Perfect Storm
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Posts posted by Perfect Storm
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I'm not sure when the FV accounts are due, sometime soon, a matter of weeks if that, but to make sure I don't miss them I've registered an interest to "Follow this Company" with Companies House on the link below, it doesn't cost anything to do that, they'll send an email as soon as any documents are lodged.
https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/11761052
The year end isn't tied to the season, FV took this Titanic Venture on in August 2019 but their year end doesn't seem to align with that either.
The documents lodged already do make for some interesting reading, including what's mortgaged etc etc etc, it would make more sense to an accountant that it does to me.
The Club and the Hotel, attached limpet like to the stadium cost £17.4 Million, the Hotel alone costing £7.4 Million of that. If the hotel wasn't part of the structure of the stadium I doubt they would have wanted it. If memory serves me well at best it broke even in the last 5 years, even though it used to average 80% or so capacity, since Wu Flu came along the place has been kept open {gawd knows why} they are lucky to be running at 8% capacity of the 125 rooms, the hotel is closed "except to business travellers" if you're a business traveller would you be thinking of staying overnight in Bolton !!!
If that's not bad enough, when FV took the hotel on they had to pay £2,000 a day, not sure if that was down to a mortgage on the hotel or an inherited debt on the hotel.
Speaking of "inherited debt", FV got the Club for the knock down price of £10 Million on the proviso that they accepted and serviced (fully within 12 months from August 2019) approx £5 Million of debt including a substantial amount owed to HMRC.
I suppose in August 2019 that looked doable, even if the hotel wasn't making money, maybe they thought they could turn that around, but no one else has made it pay in the 20+ years since the stadium was built. Looked like a non runner from day one to me, and more importantly to all the other potential investors who didn't fancy taking it on.
But, even if they hotel wasn't bringing much in, the Wunderers supporters are the mother-lode, if you fielded 11 sheep wearing Bolton's kit there'd be 8,000 supporters cheering them on. Speaking of which, the most uninspiring chant you are ever likely to hear at any game, anywhere, is the Weary Wunderers "Come On You Whites" chant, they don't even shout it, it's a sort of murmur that echo's around the ground like a Mexican wave, in ULTRA SLOW MOTION, it's like listening to maggots writhing...
As you say, it's still Tier 3 up here, chances are we were one of the first into T3. Bolton topped the UK's Wu Flu league a few months ago, it's dropped back a BIT since then, but chances are with Christmas on the horizon folks will be in more bubbles than an Aero Bar.
Few folks expect things to get back to anything even close to normal before April. To add to the misery, it doesn't help the Wunderers if 2,000 supporters or even 4,000 are allowed into the stadium, they have approx 8,000 season ticket holders so they will get first dibs on getting in to watch the games. So, there's no gate money in it for the Wunderers, not another penny from having fans in the stadium, in fact there'd be less, it would simply add expense to the game, you'd need to pay stewards, gate men, the Police etc etc etc.
I think the Wunderers are in line for £250,000 of that EFL money, you asked "how long with that last" well, how long can you hold yer breath. Forget paying mortgages, inherited debts, the EVERYDAY overheads of a MASSIVE stadium, that last year had 200 staff on the books, add the players wages and the cost of the coach taking them to the away grounds, and the overnight costs etc etc etc, and you'll see that £250,000 doesn't even touch the sides.
BWFC are, or should that be "were" a Big Club with massive overheads, just a couple of years ago when they were in the Championship they were getting £12 Million a year off Sky for the television rights, the clubs in L2 are lucky to see a tenth of that...
It seems to me that the club is crumbling under its own weight...
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Hello Alley Cat,
I don't know what to make of the 6-3 drubbing the Wunderers had yesterday, none of their fans know what to make of it either, no doubt it will be causing panic in the ranks of the fans and the Management. Many of them are now reflecting on the 4 previous back to back wins they had in November, wundering what went wrong yesterday.
Those 4 games saw Bolton pick up more points than the other 12 games they'd played this season, figure that one out. As mentioned before though it's because of results like this that "Bookmakers don't live in Council Houses".
One of the Wunderers supporters told me Port Vale haven't scored 6 goals anywhere since '87 I was thinking he meant 1887 I was a bit surprised when he said 1987 !!! it's one for the record books that's for sure.
