'Splash the Cash' - Nicko writes

[Lofthouse Lower]

Owen Coyle is to ask his money men for cash to chase Bolton’s best finish for decades.

Coyle has taken Wanderers to fifth on a shoestring and plans to build on that with up to three new faces, with one ideally a midfielder. His whirlwind start at the Reebok has seen Bolton pick up more points after 13 games than Gary Megson’s side in 19.

He is hoping the club will invest despite debts of £93million - the bulk of that owed to owner Eddie Davies.

Coyle said: “I would like to freshen things up. I have got my eye on a couple of players. Finance will dictate if we can do it or not.

Our scouts have been out and about around the world and I could reel a few names off but that would only alert our rivals. I would love to be able to bring some in.”

Coyle has been operating with one of the smallest squads in the top flight and knows injuries or bans could wreck all his good work.

He said: “We are operating with 19 or 20 players and I believe in all of them. But if we are able to add one or two we would like to do it.

“When I first came we brought in Stuart Holdenn on a free. We signed Vladimir Weiss and we brought in an unbelievable talent in Jack Wilshere.”

Coyle only bought one player in his first year – young Spaniard Marcos Alonso – and may have to get creative again to boost his numbers.

Let's hope it's two new full-backs and another striker

[Bruce Rioja]

Who's Nicko? Peter Nicholson?

[Lofthouse Lower]

Coyle's journo mate.....

[BWFC_Insane]

The way I see it, if Owen is talking about bringing players in it means one of three things...

1) The financial situation is not as bad as has been painted.

2) Players like Cahill are going in January.

3) He is trying to put pressure on Eddie to release some funds.

Hopefully its scenario 1.

[Lord Kangana]

"Finance will dictate if we can do it or not".

Complete non-story.

[CrazyHorse]

No harm in telling the world you're skint the week before announcing you're on the look out for new players.
Kind of the reverse Man City situation. Everyone knows they're minted so any players they're interested in suddenly have their asking price doubled.

So by my reckoning we should be paying half price for all our signings.....

[David Lee's Hair]

1) The financial situation is not as bad as has been painted.

This one.

But you just need to expand a little to read something like...

1) The financial situation is not as bad as has been painted by the fans and the press

Nothing coming out of the club has painted it that badly... Infact the messages out of the club have been nothing we've not heard for the last 3 years or so.

[FaninOz]

If no one leaves in January the Club can't afford any new players in salary terms never mind transfer fees. We can't afford to get into any deeper debt even if it is only to E Davies, I worry what will happen if he gets knocked down by a bus or something!

If we do sell Cahill and/or Elmander for good money then use that money to get new blood in, similarly if we can get rid of the likes of Riga, etc then similarly bring in some loans or freebies. But otherwise I hope that the Club and Coyle doesn't put itself into any more debt as Portsmouth and others did.

[Worthy4England]

The way I see it, if Owen is talking about bringing players in it means one of three things...

1) The financial situation is not as bad as has been painted.

2) Players like Cahill are going in January.

3) He is trying to put pressure on Eddie to release some funds.

Hopefully its scenario 1.

The financial situation is as it's been painted - whether that's good or bad, I guess only ED/PG know. The fact that the Accounts said we have a shortfall at the moment in the current level of "facility" to run the Club, tells you what you need to know. They did say they were in discussions with potential lenders to secure adequate working capital.

I think 2) or 3) are much more likely.

3) Sounds a little "Allardycian", but in some defence of Allardyce, when he really started campaigning, we were in 3rd place, 20 points clear of relegation and with a new Sky deal just around the corner.

[ebby]

I reckon cahill will go and using the funds we'll sign 2 or maybe 3 players, i'd prefer to keep cahill until the summer though and get a couple loans in again

[Worthy4England]

1) The financial situation is not as bad as has been painted.

This one.

But you just need to expand a little to read something like...

1) The financial situation is not as bad as has been painted by the fans and the press

Nothing coming out of the club has painted it that badly... Infact the messages out of the club have been nothing we've not heard for the last 3 years or so.

This is the first set of Accounts that specifically notes we will have to sell players.

The last three just mentioned targeted investment in the playing squad.

I think there are some differences between this year and last - other than just the headline figure...

[seanworth]

I actually find it potentially a little worrying. I would hate to think he is throwing up ultimatums. He left Burnley for this reason, and his stock is rising very quickly.

