. And the people who will determine IEs fate based on his performance will be the same folk.

Has a certain symmetry...

[dave the minion]

By that thinking any season irrespective of what happens is a success. But every season bolton wanderers are in league one should be considered a failure by anyone who is wanting to see this club get back to where it should.

.................

I get some people don’t care. They’d be happy surviving in the national league. We can still watch the games type thing. But in the same way as we needed to escape in the 90’s we need to find a way to do so now. The longer we are down here the worse it gets.

Thats just not true. There is a significant middle-ground between "success" and what you described as both "failure" and "disastrous" =- staying in league 1 is in that middle ground, and probably more on the "success" side of the spectrum than the "we are all doomed" side....

However, in terms of where this club "should" be - it is exactly where we are. We've all said it before, there is nowhere this club "should" be as we've got no god-given right to be anywhere other than where we are now. We've got history, yes. We've got a (relatively) shiny fancy stadium, yes, but what else do we have that tells us we are automatically in the wrong place right now? Why should we be any higher up the pyramid than other clubs in League 1???

Ask HMRC - they'll probably tell you the club "should" be where Bury are now, so given that we're actually doing alright aren't we......

I want us to be back in the big time, I really do. We all do. I'll be pee'd off if we don't make it. I'm sure we all will. But I won't see it as abject failure and I really hope it isn't financially catastrophic either. I don't want us to languish here with no ambition, but equally, I'm more pleased we seem to have a sustainable club competing on several levels. This doesn't mean I don't want more of course, but I do think a bit of realism is often required as to where our natural place at the table is....