Port Vale had 14 shots, 11 on target !!! that's got to tell you how far off the ball Bolton's defenders were, of those 11 shots on target 6 were goals, of the other 5 it was down to a couple of brilliant saves by Gilks or it would have at least 2 that any other day would have gone in. It wasn't one of those games where the goalie was having a bad day, Gilks did what he could, the defenders were atrocious and mid fielders should be in the dole queue this morning, let alone doing a Sunday morning stint.
I'm not on my own to say I've never seen a teams fortunes turn around as dramatically as this game went, a memorable event, in more ways than one.
As you say the December games don't look gift wrapped for the Wunderers, maybe their cookie has crumbled, time will tell, but...
As for the relegation bet, BetVictor have gone 80/1 against Bolton, I'm tempted to throw a few more quid in at that price, they obviously haven't factored in that the club may well go back into Administration, that's what the bet is all about.
https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/league-2/relegation
My bets were placed before a game was played this season, so the results so far if anything are a bonus, thankfully they aren't topping the league with the 33 points that Newport have bagged so far. Don't forget that ALL the Bookies had Bolton at 5/1 Fav's to win L2, so most folks would have expected them to be on 30 points or so right now.
Of the 22 points Bolton have, 12 of them almost miraculous, take 17 points off that and they are still 1 point behind Southend, and 14 points adrift of Stevenage, Bradford and Barrow, would you lay me 80/1 that the Wunderers would pull 14 points back from ANY of the above ? They'd need 5 wins to do that, while the other relegation candidates bag none, I really can't see that happening.
So the bet actually looks better now than it was before the season started, they haven't bagged enough points to avoid relegation IF they go bust, and I'll take 80/1 against that happening any day of the week.
I'll be looking for a copy of Football Ventures 12 month financial statement, that's due to be filed within a week or so, that will tell us if the bilge pumps are keeping the ship afloat.
If that reads as I expect I'll be taking as much of the 80/1 as I can get off Gibraltar Victor. I'd let you know "soon after" ?
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Bolton 3 Port Vale 6
Who the hell would have seen that coming !!!
What's the chance of 9 goals in a game, any game, chances are they needed an abacus to keep the score. I did £400 in on the Wunderers to win @ 6/4 and £100 on the HT/FT bet.
That's the first time that Port Vale have scored 6 goals since 1987 !!!
I don't know whether to laugh or cry, today's bets are down the drain but the long term bet is looking a lot brighter, especially as the Wunderers face some tough opponents in their 5 games before the end of the year.
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Team News @ !4.35. Doyle plays, Tutte doesn't, that should strengthen Bolton's attack.
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Looks like the Wunderers form will continue tomorrow, they have won their last 5 games, while their opponents have lost their last 5, gawd knows how the Bald Fred et-al have Bolton at 13/10...
https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/league-2/bolton-v-port-vale/winner
If that's not bad enough PV will be without David Amoo, one of their one of their better players, hard to say who their "best" player is at the moment, it's not their goalkeeper he's let 11 goals in in their last 5 games.
As for the Wunderers, well they will be without Doyle...
They'll miss him, there's no doubt he's been their best man in the last month or so, when he doesn't score he's up there with the assists, so Bolton will have to re-jig their front line, but. With the run of form they have had and the confidence that gives vs the run that PV have had, and the gloom that brings how the hell can Bolton be odds against ?
I'll have a slice of the 13/10 with a side order of the 7/2 on offer for Bolton -1.
https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/league-2/bolton-v-port-vale/handicaps
Chances are weather will be the most memorable feature of what's likely to be a dour game, it's bad enough right now, but forecast to be wet and windy to say the least tomorrow. I fancy there'll be more shots for Scott Brown to face than Gilks, in wet and windy weather that makes a difference, more so for a goalie that already seems to have developed slippery hands. Thinking along those lines the 14/5 against Bolton doing the HT/FT thing looks tempting, an early goal can win us that bet...
https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/league-2/bolton-v-port-vale/half-time-full-time
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Looks like there'll be a bucket of water thrown on the money that some of the EFL Clubs are burning through. It's better than nothing, but only just, a bit like throwing stale bread to a duck.
Hard to believe a Physio gets paid 6x more than a Nurse !!!
