Cup Final Five of Eight. Build Up.

[PieFacE]

6 minutes ago, Dante_Lockhart said:

Is it an auto win if they have to cancel the match? Like a forfeit?

I would imagine so. Would be a forfeit on their part I guess.

[Dante_Lockhart]

Auto 3-0 win. Give all the goals to Neil Taylor please.

[Daweii]

What a way to get relegated if the match is forfeit. 

[Zatman]

16 minutes ago, Dante_Lockhart said:

Is it an auto win if they have to cancel the match? Like a forfeit?

Think due to the timing it would have to be. Not much room to fit it in. Would also give us a rest for Monday

[Mark Albrighton]

It would be a shame if this was cancelled. I can see the appeal of the extra rest and three points and it would be tempting to want that, but I think the players will want to play. 

I want to see this winning run continue on the pitch, it takes the sheen off it a bit for me if one of the games is just given to us. No asterisk next to this run of wins please.

And no one wants to see a club relegated like this.

[BOF]

1 hour ago, osmark86 said:

1 hour ago, Dante_Lockhart said:

Is it an auto win if they have to cancel the match? Like a forfeit?

that would really be a stinger for the other promotion contenders lol ^^. I'm all for it.

It's really Steve Gibson my heart would go out to.

[bannedfromHandV]

It'll go ahead I'm sure.

This has been par for the course for their home games over the past month I think.

[BOF]

1 minute ago, bannedfromHandV said:

It'll go ahead I'm sure.

This has been par for the course for their home games over the past month I think.

While you're more than likely right, you've got to think each time this happens we're getting closer and closer to one of them not going ahead.  It'll come to a head at some point.  Hopefully they can string it out until the end of the season.

[Delphinho123]

Really feel for Bolton fans. Imagine if this was us.
They might not be the biggest club in the world but I'm sure they have a fair few fans who feel the same passion for the club as we do for Villa.

They don't deserve this. I could go into a bigger rant about football in general but there's really no point.

Hope the game goes ahead and they get a fair chance to try and win 3 points. 

[John]

Let's hope that it proves to be a very Good Friday for us and that we claim a 9th successive win at Bolton. We need another win to maintain our momentum and to not give the clubs that are below us any encouragement in their pursuit of us. It has been 7 years since we last won at Bolton, although we have only played there once since then. Last year's defeat was a bitter pill to swallow and it played a big role in contributing to us dropping out of the automatic promotion picture. 

Overall we have won 62 and have drawn 37 of the 155 league games that there have been between the two clubs. A Villa win will see our hosts relegated. Their financial situation is if anything, worse than their playing one is. They are like us, founder members of the football league. They have won the FA Cup 4 times, their last win came in 1958 with two goals from Nat Lofthouse seeing Manchester United beaten, as they had been the previous year by two goals from Peter McParland. Only a penalty shoot out semi-final defeat against us in 2000 prevented them reaching another FA Cup Final.

Their relegation should not therefore in my opinion, be a cause for us to rejoice, but it is something that we need to make happen by winning this game. I wish them well in the future, but on Friday we need the win that will put us on 72 points with just 3 games to play. Just do it for us Villa!

             

Edited April 17, 2019 by John

[bannedfromHandV]

Just spoke to a Bolton ST holder I work with and he's none the wiser, said the game will defo go ahead but may not be any fans allowed in. 

[BOF]

This statement has just been released by Bolton's owner.  I've never heard from him before, but on the basis of this post, he's an asshole.  It's everyone elses fault and he's been terribly treated.

Quote

Throughout my three years at the club, l have always tried to communicate with the supporters where possible, as l was very conscious that this was a criticism levied at my predecessors.

Despite this, there have been times when the local media have criticised me for excessive communications, but more recently for not communicating.

Unfortunately, my hands have been tied recently with confidentiality agreements etc which has obviously created problems with communicating.

Sadly, l continue to be shown reports in the media or posted on social media platforms that do not reflect the true facts.

This is because generally speaking, it’s pure speculation, as the authors have no access to what is actually happening.

Most recently there has been a great deal written and said about the club borrowing monies from the PFA to pay the players' salaries.

So to put the record straight once and for all, in my three years at the club the PFA have only once assisted in paying the players' salaries which was on Christmas Eve in 2018 and the monies were repaid on January 16, 2019.

I accept that l have made mistakes along the way and l have to admit that the player recruitment over the last two seasons has not been good enough, in so far, as many of the players recruited have not started, or even been included in the matchday squads this season. 

With hindsight, this should have been addressed earlier, but as they say hindsight is a wonderful thing.

That said, it should also be remembered that ours is not the smallest player budget in the league, as is often incorrectly stated and substantial salaries in excess of £500,000 are being paid to a number of players who have not been involved for most of the season.

I still believe that the players' decision to go on a 48 hour strike on April 1 when their March salaries were not paid was premature and inappropriate and l question their explanation of why they did it.

If they wanted to show their support for the non-playing staff then there were far better ways in which they could have shown their support.

Interestingly, the staff continued to work which clearly shows their commitment and loyalty to the business and this is why they were paid as soon as we were legally in a position to be able to do so. 

