[FM21] Bolton Wanderers - "The Price of Football"

[FM_Prospect]

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION!

 Explaining the Debt! 

I should probably explain how Bolton got into this position, after doing a little background check on how a debt of what was initially £41m (cuurently £35m!) but after getting relegated from the Premier League and then the Championship, Manager Phil Parkinson stepped away from the club due to players and staff not being paid!, eventually the club was brought by a consortium led by Sharon Brittan but Bolton suffered a -12 deduction in League One which seen them relegated by the end of the 2019/20 season. Manager Keith Hill left the club as they were headed to League Two, Chairman Sharon Brittan said the club believed it "to be in the best interests that we have a fresh approach to our management and coaching structure for the next season and beyond". Bolton, relegated from the Championship, endured a tumultuous build up to the 2019/20 season, having been threatened with expulsion from the English Football League before Football Ventures takeover eventually went through....With majority of the clubs senior players having left, they were fielding sides made up almost entirely of youth-team players, including the youngest ever side against Coventry on the 10th of August!.

 

 

I've been looking for a long term save and something to really settle into I decided on the challenge of trying to "Re-Build" Bolton and get them out of the enormous debt they have acquired. If you don't know the back story of Bolton, they have been sliding down the English Football League for the last few years, and find themselves in League Two with a Debt of £34,228,578. The main goal of this save is to get Bolton back into the Premier League and get the in debt free position. I really enjoyed an FM20 Bolton blog written by Dan Gear (host of the Grass and Gear podcast) and I wanted to give this challenge a go and see how far I can take this club and try the Bolton challenge myself!!. Below is a great video explaining "what was going on at Bolton last season".

Repayments of £500k per month will start on the 30/6/2020 which will take a massive toll on our finances, players will have to be sold, and I will have to be really careful with every staff and player contract until we get to more secure place financially. The club has a sell on clause for Zach Clough and Rob Holding which could potentially net us a bit of money in the future, but most of the profit will have to be made by either selling on Youth Players, or signing players on a free and developing them which also comes with a small problem of not being able to have a big backroom staff!. Currently all scouting is done by Director of Football Tobias Phoenix (very average 9 Judging Player Ability and 9 Judging Player Potential), but as we can't afford scout I will have to rely on trials and my own player knowledge to try and find the best value in the market. I'll only be bringing in an Assistant Manager and one Coach, I won't be terminating contracts as there's no point wasting money on termination fees!....So what we have is what I am working with!.

£35M in debt!

 

 

 

 

Edited December 12, 2020 by FM_Prospect

[FM_Prospect]

This is my Manager profile, I'll keep this post as a reference point as the save progresses!

Edited December 8, 2020 by FM_Prospect

[FM_Prospect]

 

 

GOALKEEPERS

 

ONES TO WATCH!

I will be trying to turn a profit on players as best as I can until the debt is cleared, we do have some talented young players that will be getting some minutes in the senior squad. Here's a few players I've noted as "One's to watch" a small positive is Bolton do have a decent academy set up!, Unfortunately Dennis Politic won't be seeing any action this season with damaged cruciate knee ligament!, Regan Riley will most likely spend the year with the Under 18's, and Adam Senior will most likely go on loan in January. There's a few decent prospects in the U'18's that I will be monitoring as the season progresses.

REGAN RILEY - Only 17 years old, solid mental attributes, might see some playing time this season in the first team!

 

RONAN DARCY - Could be a breakout player this season, 19 years old and should be knocking on the door of the first team this season!

 

I'll focus Pre-Season on building continuity through the squad trying to build some Cohesion as it's currently on Abysmal levels which is worrying!, also Tactical familiarity and building Fitness levels. it's important we get off to a good start to the season and build momentum early. I mentioned I would add an Assistant Manager and just One Coach of my choice to the backroom staff and pretty happy with the new personal coming into the club, Byron Anthony joins as my Assistant Manager and I was able to sign Tim Cahill as a coach which is great to have another Australian on board, his coaching attributes are not great at the moment, but he will study to improve as a coach and he has a Perfectionist personality which is much needed around the club at the moment so pretty happy with two positive staff additions already.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 12, 2020 by FM_Prospect

[abulezz]

Great first post! Looking forward to reading more. 