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Wunderers 3 Sarfend 0
What a day, even Nebuchadnezzar could read the writing on today's wall. I'd a grand on at 7/4 giving a goal away and 200 quid at 9/2 giving giving 2 goals away. I damned near went for the 3-0 correct score too, but sometimes it's best to rein yourself in, I've played Donkey Kong, I know when to quit.
A nice win though, 2,650 quid out of the satchels of Paddy Power & Billy Hill, the 7/4 was a knocking bet and the 9/2 was way ore the odds.
Have to say that with 40 minutes on the clock after seeing the Wunderers have 2 goals disallowed, one of them looked fine to me, but you can't tell on iFollow {a shyte service if ever there was one}, but seeing the ball in the net twice, both being disallowed and a 0-0 HT looming I was beginning to wunder about the Wunderers.
Just as I was reaching for my HT cuppa when in the dying seconds of 45+ Baptiste put a perfect cross into the box onto the head of Delfouneso, "bottom right corner". Nice goal, pressure off the Wunderers and pressure on the Shrimpers, at least that goal put the show on the road...
I was hoping that Southend would come out heads down, they didn't, they had their share of play, in fact they'd more shots on goal than the Wunderers, Gilks in goal played a blinder to keep a clean sheet.
Just when I was beginning to wunder, again, in the 65th minute Doyle was brought down in the box, penalty given. Doyle sent the goalie the wrong way right footing the ball into the bottom left corner, 2-0.
I'm thinking the flood gate has to open now, but I was wary of Southend getting one back, that would have buggered my bets up. It was a nervy time until Doyle left footed one into the net in the 81st minute, that put paid to Southend, no coming back from 3-0 down with 10 minutes or so left on the clock.
All I needed was a clean sheet for the Wunderers to win both bets. I had to sweat for that too, except for a brilliant block by one of the defenders Elvis Bwomono WOULD have made it 3-1 add to that a brilliant save by Gilks in the 88th kept it to 3-0. Was I glad to hear the Ref blow the whistle...
I doubt the Bookies enjoyed the game as much as I did !!!
- Zico10, Bedlam and Alley Cat Glover
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What can I say about tomorrow's game, the Wunderers at home to Sarfend.
You might recall that I'm no fan of the Wunderrs but if ever a game had the hallmarks of a massacre this has to be it.
Hard to believe the "Anyone can beat anyone in this League" little more than verbal insurance policies handed out "just in case" FFS.
If ever there was 3 points in the bag this game is it, could the Wunderers possibly be playing a weaker team, Sarfend have scored 6 goals so far and conceded 26 !!!
A -20 goal difference, the Bookies have the Wunderers at 3-5 the way I see it they should be 1-5 if not 1-10, 3 nowt by HT wouldn't surprise me, Southend are poor.
If you don't like laying odds on, I can't believe that...
Bolton -1 is 7/4
Bolton -2 is 9/2
Bolton -3 is 14/1 !!!https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/league-2/bolton-v-southend/handicaps
I can't see Southend scoring against Gilks in goal for the Wunderers in the form he's in, so it's just a matter of how MANY Bolton put past Southend, 5-0 or MORE wouldn't surprise me.
That's my colours nailed to the mast, I'll be taking that 7/4 to a good amount, might have a bite at that 9/2 as well.
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Hard to believe how results have changed for the Wunderers since they dropped Crellin and put their goalkeeping coach between the sticks, they'd not lost a game since Gilks was put between the sticks, grabbing 10 points from their last 4 games ☹️
I was going to leave the game alone, but I couldn't resist the 9/2 on the HT/FT result, just to £20, thankfully I didn't wade in any deeper than that.
As for tonight's game, it was poor performance from both sides, having said that Scnuthorpe were "uninspiring", yea, I'll stay with that, rather than call it like it was. Except for the GK who played well and made a couple of decent saves, I've seen Blackpool donkeys motivated more than the rest of the team.
Ah well, we march on to Saturday now, I think I'll read the result in the Sunday paper, I don't fancy ruining my Saturday night.
