Who's going down to League One in 2019? Bolton?

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Anything to cover a chunk of his wages is good for us

Oh I see, you mean Birmingham might want Amos - thought you meant they might try to loan Bialkowski.

Ken seems to be pushing for someone to take on the majority of Ben's wages, I imagine especially so after this latest uprising. If Amos is on £16kpw and Brum are restricted to £10kpw for new signings it might make a deal difficult... but there's a ways to go yet.

[bristol_Wanderer3]

Anything to cover a chunk of his wages is good for us

Oh I see, you mean Birmingham might want Amos - thought you meant they might try to loan Bialkowski.

Ken seems to be pushing for someone to take on the majority of Ben's wages, I imagine especially so after this latest uprising. If Amos is on £16kpw and Brum are restricted to £10kpw for new signings it might make a deal difficult... but there's a ways to go yet.

Ken said during St Mirren-gate that Amos was on "in excess of £1m per year"!

In terms of other clubs in trouble, Villa seem to be lurching deeper into the doodoo. Bruce has publicly admitted that they have to sell Grealish, and that they are going to screwed over in terms of the fee because everyone knows the predicament they are in, and that they will have to sell more players, likely to include Chester, Adomah and Kodjia. If they all left they would be relying on academy products for their creative department, instead of the Snodgrass, Grealish, Adomah trio that was one of the best last season. They would only have one experienced central defender in Tommy Elphick, who they didn't want last season and loaned out to Reading, and no decent goalkeeper. They would have five expensive right backs though all on between £20K - £35k per week. Awibble.

If that wasn't enough their owner Tony Xia is either unprepared and unable to fund the clubs losses going forward, the CEO and director of football have been fired, leaving Bruce as the next link down the chain from Xia. Bruce has said he is staying (he is allegedly on £50kpw himself) but if they start badly and fans call for him to go, it could spiral downwards very quickly from there.

[GhostoftheBok]

Anything to cover a chunk of his wages is good for us

Oh I see, you mean Birmingham might want Amos - thought you meant they might try to loan Bialkowski.

Ken seems to be pushing for someone to take on the majority of Ben's wages, I imagine especially so after this latest uprising. If Amos is on £16kpw and Brum are restricted to £10kpw for new signings it might make a deal difficult... but there's a ways to go yet.

Or he's hoping Amos will agree to a contract termination to avoid the hassle.

[mullayo]

Rotterham, Ipswich, Birmingham, Norwich and Villa. This is starting to sound good guys!

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Ken seems to be pushing for someone to take on the majority of Ben's wages, I imagine especially so after this latest uprising. If Amos is on £16kpw and Brum are restricted to £10kpw for new signings it might make a deal difficult... but there's a ways to go yet.

Ken said during St Mirren-gate that Amos was on "in excess of £1m per year"!

Yeah, I noticed that. I wondered whether it was true (in which case Nixon got it wrong), or a touch of inflationary hyperbole, or if it includes bonuses tied in to the team's performance even if he's not there (these things do happen - remember this is the last remaining Eddie contract) – bonuses both weekly and annual, which seems to be the entire point of the strike. Amos is hardly likely to publicly say "Actually, I'm on a basic wage of just £832,000". You notice Ken puts it in annual figures too, so it sounds bigger than the weekly wages in which the working-class sport of football has always dealt.

Or he's hoping Amos will agree to a contract termination to avoid the hassle.

As usual, you're quite probably right that it's on Ken's mind, but Amos would be out of his to do it. Say he is on £16kpw / £832kpa. Realistically, what's his expectation ceiling elsewhere? Is it's £10kpa, that's £520kpa - so he'd be signing off £300k before the bonuses which would presumably also outweigh what others would offer - especially if Ken's right that his top-ups add another 20% to the basic.

[mullayo]

Who's going down to League One in 2019?
Bolton? YES according to FLW:

https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/the-c ... xt-season/

[mullayo]

However we may not be alone: Villa, Birmingham, Ipswich are all in the red as some have mentioned on here already.

https://www.planetfootball.com/quick-re ... on-oldham/

[mullayo]

https://www.newsatden.co.uk/67971-2018- ... erers.html

Millwall site thinks we're going down. Blackburn midtable because Dack.

[Athertonian]

We're always going to be the favourites for relegation, as we was last term. I don't hold much hope for us this coming season but, as someone once said "football's a funny old game.

[mullayo]

I'd take fourth from bottom right now!

Interesting Ipswich town site article occasionally and anonymously quoting people on here.

https://www.twtd.co.uk/ipswich-town-news/34030

[bristol_Wanderer3]

QPR facing a long term fine, and a transfer embargo in January for previous FPP breaches. They appear to be operating under some restrictions this TW judging by their activity thus far, whether self-imposed or not. They have struggled for the past two seasons, and McLaren isn't known as a long term relegation fighter...

https://talksport.com/football/404441/q ... -spending/

[mullayo]

QPR facing a long term fine, and a transfer embargo in January for previous FPP breaches. They appear to be operating under some restrictions this TW judging by their activity thus far, whether self-imposed or not. They have struggled for the past two seasons, and McLaren isn't known as a long term relegation fighter...

https://talksport.com/football/404441/q ... -spending/

We sort of need that after this week.

[bristol_Wanderer3]

Sporting Index don't fancy our chances:

https://www.sportingindex.com/spread-be ... ts-2018-19

[GhostoftheBok]

Do we get a share of the fine?

[jmjhb]

Sporting Index don't fancy our chances:

https://www.sportingindex.com/spread-be ... ts-2018-19

We aren't 10-12 points worse than Wigan or Blackburn

[bristol_Wanderer3]

Do we get a share of the fine?

#applause

[mullayo]

https://soundcloud.com/ntt20pod
Not the Top 20 podcast AKA Not the Bolton under 20 podcast

13) Millwall
14) Norwich
15) Ipswich
16) Wigan
17) Sheff Wed
18) Birmingham
19) Blackburn
20) Rotterham
21) QPR
22) Hull
23) Reading
24) Bolton

[mullayo]

https://soundcloud.com/ntt20pod
Not the Top 20 podcast
TOP HALF

1)Stoke
2) Middlesboro
3) Brentford
4) Derby
5) Preston
6) Nottingham Forest
7) Bristol
Leeds
9) Aston Villa
10) Sheff Utd
11) West Brom
12) Swansea

[mullayo]

First six games with Not The Top 20 podcast rankings:
6 points = 1 win and 3 draws

4th Aug: (11th) West Brom 1-1 Bolton (24th)

11th Aug: Bolton 1-2 Bristol City (7th)

18th Aug: (23rd) Reading 1-1 Bolton

22nd Aug: Bolton 2-1 Birmingham (18th)

25th Aug: Bolton 1-1 Sheffield United (10th)

1st Sep: (5th) Preston 2-0 Bolton Wanderers

[mullayo]

https://bolton.vitalfootball.co.uk/the- ... ew-part-1/

Our own site has picked us to come 23rd