Ken Anderson - Old Owner (Definitely. For Ever ..... )

[BWFC_Insane]

I think for Ken he needs to see an investment being close. Otherwise he's stuck bankrolling the club.

Which makes it all the more bewildering that two months and two days ago he flouncily took the club off the market for the "foreseeable future" – the phrasing of which brings to mind a question: if you can't see further than two months, should you be running a business?

He threw his toys out because his way out of way to a salaried post was denied. I think he realised that it would be his name over the door for a while which I suspect is not what he wanted or expected.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Time for the News At Ken:

https://www.bwfc.co.uk/news/2018/januar ... chairman2/

At this time of the year, there is always a great deal of talk and speculation about the transfer window and bringing players in to strengthen or freshen up the squad. In an ideal world, there is nothing that would give me more pleasure, but unfortunately, l have to balance this up against our budgets and the ever increasing change of circumstances with players and ensure we don’t rush in too early.

A clear example of this is that the manager and l had discussed areas that we needed to strengthen, but then both Karl Henry and Darren Pratley unfortunately picked up injuries that now mean we may have to change our recruitment priorities. I have also previously stated that we are not financially able to support a squad of more than 25 players, which is also the number that is considered by most managers to be the optimum squad number and l see no reason to change this.

Unfortunately, we are still at this time unable to compete financially with the so called BIG clubs in our division, but I am ever hopeful that with your continued support, we will be able to do so in the not too distant future.

[BWFC_Insane]

Time for the News At Ken:

https://www.bwfc.co.uk/news/2018/januar ... chairman2/

At this time of the year, there is always a great deal of talk and speculation about the transfer window and bringing players in to strengthen or freshen up the squad. In an ideal world, there is nothing that would give me more pleasure, but unfortunately, l have to balance this up against our budgets and the ever increasing change of circumstances with players and ensure we don’t rush in too early.

A clear example of this is that the manager and l had discussed areas that we needed to strengthen, but then both Karl Henry and Darren Pratley unfortunately picked up injuries that now mean we may have to change our recruitment priorities. I have also previously stated that we are not financially able to support a squad of more than 25 players, which is also the number that is considered by most managers to be the optimum squad number and l see no reason to change this.

Unfortunately, we are still at this time unable to compete financially with the so called BIG clubs in our division, but I am ever hopeful that with your continued support, we will be able to do so in the not too distant future.

Are we under an embargo Ken?

[palindromeofbolton]

Latest from Kenny:

http://www.bwfc.co.uk/news/2018/january ... chairman3/

I am fully aware that what you all really want to know is what is actually going to happen in this transfer window and who is leaving and who is coming in.

Unfortunately, like all the other clubs, those decisions don’t always rest solely with the club owners, as has been clearly seen recently with Southampton, Liverpool, Arsenal and a number of Sky Bet Championship clubs. Often other external factors actually determine what does or does not happen.

All l can tell you is that we are actively looking to bring more players in and l am not expecting to sell any of our players who are regularly mentioned in the media speculation and, as has been correctly reported, l have already declined several offers for our players in this window and will continue to do so to give us the best possible opportunity of retaining our Championship status.

That said, l do understand that everybody has a price and l always have to consider the club’s longer term financial situation, so if and when there is an exceptional offer, l would have to think about now and the future and no doubt, that is what happened when Britt Assombalonga was sold by Nottingham Forest to Middlesbrough and Alex Pritchard from Norwich to Huddersfield for example.

However, l am not anticipating that happening to us in the current window. Indeed, someone would have to make an unbelievable offer to even tempt us to part with any of our players and in my opinion, that is unlikely to happen in this window.

I have also previously stated that players who have not been involved in the matchday squads probably need to look elsewhere for football and that remains the case, as both the manager and l want to work with a squad of circa 24/25 players.

As is normal, a number of our younger players will also be given the opportunity to go out on loan to gain playing time and help in their future development.

Find it heartening to hear him saying himself it would take an "unbelievable offer" for GM or JV to go, though I would like to know how we're going to get to the end of the season financially if that's the case. If he's keeping things going with his own cash I thought he'd be quick to mention it tbh.

He also says:

We bade farewell to Adam Armstrong, Josh Cullen and Reece Burke early in the New Year who all returned to their parent clubs, and I would like to thank them for their contributions over the first half of the season.

No mention of hoping to bring them back. Am I reading too much into that, or have West Ham shut the door?

[TANGODANCER]

Latest from Kenny:


He also says:

We bade farewell to Adam Armstrong, Josh Cullen and Reece Burke early in the New Year who all returned to their parent clubs, and I would like to thank them for their contributions over the first half of the season.

No mention of hoping to bring them back. Am I reading too much into that, or have West Ham shut the door?

They've been cup tied and their management will sit down with them and discuss the way forward. If they don't keep them we're first in line, and Burke has already said he'd rather be back with us unless he's guaranteed game time at the Anvil.