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Hello Yossa,
I hear you about licking wounds, the Wunderers have put taken 7 points from the last 9 they played for, better than most teams do. The drawn game at home to Mansfield was a fair result, the win against Salford was mind blowing, it certainly set them up to play with confidence against {poor old} Stevenage, but they'd a lot of luck going for them in that game, that goal that Doyle scored was clearly offside, even the Wunderers supporters admit that, if they have to talk about it.
Add to that, gawd knows how Gilks saved that shot to the top right, I was sure it was in, Gilks is good, that shot would have beat 90% of goalkeepers in any League, had to feel sorry for Stevenage when the game was over, they don't get many points but they deserved at least 1 point if not 3 from the game "They Wuz Robbed", but tides turn, I hope that Stevenage avoid the drop, for more reasons than one.
As for the bet, well, I put the money on before the season kicked off, there's not many teams in any league that would survive a 17 points deduction, IF we applied that right now here's how relegation battle would look...
Bradford 13
Barrow 13
Grimsby 12
Mansfield 11
Scnuthorpe 11
Stevenage 8
Southend 5
Bolton -1
Would you take 1/50 that they'd climb past Southend or Stevenage, let alone the rest of them, it's certainly possible but it's not a 1/50 chance.
The teams in blue all have a game or two in hand on the Wunderers, if they do go back into Admin they drop into oblivion, they can't even break even let alone show a profit in League 2, you can't run a stadium like the Reebok with up to 200 on the payroll unless you are in the Championship, and they aren't.
The thing is, how tight are the strings on the purse held by Punch & Judy ?
An indication of that is, it seems they won't take anyone on, not even a FREE Agent until the January window. They could have picked up a great goalie for "next to nowt" but it looks like he's on his way to Salford now. I can't believe that they didn't sign him, they are now TOTALLY dependent on GILKS, gawd help them if he gets injured or if his luck runs out, no matter how good any of us are if our luck runs out, if the flux of the Universe turns against us, we are knackered.
I can't imagine any other reason they didn't take the lad on when they had the chance, I'd bet that was down to how tight the purse strings are. Seems to me that the future of the Club now rests in one man's hands, lets see how that works out, it's a £17.4 Million bet that I wouldn't want to be holding, I wouldn't want to be taking Evens on that, let alone be offering 50/1.
PS: The 50/1 is back on the boards with BetVictor, Hill's have a more cautious 20/1 on offer. Chances are the odds will change one way or another after tonight's game.
https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/league-2/relegation
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It's a "do or die" game tonight between Scnuthorpe and the Wunderers, another relegation battle, I doubt I'll be trying to pick the winner, too many games like this end in a draw, but I'll be shouting for Scun.thorpe and I'll have the wife's Rosary beads warmed up prior to the kick off, 2-0 to the Iron Men by HT would be nice.
Bald Fred et-al have the Wunderers as 5/4 favourites, that's not how I see it, MAYBE if they were playing at home. The Iron Men look to be priced way over the odds at 11/5, I'm tempted at that price, the 9/2 against Scun.thorpe doing the HT/FT thing looks over the odds too, the more I think about that the more likely I'll be taking 90 to 20.
https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/league-2/scnuthorpe-v-bolton/winner
I reckon the Iron Men will go for it from the first kick to put the Wunderers under pressure and to rock their {fragile} confidence, a goal in the first 10 to 15 would be nice, a lot depends on how Bolton's goalie plays tonight, he's good, no doubt about that, but he's 38 too, add to that, he's had a great return to the pitch from his coaching career, but, every tide turns, hopefully that happens around 19:03 tonight.
Other than the above, I just heard it looks like Salford have snatched that Free Agent goalkeeper from under the noses of the Wunderers management, gawd knows why they didn't grab him when they could have done, so look out for an announcement on that from Salford soon...
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5... 4... 3... 2-1Looks like Bolton have "Lift Off" ?
I can't take anything away from Bolton or Stevenage, both teams went toe to toe to win the game. It was a good game, with a couple of brilliant goals, both teams desperate for the points.
Since Bolton ditched their goalkeeper they've played like a different team, a much better team, at least against teams at the bottom of the league. Have to say the Wunderers were lucky to go 1 up in the 14th minute, Sarcevic's shot was saved by Cummings {yea, now we know where he's gone,} Cummings played a blinder throughout the game, but on this occasion Eoin Doyle buried the rebound with an brilliant scissor kick, bad luck for Cummings, worse luck for Stevenage as Doyle was clearly offside.
