I’d like to welcome Craig Noone to the club who arrived on a two-year deal on transfer deadline day.
Craig has a tremendous amount of experience at Championship level and is a very talented, attacking footballer who will give us additional options. I’m looking forward to seeing him put on the white jersey and helping the squad over the coming months.
Craig wasn’t the only player we were looking to bring in. We made an enquiry to bring our former player Chung-Yong Lee back on loan from Crystal Palace, but unfortunately they had no cover for him and we were unable to strike a deal.
It’s also important to clarify that we have 24 registered players and not 23 as has been erroneously reported elsewhere.
The situation regarding Sports Shield BWFC and BluMarble had dragged on for far longer than anybody could have envisaged.
The whole issue proved to be distracting and confusing for many of our supporters so I am very pleased that I’ve now finally acquired Sports Shield BWFC’s shareholding from the liquidator, which takes Inner Circle Investments Limited’s stake in Burnden Leisure Limited to a 95% shareholding.
I have seen various figures regarding the loan being quoted by the media and on social media which are very wide of the mark. The actual figure is substantially less than those being touted around, as is the interest rate.
I would like to reiterate my gratitude to BluMarble for all of their cooperation in swiftly concluding the situation. Throughout the negotiations they were always keen to minimise any damage to the business and have remained very supportive of the football club at all times.
These distractions and the ensuing uncertainty over the past few months have been far from ideal but I am pleased to say that our focus can now be firmly fixed on football matters and getting behind Phil Parkinson, his staff and the players.
From day one, the best interests of Bolton Wanderers Football Club have always been at the forefront of my mind.
Nobody needs me to tell me how great this football club is. With such a long, rich and proud history it is important that we strive to reach our former glories.
We are now in a much stronger position to do this and I will work assiduously with everybody at the football club to ensure that we have the correct tools in place to make further progress.
Whilst we have made great strides over the past 18 months in moving the club to a sustainable financial model, there is still a great deal of work to be done and that we need to get even more of our fans coming through the turnstiles.
We will be looking to incentivise supporters, who weren’t able to purchase season tickets during the summer, so that they can come regularly to Macron Stadium at a cost-effective price. Over the next week or so, keep an eye out on the website for news of these offers.
We are also working with the University of Bolton to encourage students – many of whom will be new to the town – to come to Macron Stadium on matchday to support the club.
Likewise, we will be looking to continue to grow our matchday hospitality revenue and I’m pleased to confirm that we’ve got a special offer on our Executive Boxes for the Middlesbrough game on Saturday 9 September.
Based on ten guests attending, we are offering them for £550 plus VAT each. Please call our Sales Team on 01204 673761 for further information.
We now have a weekend without football due to the international break, but we’ll be back at Macron Stadium for a double header when Middlesbrough and Sheffield United visit us in quick succession on Saturday 9 September and Tuesday 12 September respectively.
If you haven’t already bought your tickets for this game, then please visit here (www.eticketing.co.uk/BWFC) to buy them online.
Although our league campaign hasn’t got off to the start we would have wished for, I firmly believe that we have the squad capable of causing many surprises this campaign.
With your continued support, both home and away, we will achieve our objectives and I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible for both of these games and for the rest of the season.
We are together, together we are Bolton Wanderers.
Kind regards,
Ken