[FM_Prospect]

TACTICS

I decided on a 4-1-4-1 (Haven't settled on Team Instructions yet!) it also is a very flexible tactic and can easily be switched to the 4-4--1

  

PRE-SEASON

 

We kicked off Pre-Season really well, we mostly played teams below or around our level to build confidence, and cohesion!. Isgrove looked pretty dangerous on either wing, and Doyle and Delfouneso will be out main attacking threats

The Squad is so deep, it was impossible to try and get everyone Match fit!, there's so many players that need to be moved on!

Pre-Season came with a bit of bad luck as Antoni Sarcevic got a lower back stress fracture and will miss the start of the season!

 

 

We also have Two games before the season begins we will drew Rotheram in the first round of the Carabao Cup (or whatever it's called now) and Newcastle U23's in teh EFL Trophy before we face Forrest Green for the first game of the season!

So pretty tough match to kick of my Managerial life at Bolton!, still figuring things out and learning the squad.

 

 

 

Edited December 10, 2020 by FM_Prospect

[FM_Prospect]

Thought I'd give a quick update for my Managerial debut against Rotherham to start the save!

Coming up against Rotherham I wasn't confident and I didn't want to get trounced on the first match!

But we settled in nicely playing the 4-1-4-1 Counter Attacking Tactic, and first half we didn't like getting scored on as we broke down a lot of Rotherhams attacks

49' -  Just after halftime Lloyd Isgrove cuts in nicely and finishes a cross from Hickman!, Great start!

Bolton 1 - Rotherham 0

Absolutely buzzing with the start!, I didn't change much after halftime!

Rotherham came out firing, but we held firm

52' - Isgrove gathered the ball in a dangerous spot after the corner, Rotherham were all over the place defensively

Isgrove shoooooots!....WHAT A GOAL!!

Bolton 2 - Rotherham 0

Isgrove was sensational scoring again with this long range shot!

 

A very unexpected, but positive start to the season!

But it won't get any easier!

We drew Wolverhampton away in the Second Round!

 

Anyway thanks for reading so far I Just wanted to share a quick update!

 

Edited December 8, 2020 by FM_Prospect

[CornishGas]

On 07/12/2020 at 04:42, FM_Prospect said:

I wont be terminating any staff contracts to save money on termination fees as that's just wasting more money we don't have!

Enjoying the updates, I've always been wanting to try a save with a club massively in debt (I sort of am at the moment by accident, might do a thread on it, bit nowhere near Bolton levels of debt!).

One thing though about the above quote, mutual terminations still save you money overall. Let's say a guy is making £20k a year but agrees to mutually terminate for £15k, you still save £5k overall except you pay it all at once. So depending on the savings you make it could be worth doing. In the face of a £34m shortfall though, probably not. 😂

[FM_Prospect]

59 minutes ago, CornishGas said:

Enjoying the updates, I've always been wanting to try a save with a club massively in debt (I sort of am at the moment by accident, might do a thread on it, bit nowhere near Bolton levels of debt!).

One thing though about the above quote, mutual terminations still save you money overall. Let's say a guy is making £20k a year but agrees to mutually terminate for £15k, you still save £5k overall except you pay it all at once. So depending on the savings you make it could be worth doing. In the face of a £34m shortfall though, probably not. 😂

Yeh @CornishGas it's a challenge that's for sure!, who are you managing?

Yeh I understand it saves me money, but then you still have to re-appoint a new staff member, So essentially your terminating someones contract for an upfront fee at a reduced cost, but re-hiring someone else to do the same job and paying them a wage too!.

I'm too deep in debt to be wasting money at this point!

Edited December 8, 2020 by FM_Prospect

[CornishGas]

Ah, I see. I didn't realise you were planning to replace them. Yeah, that would indeed end up costing more!

 

I'm at Moss in Norway currently. They took longer to fall and didn't have as far to go but they've been pretty ruined over the last 20 years or so. It's a journeyman so I'm not necessarily planning to stay here but it's interesting for sure.

[FM_Prospect]

On 09/12/2020 at 02:03, CornishGas said:

Ah, I see. I didn't realise you were planning to replace them. Yeah, that would indeed end up costing more!