Bolton were dominating the game, but Stevenage made it end to end stuff with some exciting counter attacks, the game was a lot more exciting than many FA Cup Finals that I've seen. Bolton's pressure paid off in the 36th minute when Bolton broke to counter attack, Doyle got the ball ran half the length of the pitch, passed to Jones who made an inch perfect pass to Crawford who shot low and into the corner to beat Cummings, not a flashy or top shelf goal but they all count. You'd have expected Stevenage to drop their heads at this point, close to HT and 2-0 down, but they didn't, and they got one back in the 44th minute, that shook the Wunderers, they thought they had the game wrapped up.
The second half was equally as entertaining, end to end stuff again, Bolton's 38 year old goalkeeper / coach played a blinder too, saving more than one shot, how he kept a shot from going on the top right corner gawd only knows how he tipped it over, that should have been a well deserved 2-2 for Stevenage, some would argue fairly 2-1 to Stevenage if Doyle's offside goal had been disallowed.
I felt more sorry for Stevenage than for my relegation bet, but if they commit to every game they play for the rest of the season they'll avoid the drop. It's good for the game when little clubs in little towns can make their presence felt. You can't get much smaller than Stevenage, at the end of their games their kit goes to a local Launderette, it's clubs like that the FA / EFL should be helping before they help themselves.
Anyway, that was how I saw the game, gutted to see the Wunderers take the 3, but we're just a 1/4 way through the season yet, lots of banana skins to slip on. I'm hoping that Scnuthorpe will turn the tide on Tuesday night, but right now Evatt & Co are flying high, let's hope for a hard landing.
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Looks like Scun.thorpe are climbing out of the basement, they beat Port Vale 1-0 tonight, that gets their ankles out of the mire. It would be nice to see Stevenage to beat Bolton on Saturday that would really mix things at the bottom of League 2, it's definitely a relegation 6 pointer.
Here's what Bald Fred and the parasites think of it...
https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/league-2/stevenage-v-bolton/winner
The Wunderers played tonight, at home to Newcastle's U21 team, Crellin was back in goal, and back in form as he faced a team who had only scored 2 goals in the last 450 minutes they'd played, it took them less the 45 minutes to put 2 goals past Crellin !!!
The poor lad must have killed a Priest in another life, but, we all go through bad patches.
Thankfully for the Wunderers {B Team} they got one back moments before HT to make it 2-1. Here's how the game went.
There's not a lot that can be drawn from the game, it won't be the same team turning out against Stevenage on Saturday, hopefully 38 year old Gilks will miss the coach and we might just see more of Crellin's Clangers, wouldn't that be nice.
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WHAT would sponsor Evatt to say this...
"there is still doubt as to whether wage bills will be met at the end of this month in extreme cases.
WHO is Evatt talking about when he says...
"That has left some clubs at the lower end of the EFL in major need of help."
I wonder if clubs at the lower end of the EFL phone Evatt up to tell him how their finances are ? I'll take a look which teams in the lower end of the EFL might be carrying a lot debt...
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18 hours ago, Torque said:
It was definitely worth a bet at the price. Let's just hope they don't do a Bury - I'm assuming if they do then a relegation bet is a busted flush, and as much as any bets should be voided it wouldn't surprise me to discover in the small-print that there's no obligation for a refund.
If the Wunderers go bust / into Admin that's the standard 12 point deduction for going into Admin PLUS the 5 points carried over from the last time they went into Admin, so that's 17 points off whatever points they might have at the time. That's how Wigan and the Wunderers finished up being relegated, folks who bet on Wigan being relegated got paid, you are either relegated, or yer not...
By the way, if Football Ventures {known locally as the Punch & Judy Show} slip on the ice laid down by running costs and inherited debt they'll have to find £380,000 to cover the remaining 50% of a fine laid on them by the EFL last season. Could it be any worse, imagine running out of money and then being "fined" £380,000 because you don't have any money, how PERVERSE is that !!!
I'm AMAZED that Bald Fred et-al seemingly didn't do their homework on this. There's a LOT more to running a football club these days than kicking a ball up and down a pitch.
Do you know ANY owners in any division that made money from it ? How many owners found out, it's not a hobby, it's a bloody minefield.