[irie Cee Bee]

Latest from Kenny:


He also says:

We bade farewell to Adam Armstrong, Josh Cullen and Reece Burke early in the New Year who all returned to their parent clubs, and I would like to thank them for their contributions over the first half of the season.

No mention of hoping to bring them back. Am I reading too much into that, or have West Ham shut the door?

They've been cup tied and their management will sit down with them and discuss the way forward. If they don't keep them we're first in line, and Burke has already said he'd rather be back with us unless he's guaranteed game time at the Anvil.

Or we are looking for better.

[Prufrock]

Can either go anywhere else now they have played for us and West Ham?

If so, probably depends on West Ham's January. Which is fecking depressing.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Exclusive BN interview:
http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/wa ... wage_bill/

“We have players who combined are costing us around £4m who will either not be here by the start of next season or on a reduced salary.

“It is a little like the situation with Jay Spearing last summer.”

There's just Pratley, Amos and Derik left on contracts pre-dating Ken. £1m pa is roughly £20k pw, so he must be aiming at some of Parky's men. Contract Expiry thread is here... viewtopic.php?f=4&t=23114&p=1051964#p1051964

[BWFC_Insane]

Exclusive BN interview:
http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/wa ... wage_bill/

“We have players who combined are costing us around £4m who will either not be here by the start of next season or on a reduced salary.

“It is a little like the situation with Jay Spearing last summer.”

There's just Pratley, Amos and Derik left on contracts pre-dating Ken. £1m pa is roughly £20k pw, so he must be aiming at some of Parky's men. Contract Expiry thread is here... viewtopic.php?f=4&t=23114&p=1051964#p1051964

I think he's just saying that the current of out of contract in the summer players is 4M and therefore he can try and reduce that cost.

Though its somewhat disingenuous because you will need replacements, and 4M isn't exactly a huge amount of wiggle room unlike the previously reported figures as the squad costs were reduced.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

I think he's just saying that the current of out of contract in the summer players is 4M and therefore he can try and reduce that cost.

Though its somewhat disingenuous because you will need replacements, and 4M isn't exactly a huge amount of wiggle room unlike the previously reported figures as the squad costs were reduced.

Yeah, the latter sentence – that's what I was thinking but didn't have time to write

According to the figures Nixon published in The Sun back in the crisis days, Darren's on £14kpw, Amos 16k, Derik 10k. That's £40kpw or £2m pa, so where's the other £40kpw going? The other players with contracts elapsing this summer are Howard, Alnwick, Beevers, Wheater, Dervite, Henry, Karacan, Morais, Chris Taylor, Wilbraham and Ameobi, the latter presumably on one of our biggest wages. I can't imagine we're paying those 10 players a total of £40kpw. And as you say, if we turf players Alnwick, Beevers, Wheater, Henry, Morais and Ameobi, the first XI would struggle to fill a five-a-side team.

Maybe he's got his own 'dispensible' list, maybe even in conjunction with PP; besides the three on old contracts, that might include Dervite, Karacan, Wilbraham, possibly Howard and obviously Chris Taylor – signed by KA/PP back when we didn't know if we were going to Division Two or Four.

Losing those eight would leave us with the following squad by July 2018 (assuming the asterisked players re-sign):

Ben Alnwick*
Jake Turner

Mark Little
Stephen Darby
Mark Beevers*
David Wheater*
Andrew Taylor

Karl Henry*
Jem Karacan*
Josh Vela

Filipe Morais*
Sammy Ameobi*
Will Buckley
Craig Noone

Adam Le Fondre
Gary Madine

That's a bare 16 adults, plus loanees and younger pros like Alex Perry*, Jeff King* and Connor Hall* plus perhaps elevated scholars Harry Brockbank, Jack Earing, Cole Lonsdale, Ryan White.

I completely understand Ken's desire to cut the fat, but some pronouncements about the squad-size numbers can seem somewhat disingenuous, to reuse your word because it's perfectly apt. When he said just before Christmas "we already have an eligible squad of 33 players" then by my reckoning he was including not just Hall, King and Perry (currently on loan at Glossop) but the even younger Brockbank, Earing, Lonsdale and White.

His latest column repeats that "players who have not been involved in the matchday squads probably need to look elsewhere for football and that remains the case, as both the manager and l want to work with a squad of circa 24/25 players" – again, fair enough, but as far as I can see, that's exactly what we have: a squad of 24, if you include the loanees but exclude the kids (Ken, in the very next paragraph: "As is normal, a number of our younger players will also be given the opportunity to go out on loan to gain playing time and help in their future development").

[BWFC_Insane]

^^ Loans! I suspect that 4M includes loan wages.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

^^ Loans! I suspect that 4M includes loan wages.

£40kpw in loan wages? And that quote's from this week, not last month when we had four of 'em...

[palindromeofbolton]

Can we be counting Amos in Ken's £4m figure, given he's contracted until next year?