 

I'm at Moss in Norway currently. They took longer to fall and didn't have as far to go but they've been pretty ruined over the last 20 years or so. It's a journeyman so I'm not necessarily planning to stay here but it's interesting for sure.

@CornishGas Nice One mate, let me know how you get on! 

[FM_Prospect]

BOLTON 2020/21

"Hot and Cold Beginnings"

SEPTEMBER

Pre-Season is done and dusted it's time to get into the real stuff!, We come out the gate firing on all cylinders with an unexpected win against Rotherham!, A quick update in the post above will pay mention to the outstanding performance by Lloyd Isgrove netting 2 goals against Rotherham in the EFL Cup First Round, and then we comfortably took care of Newcastle United's Under 23's. Team Cohesion was still very poor and it showed against Forest Green in the first League game of the season with Forest running away with a 0 - 3 victory scoring all their goals in the last 30 minutes of the match. I made a tactical change and chose to go a bit more defensive and move to a 4-1-4-1 to make us a bit more sturdy in defense and it paid off with a 2 - 0 away win against Colchester but injuries hit us as Goalkeeper Billy Crellin who is on loan from Fleetwood Town picked up an injury during training meaning the 38 years old Goalkeeper stepped up into the first team, and did quite well respective of his poor match sharpness.

 

 

OCTOBER

Coming off a shaky performance against Newport County conceding a late goal, we continued our inconsistent form against Harrogate Town failing to put away chance after chance, and scraped through on penalties against Shrewsbury. Antoni Sarcevic returned from injury and took some time to adjust to the system, but Comley has been solid as a Defensive Midfielder shielding the back four, and breaking up play in central areas!. I was starting to see some good patches of play in the 4-1-4-1 and the change of turning Ali Crawford into a Mezzala on Attack helped link up to Eoin Doyle who has impressive as a Pressing Forward on Support and at times a Pressing Forward on Defend. Lloyd Isgrove and Nathan Delfouneso struggled early in the month for form, but both have started to find form on the wings. Something that has been consistent is the Center Backs, Delaney and Brockbank have been rock solid in defense and Brockbank picked up player of the month in October!. 

We go into November in flying form, and Team Cohesion is improving every week!, I've been keeping an eye on the youth squad Bright Amoateng has definitely been impressing scoring 18 goals in 13 matches, and is very close to getting a call up to the senior team with that kind of form!, needs to develop a bit more but seems to have the ability to find the back of the net!.

Lloyd Isgrove re-captured his early season form banging in 2 goals against Bradford City, and a lovely counter attack against Leyton Orient.

 

Bright Amoateng Profile 

Spoiler

 

 

We've really put ourselves back in the mix amongst the top few teams in the league after a inconsistent start, with January coming up it will be a chance to clear out some of the unwanted players chewing up the wage bill, and maybe bring in a cheap loan player. First on my priority list is a Left Back, Jamie Mascoll has been serviceable at times, but probably isn't upto the level of League Two and not really in my plans for the future. Identifying a Goalkeeper and a Right Winger to keep track of for the end of season is second on my priority list, as we lack depth in those areas. 

We're still losing £500k per month on repayments, So I expect to go further into debt by the end of the season, meaning Promotion is vitally important!.

Thanks for reading so far feel free to leave a comment or feedback, the next update will be the end of January!

Edited December 10, 2020 by FM_Prospect

[JackMY]

Hi,

I started my Bolton save last wk and man this team ia a hot mess!! I mutual terminated miller's contract and paid 40k for it, sold a defender for 40k, signed a Polish GK and a young winger for free and i have negative budget nw with 0 wage space!! Since we have Ali Crawford and Darcy so i'm deploying a counter atk 4-2-3-1 wide sometimes 4-3-2-1. So far i'm at the top spot after 22 matches bt got thrashed in League and FA cup.. 

[Northernpilgrim]

My journeyman also started at Bolton. Got them promoted twice, left with them in the middle of the Championship. They're back in League 2 without me.

[Tee2]

Good stuff. Bolton should be a hell of a challenge, but what a romantic thought to get them back to the top. I'm pleased to see the presence of Nathan Delfouneso, whose potential seemed to be endless in past editions of the game, by now though it clearly had a very definite end!

[Domoboy23]

Do people feel that Boltons academy is way too overpowered in FM?