It might be an affordable fetish for Oligarchs, Wealthy Arabs, Chinese Billionaires and the like who have run out of places to hide their money, but it's not a game for Millionaires any more, they can soon find themselves out of their depth.
I've no doubt that with the SOLID fan base that Michael knew Bolton have, over 8000 season tickets sold this season, when anyone with half a brain would at least wonder if they'd even get into the ground this year, the less I say on that the better...
So no matter what League the Wunderers play in, the faithful will always turn up to pay homage, take away Wu Flu and the Club looks like a cash cow, when the turnstiles are clicking that is.
Under normal circumstances £10 Million for the Club seems like a bargain, even with inherited debt of around £5 Million. But it's the massive overheads of a massive stadium with around 200 people on the payroll, that's why the Club went into Admin last year, they simply couldn't pay the bills and the wages. It got so bad that supporters had to set up a food bank for the staff and the players.
Things are WORSE this year, MUCH WORSE. I just can't see where the money is coming from to keep the Club afloat, if that weight isn't enough on yer back, try carrying the 125 room Hotel on your back as well. The doors are still open but the place is as good as empty, the ONLY people who can book a room are "folks travelling on work related business", how many of them them do you think would chose to stay in Bolton aka Wu Flu Central !!!
How could things be worse, if YOU owned the Club, the Hotel and the DEBT how would you get out of it, there's no income worth speaking about, but massive overheads.
What would you do, pour more money in, hoping to save what seems to be a sinking ship, or do you save yourself from going down with it, how long would you "man the pumps" pumping more of your money in.
It's like the blokes who chase their losses only to sink further into the mire. The problem is, if you throw the towel in right now you've done in yer b*llocks in and the best part of £17.4 Million, maybe more if the inherited debt was secured against you and/or your personal assets ?
Which is best, a "Stop Loss Limit" or "Go for Broke" men usually go for the latter, Captains go down with their ships. Women are different, if their ship springs a leak they bail themselves out, rather than the boat.
If Sharon could turn the clock back, what do you think she'd do, mind you, with {what's left of} the £57 Million she likes folks to think she's worth it might not be bothering her at all, so I could be wrong.
Watching this saga play out beats watching Netflix, it'll be interesting, and probably rewarding, I'll take my 50/1 chance...
As you say, look at Bury, they weren't just relegated they dropped through the trap door into OBLIVION, that was a sad do. Bury were a community club, 95% of their supporters / season ticket holders lived within 5 miles of the ground.
Back to the Wunderers though, when I look at the L2 positions I just add 17 points to every team other than Bolton, that puts even lowly Southend on 20 points, Bolton on 13.
Scun.thorpe on 22 points, with 3 games in hand.
Stevenage on 24 points.
Mansfield on 27 points.
Oldham on 28 points.
Grimsby on 29 points
Do I need look any further, I'm pretty sure that Scun.thorpe will get a few points out of the 3 games they have in hand, not sure about Stevenage, next Saturdays game when they are at home to the Wunderers could well be the deciding factor for Stevenage.
To put a 17 point deduction into perspective, if you applied that to Premiership teams at the end of last Season, HALF OF THEM would have been relegated !!!
I'll do my best to get Lionel in, playing as A. N. Other, you don't see that happening these days hey. The upcoming game is in the lap of the gods, I hope they are smiling on "The Boro", I'll throw a half crown in the tray if they do.
PS: BetVictor are still offering 40/1 against the Wunderers being relegated, Hills are a bit more cagey, they have them at 20/1.
https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/league-2/relegation
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I hear you Torque, the potential for the 17 point deduction, 5 points carried over from last season, plus the standard 12 point standard deduction for going into Admin caught my attention, that's why I took the 50/1 before a ball was kicked. I know how "difficult" finances are at the club, even before the second lock down came in.
I had no idea how their results would go, but I was certainly less confident than the Wunderers supporters I know. It just adds favourably to the bet when the team have shall I say underperformed.
My thoughts were that they will go back into Admin, it's then down to how soon and how many points do I reckon they might have at that point. I'm no Fan of the Wunderers so I wasn't thinking "they'll win every game" I considered {before a ball was kicked} that they'd be somewhere mid table by the time they went bust. The calculation then is, "take 17 points off what they have at the time, and see where that would put them.