Whilst we have substantially reduced costs and brought in new revenue sources, unfortunately some of the debts and agreements that l inherited have continued to hinder the club and hotel financial progress.

Fortunately, a number of these are shortly coming to an end, in particular the SCC catering agreement whereby they effectively retain nearly 80% of the turnover and we have to pay all the utilities and some of the staff costs from the remaining 20%.

How this was ever agreed, l will never know. Similar comments apply to several player agency consultancies and cleaning contracts, not to forget the absolutely crazy ongoing agreement with Macron and the ridiculous rates that both the club and hotel have been assessed, dating back to when the club was in the Premiership which in all have and continue to cost the businesses several millions of pounds.

I would also question the earlier decisions to sell off of a number of the club's assets including the car parks, offices and training ground as well as taking a substantial loan secured on the hotel just before l became involved and how these funds were utilised. 

As l have recently stated, following the protests and vile abuse posted on social media towards me and my family and subsequently in December the police advising me it was not safe to attend matches, like my predecessor the late Eddie Davies, l reluctantly decided enough was enough and stopped funding the businesses apart from the February salaries.

Prior to Christmas however, I attended the majority of the club's home and away matches over the last three seasons.

Accordingly, all payments due now have to be met through the club's own limited cash flow, which is now becoming even more difficult because of the bank accounts being effectively frozen and validation orders having to be obtained.

I do wonder how many of my critics would continue to fund the businesses, if they were advised not to attend the matches or the stadium, hotel and training ground, for fear of their safety, as well as the constant abuse encountered?

In any event, it has been made very clear that l was not wanted at the club, so why would l continue to fund it? No doubt, something similar prompted the decision that the late Eddie Davies also came to in 2015. 

As usual, the Supporters Trust and in particular Mr Rigby have recently come out of the woodwork and continue to once again talk up their own importance, but the facts are they have never delivered on any of the things they continue to try to take credit for such as so-called new investors in the waiting, helping to pay salaries etc.

As they say, talk is cheap, put your money where your mouth is and maybe, you would have been given a seat at the table. From what l hear, their own corporate governance begs a lot of questions and leaves a lot to be desired.

There has been a great deal of comment about the failures of the recent takeovers and the reasons for this.

For the record, when push came to shove the buyers simply did not have the cash , despite numerous assurances. As far as l am concerned, it had nothing to do with the creditors being higher than they were toId, or what l was demanding personally, as this is simply not the case.

As l have previously stated, l had agreed to accept a lower amount than l actually paid for my shares from several of the potential buyers and even then they wanted and l agreed to defer some of the payment due to me as did the other secured creditors.

The reality is they were probably hoping it would go into administration and they would then acquire it for substantially less, albeit with a points deduction, but a significant saving on creditors. 

I hope the above has given everyone a better understanding of the reality of the club's financial position today, but the most important thing to appreciate is that this club cannot survive, let alone prosper on its current revenue streams in any division outside the Premiership without the benefit of substantial and continued financial support from a wealthy benefactor.

This is clearly the case with virtually every other club in the Championship and maybe that’s why both the late Eddie Davies and l have struggled to find a buyer to take the club forward, as in reality there are not that many wealthy benefactors out there who are prepared to bank roll clubs as has been clearly seen with a number of owners making their clubs available for sale in recent years. 

For my part, l have always done the best l am able to do, but obviously that is not good enough or sufficient to please a number of our supporters .

Regards,

Ken

 

[BOF]

Basically doing constant refreshes of the #BWFC hashtag on twitter this afternoon.  Reports are we'll know early afternoon what the story is with tomorrow.

[bannedfromHandV]

He sounds like a piece of work, that Bolton ST holder I mentioned earlier also told me that Bolton spent £400,000 on agent fees last year with one agent employed. That one agent was/is the owners' son. 

[Stevo985]

3 hours ago, Dante_Lockhart said:

Is it an auto win if they have to cancel the match? Like a forfeit?

For now...

but if they can't fulfill the fixture I imagine it could very well lead to a winding up. And that would mean all their results get wiped and we'd lose 6 points.

Not sure how teams around us got on against Bolton, but if any of them lost a game to them then we'll end up losing out.

 

In a weird way it's almost better to have lost to them in the first fixture (it's not... because we'd have 3 points less... but you know what I mean)

[Stevo985]

Play the full strength team.

McGinn plays until he gets another booking. Then he can be rested.

For now get the points on the board.

[Merson08]

Thinking from a complete money making perspective.

Betting on Villa to win Bolton 3-0. 

If we play them we could do it, if its automatic win to Villa its normally by 3 goals to 0. 

Winner, winner?

[Stevo985]

Just now, Merson08 said:

Thinking from a complete money making perspective.

Betting on Villa to win Bolton 3-0. 

If we play them we could do it, if its automatic win to Villa its normally by 3 goals to 0. 

Winner, winner?

I very much doubt an automatic 3-0 win due to forfeit would count as a win on that bet.

[Nigel]

1 minute ago, Merson08 said:

Thinking from a complete money making perspective.

Betting on Villa to win Bolton 3-0. 

If we play them we could do it, if its automatic win to Villa its normally by 3 goals to 0. 

Winner, winner?

Bet will be voided if they don't show

[Merson08]

3 Points it is then.