[Bruce Rioja]

We're skint - we need better players. Sorry, can someone tell me when this became 'news'?

[Lord Kangana]

Exactamundo.

[David Lee's Hair]

This is the first set of Accounts that specifically notes we will have to sell players.

The last three just mentioned targeted investment in the playing squad.

I think there are some differences between this year and last - other than just the headline figure...

However, if it was that bad, we'd have sold in the summer, we'd not have gone after Eaves, Alonso and Rodrigo and we'd have not signed Petrov or Klasnic on what I imagine are pretty lucrative contracts. We'd have known we couldn't afford to.

Don't get me wrong it's not a good situation, but football as a whole isn't a particularly good model of a business. However, the club will have known the situation well before the accounts came out, if we were completely in dickies meadow we'd have sold Cahill et al in the summer.

I've not seen the accounts so not certain what is said in the Chairman or CEO statements, but Gartsides message to the markets wasn't one of a firewall sale, it was one of being sensible, and mapping out what we'll do going forward.

Selling in an over-inflated January market, and cutting the wage bill… It makes sense to be honest. It's also no different from what we've been told before. Megson said we may cash in on Cahill last Jan. We're saying the same again. We're also saying if someone gives us £3m for Elmander we'd take it… Get some cash back, again it makes sense, as there is not a cat in hells chance he'll resign with us when we're allegedly offering half of what he was on.

I think we've seen the future of the club this summer, and Coyles already told us his plans. The odd older player on a free and young players who will have a saleable value later on. Going forward we'll get rid of the dead wood on big wages like Samuel and Riga and replace them with young lads who are cheap like Eaves and Alonso.

Coyle wants a few extra faces in… I think if they are young, and cheap well get them. Will we sell? Probably if the right offer comes in. Is this any different than other Januarys? Not really.

[TKIZ!]

If no one leaves in January the Club can't afford any new players in salary terms never mind transfer fees. We can't afford to get into any deeper debt even if it is only to E Davies, I worry what will happen if he gets knocked down by a bus or something!

If we do sell Cahill and/or Elmander for good money then use that money to get new blood in, similarly if we can get rid of the likes of Riga, etc then similarly bring in some loans or freebies. But otherwise I hope that the Club and Coyle doesn't put itself into any more debt as Portsmouth and others did.

I'm sorry but we don't know that for a fact, transfer fees are never paid out in full as shown by the fact that we still owe £12m (from the accounts) on deals which I suspect will include the likes of Cahill. Davies will probably encourage Owen to look at cheap targets or ones who may not go straight into the team or even loans. I dare say the big clubs squads have been looked at to see if we could take any of their youngsters as a 'quick fix'

[boltonboris]

I actually find it potentially a little worrying. I would hate to think he is throwing up ultimatums. He left Burnley for this reason, and his stock is rising very quickly.

Every manager asks for more money. They sometimes get it they sometimes don't.. Doesn't mean they're going to up sticks and go somewhere else..

Who has decent cash reserves who need a new manager?

Liverpool won't replace Hodgson with Coyle, they'll want a Hollywood type bloke who the fans can immediately trust to bring back those Famous European nights at Anfield TM

[Tombwfc]

Yeah, I'm oddly in agreement with LK. Manager wants to sign new players, who'd have guessed? It's a non-story.

That said, the only player Coyle has spent money on since being here has yet to appear in the Premier League. Maybe he's better off without it.

[CAPSLOCK]

That said, the only player Coyle has spent money on since being here has yet to appear in the Premier League. Maybe he's better off without it.

I was thinking as much

We have Robinson, Ricketts and dogshit JLS as well as the Spanish kid - I seem to remeber Taylor and Gardner being chucked in as fullbacks when looking for a stick to hit Megson with

Odd deal the Alonso one

Maybe it was only ever seen as a sweetener to attract Rodrigo, or he's expected to come on tons

[BWFC_Insane]

That said, the only player Coyle has spent money on since being here has yet to appear in the Premier League. Maybe he's better off without it.

I was thinking as much

We have Robinson, Ricketts and dogshit JLS as well as the Spanish kid - I seem to remeber Taylor and Gardner being chucked in as fullbacks when looking for a stick to hit Megson with

Odd deal the Alonso one

Maybe it was only ever seen as a sweetener to attract Rodrigo, or he's expected to come on tons

He's expected to come on tons I think is the answer.