The thing is, if they go into Admin who would want to take them over, they'd be facing oblivion.
I have my doubts that FV will be willing or even able to carry the costs of the Club, the "ever empty" 125 bedroom hotel, the debts they inherited when they took the Club over, that's in the region of £5 Million due by August 2021. Add to that the £2,000 a DAY inherited debt on the hotel, the wages of the 200 or so staff, then there's the usual overheads for the stadium and the hotel, last year that was running at around £500,000 a month.
FV paid £17.4 Million, £10 Million for the Club and £7.4 Million for the Hotel and took on inherited debt that has to be paid off less than 9 months time. FV thought they were buying into a going concern, the hotel has run consistently at around 80% capacity for years, right now they are lucky to have 8% capacity, but the lights are still on, wages have to be paid, that 2 grand a day has to be found, utilities, rates, etc etc etc have to be paid, but out of what ? The hotel is as good as closed right now, it's certainly not a cash cow, then again, if you look at the books when it was 80% full it NEVER made a profit worth talking about, that's one of the reasons that BWFC went into Admin in the first place.
As for the Club, FV thought that would be a cash cow too, but it's not just the hotel that's empty, it's the Stands as well, so where does the £500,000 a month come from ? how can FV cover that, and that's not even to mention the approx £5 million they HAVE to find to service inherited debt. They couldn't pay off around £1.2 Million owed earlier this year, they had to ask for a rescheduling of that, they were given a few months grace, but they had to restart those payments about a month ago. I've had a good in depth look at "money in, money out" and who might be "willing or even able" to service these debts.
No matter how much Michael & Sharon say they are affiliated to the Wunderers when push comes to shove you can bet they are more affiliated to their money, what's left of it. I'm sure they went into this venture expecting to make money from it, that's not happening, but the bills still have to be paid, there's little {if any} light at the end of this tunnel.
There's a time to hold 'em and a time to fold 'em" would you throw good money after bad ? What it boils down to is, what are the odds against the club going bust, in the next 2-3 months, I'd say it's no better than Evens, that's why the 50/1 looked good to me, and still looks good.
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1 hour ago, Alley Cat Glover said:
Well there’s hope yet with that set of results, problem will be the next 3 matches will be key to the bet. Stevenage, Scnuthorpe and Southend one after the other. If only Salford had turned up last night. Looks like Bolton may be hard to beat though with the goal keeper situation likely to be resolved in favour of the coach!
Don't sweat who's in goal for those matches, it will either be me, or ****** ***** negotiations are ongoing, I'd do it for nowt, but ****** ***** wants a wage out of it.
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The Darkest hour was just before Dawn !!!
You couldn't make it up how the results went for us today, starting with bottom of the League Southend winning 2-1 away to Walsall, let's hope they keep up the good work !!!
Then to see Scun.thorpe win 2-0 away to Oldham, what odds would you have got from these two both winning away today !!!
Third from bottom Stevenage didn't let us down either grabbing a point away in a 1-1 game at Morecambe.
Mansfield fourth from bottom won away beating league contenders Forest Green 2-1.
Even Barrow grabbed a 1-1 draw in the 96th minute away to 2nd top Cambridge United.
Add to that, Tranmere having gone 2-0 down against away against Port Vale grabbed the winning goal "a la" Barrow in the 96th minute !!!
Of the 18 points played for by these relegation candidates 14 points were brought home !!! Results like this really opens up the relegation battle. The Wunderers haven't slipped the noose yet, they are now only 8 points clear of bottom placed Southend 13 v 5 and just 6 points ahead of Scun.thorpe who have 3 games in hand on the Wunderers.
As for the rest of them, well, Grimsby are in the mix with just 12 points, but they have 2 games in hand on the Wunderers.
I'll bet the Wunderers were thanking their lucky stars last night, but after today's results they'll be looking over their L2 shoulders again.
Their next game is an EFL Trophy game against Newcastle U21 on Tuesday, I might just phone Ian Evatt up, I reckon I'd have a chance of being selected to play in that game.
The Wunderers next L2 game is away to Stevenage, who would want to call that game, Pas Moi, I'll be keeping my powder {and my monkeys} dry...