In the context of cutting fat v being competative, tho, it does make you think about options. Amos' wage alone would pay for three, arguably even four additions, or simply save £750k py if we were completely rid. Any hope in Charlton (or someone else) taking him away if the fee was nominal?

If Derik departs and Pratleys' wage falls in line with the others (ie. he does a Wheater) that's potentially a £1m py saving.

After that, though, most of the other guys with contracts expiring in the summer should, by and large, be in line with Ken's wage structure so - especially given the whole squad size thing he's mentioning - I hope he doesn't prune back too far. 4/5 net departures may yield another £1m py saving but will leave us without a safety net, regardless of what league we're in.

[TANGODANCER]

I hope he doesn't prune back too far. 4/5 net departures may yield another £1m py saving but will leave us without a safety net, regardless of what league we're in.

I've just seen our fixture list for nex year. Fist game is away to Prestolee Youth Club....

[bristol_Wanderer3]

How about:

Out of contract June 2018:

Pratley £14kpw.
Derik £10kpw.
Morais £5kpw
Dervite £8kpw
Karacan £8kpw
C.Taylor £4kpw
Wilbraham £5kpw
Jedi £5kpw
Perry £2kpw
Howard £5kpw
Ameobi £10kpw

Apart from DSB's info on Pratley and Derik those figures are estimates. That adds up to £76kpw, or £3.952m pa.

I am assuming we would want to keep Alnwick, and that Wheater would have played enough for the option for an extra year to kick in (from interviews and anecdotes it sounds like the options we have built into players contracts are appearance based) I would've thought we would also want to keep Ameobi, so he might be referring to fully or partially paying up Amos's contract or loaing him out for a greater percentage of his £16kpw than Charlton are paying?

[palindromeofbolton]

Those look like pretty good estimates to me. Only ones I'd say are perhaps on the high side are Karacan - not sure he had too many options last spring, so reckon Ken could have got him to sign for somewhere closer to £5kpw - and Dervite. Although Dervite was reportedly on 8k - 11k according to Nixon in his previous contract, again I reckon Ken would've got him to take a reduction when he signed the new one-year deal in the summer.

Just a thought, too... we're working to basic weekly wages, before any appearance or other bonuses etc. that Ken might be factoring into the sums.

Loanee wages have always been a mystery to me. Unless I'm even more ignorant than I thought I was, am I right in thinking we could be paying any sort of % for whoever we have on loan? (And similarly, anyone's guess on what % Charlton are paying for Amos). That sort of detail never seems to come out...

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Yes you’re right, sadly Amos’s contract has 18 months to run.

Loan wages - the borrowing club could pay anywhere between 0% and 100% of the wage, as agreed with the lenders. Sometimes there’s a loan fee too. For a laugh, look up how much United spunked on Falcao.

[bristol_Wanderer3]

I forgot about Henry, Charsley and Beevers, who are also going to be end of loan/out of contract in June 2018. I would estimate both Charsley and Beevers might be costing £5kpw? So if we include those, and go with the assumption we would want to keep Henry and Ameobi, then I can see how we could get to £4m of savings from players we either know are going to leave, or that we are not bothered about keeping. We will still need some replacements however, so it still feels like we would be lucky to reduce the wage bill by £2.5-£3m. Still that means the club only needs £2.5m-£3.5m in extra ticket sales, cup runs, better sponsorship deals, or player trading. We have the concerts arranged for the summer to bring in revenue too. Then in 2019 we can definitely save £800k from Amos leaving. We may not then be at true sustainability, we could certainly see it from there. If Ken funds the club this season, and we stay up and continue to stay up, and we make these moves towards sustainability, he will have done an excellent job.

[palindromeofbolton]

Still that means the club only needs £2.5m-£3.5m in extra ticket sales, cup runs, better sponsorship deals, or player trading. We have the concerts arranged for the summer to bring in revenue too.

You got me thinking... the four-year deal with Macron is up in the summer - albeit there is an option to extend.

While I doubt we're going to make any more on any new deal (or deals plural, if the kit deal and stadium name deal were split) it could be that Ken wangles cash up front to help cashflow?

Not sure how keen both the club and Macron would be to extend the current deal given the relationship has been through a couple of slightly "challenging" situations over the past 18 months.

[bristol_Wanderer3]

Still that means the club only needs £2.5m-£3.5m in extra ticket sales, cup runs, better sponsorship deals, or player trading. We have the concerts arranged for the summer to bring in revenue too.

You got me thinking... the four-year deal with Macron is up in the summer - albeit there is an option to extend.

While I doubt we're going to make any more on any new deal (or deals plural, if the kit deal and stadium name deal were split) it could be that Ken wangles cash up front to help cashflow?

Not sure how keen both the club and Macron would be to extend the current deal given the relationship has been through a couple of slightly "challenging" situations over the past 18 months.

Ken did say at the last Q&A that he could see the concerts in the summer being held at the "Bolton Stadium" as opposed to the Macron, suggesting he saw at the least the possibility of Macron not extending their sponsorship...