What a day hey...
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10 minutes ago, harry_rag said:
My fault, I jinxed them!
I'll try and look the other way when it comes to spotting value in future Bolton games; let the antepost bets ride.
Yer not on yer own Harry, I said weeks ago in here that I wouldn't back in any of Bolton's games fearing I'd jinx the result, only to fall for Salford last night, just goes to show what happens when the trap is baited as appetisingly as it was last night.
Lesson learned, I hope, but it's a lesson that I keep forgetting, fingers crossed for the hindmost today then...
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Richie Wellens unhappy with performance against 'struggling' Bolton.
https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/18871354.salford-boss-richie-wellens-unhappy-performance-struggling-bolton/
He's not on his own ?
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Bolton 2 Salford 0
Well, the wheels fell off Salfords wagon tonight in a spectacular way, hard as it is to say this but the Wunderers outplayed them, I haven't seen them play this well since they beat Gillingham 4-0 in March of 2017.
Maybe dropping Crellin made a difference, Matt Gilks played well enough, if would be hard to play Crellin ever again after this result today, my guess is he'll be on his way back to Fleetwood already.
As for me, well, I'm stunned, I took 6/5 to a monkey on Salford, only to see them look like a tired team, the only thing they beat Bolton at was the number of times the passed the ball backwards, and that takes some doing.
Hopefully some of the other L2 relegation candidates will snatch a few points tomorrow...
As they say "Bookmakers don't live in Council Houses", thanks to results like this ?
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This looks interesting, Evatt makes 4 changes to the team,
the most interesting is Crellin is gone,
Evatt has put Gilks the 38 year old goal keeping coach in goal !!!
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Hello Harry,
I hear you regarding the date, Friday 13th, but, knowing it's Friday the 13th for Billy Hill, Bald Fred and the rest of them I'll nail my colours to the mast by saying the Wunderers have more chance of walking under a black cat then beating Salford tonight.
That's my gut feeling for the game, but, I'd never encourage anyone to bet more than they could comfortably afford to throw away, no matter how strong their gut feeling is.
I don't bet under or over these days, even though they can offer value I've burned my fingers and my money when teams that you'd expect to run in 4 or more goals, decide to take it easy and get the same 3 points by tapping in a 1-0 win.
Not wanting to jinx them I'll say nowt about yer bets, other than to wish you luck on them, I'll be pulling for you during the game, keeping an eye on how it's going for you.
I see the 6/5 went pretty quick, I might have helped push that towards the odds on that Salford are now. By the way, check yer messages in here, I've filled you and Labrador in on the "comings and goings" at the Wunderers. I tried to copy Stevie {the Admin guy} in on it too, but it seems you can only send 2 messages a day in here ? so I'd appreciate it if you could pass that message on to Stevie for me, I'm sure he'll be amused by the prospects of me starting a new career ?
Keep the info in that message to yourself though, other than to Stevie that is, I don't want to drop a spanner in "what's names" works...
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Hmmm, I've had better news than this :-(
Then again, "STOP THE PRESS" the tide has turned again.
Get on to Billy Hills soon as you can, before the "Traders" learn how to read, they are still offering 6/5 against Salford, I'll have a slice of that...
https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/league-2/bolton-v-salford-city/winner
Covid: The Perfect Storm!!!
in League 1, 2 & Scottish Predictions
Posted · Edited by Perfect Storm
I just re read your post about "wages", it went over my head at first reading...
Hmmm, there's a thought, especially as just a few days ago Evatt spoke about "clubs having difficulties meeting their wage bills at the end of this month".
At the time I said "How the **** would Evatt know anything about wage bills for clubs other than his own, no matter who he knows in other clubs they wouldn't be confiding in Evatt or anyone else. It sounded to me that he was talking closer to home, more so that if there's been a problem with the wage packets then it wouldn't be a surprise to see that angst taken to the pitch.
There's no message a team could state more clearly than to throw a game when they aren't happy, we've seen that happen more than once.
Looks like that could be going on at Sheffield United, 1 point from 11 games, 5 goals for, 18 against, something is going on there. I'm amazed that Chris Wilder is still there. I hear Wilder isn't well liked, can't say more than that, other than I wonder what the betting is he finds a P45 inside his Christmas Card...