Two shots on our goal, two goals conceded. Lol. Normal service resumed.

It's getting a bit silly now. At some point you have to draw the line. I want both clubs to survive as well but extending the deadline again is just giving a few trye kickers a bit more road. "This is the final deadline guys, we really mean it this time!" - a week later - "okay since you're so close, one more extension, but this is REALLY the last deadline!" ... and so on.

Looks like for both clubs it's going to come down to the EFL extending the deadline again.

Well, we're past 5pm and have heard nothing regarding Bolton's situation. Not sure if that's a good or a bad thing.

Apparently Sky have a "countdown clock" for Bury and Bolton. What a set of absolutely detestable cretins they are.

I can't remember now, but I'm guessing Mowbray stuck Gallagher out on the wing when he arrived back in 2017 as well? From memory (and I've tried to forget most of that season) we were playing more of a 4-4-2 with Coyle, which had Gallagher in the penalty box more often. I'm guessing Mowbray played him further away from the box, as he's doing now, hence the severely reduced goalscoring stats. Can't really remember though so I might be totally wrong on that.

Chapman seemed to be a reluctant "we might as well" signing. I distinctly remember TM saying more than once that Chapman wasn't high on our list of targets. I don't think he particularly rates him and only signed him because it was cheap and his mind largely risk free.

Looking increasingly like Rovers will be the last team to visit Gigg Lane.

Bolton reporter Marc Iles reporting that there is only one bidder for the club (FV) but that there are two for the hotel.

I guess it comes down to whether FV considers the extra investment worthwhile. With no outside pressure it was a case of who blinks first between them and KA, but if there is an outside party now potentially prepared to agree to whatever extra is being asked for then that changes things and weakens FV's hand somewhat. Seems quite convenient from KA's perspective to suddenly have an interested bidder putting pressure on FV at the last minute, but I suppose the only way we'll know how serious they are is if FV still refuse to budge. If both deals then fall through then KA is left with the assumedly less enviable position of dealing with a liquidated Bolton. Certainly some serious brinkmanship going on, brought swiftly to a head by the EFL and administrators setting a solid deadline.

Do you think FV or these new bidders are the more likely to get past the line? I'm leaning more towards FV finally getting it done due to suddenly being under pressure, but they've been dawdling for so long now that if somebody with serious interest has come in they could be shoved aside quickly.

Does that mean the administrators been lying about there being no other parties interested? I don't understand how you do 99% of the necessary work with no access to the club's finances. Unless they actually have had access to those finances and the statements from the administrators haven't been truthful.

The average for strikers Mowbray has brought in (Samuel, Nuttall, Antonsson, Armstrong) is about a 1 in 4 or 1 in 5 ratio. Then you've got the likes of Brereton who has only scored 1 league goal in 26 appearances, but remove him as an outlier and you have strikers who are roughly scoring 7 or 8 goals a season. Although most of the time they are not really playing as strikers, so... Mowbray. What a character.

There's a possibility the EFL will say no to anymore extension for a new bidder, although I find that extremely unlikely. They'll do everything in their power to keep Bolton afloat and so they should, so I expect an announcement to be made later on that Bolton have been given an extension. Of course that doesn't solve their issue of there being no money to pay the players and other staff on Friday. Are these new bidders going to be able or willing to stump up that cash? The administrators have made it clear that there is no money left to run the club, so whilst FV probably have a structure in place to begin immediate payments I doubt the new bidders will.

How much of my post did you read? Because I literally said "I know you aren't saying this" right after the part you highlighted so I can only assume you got that far as this obviously was not my interpretation of your point! The stats are what they are, they can be interpreted a number of ways but they are the only real indicator we have. You can choose to ignore them and that's fine, but I do put some value in them as I don't think Mowbray has changed his style much since he arrived. New team mates, sure, but that will only matter if performances and the style of play is significantly different from the last time he was here. Remember that when TM arrived he put us on a trajectory which under a full season would have seen us safe and roughly on the same points he collected last season and likely will do this season as well. I don't think circumstances are as different as you believe.

FV have been kicking the tyre down the road for so long now that I really question their authenticity. Anderson is obviously a pain to deal with but it's been literally months now. A new bidder coming in at the 11th hour is always questionable as well imo, why not sooner? And how long is it going to take to go through the process of due diligence? Or is this new bidder coming in at the last minute hoping all due diligence and fit & proper tests will be fast-tracked through with less detail so that they can sneak in with less than solid credentials... I expect by 5pm today Bolton will have been given another extension but as a fan I'd still be very concerned for the future.

I don't think we bought Gallagher with the intent of him being a defensive player. He's a £5m striker so I absolutely refute the idea that if he defends well then that is good enough. It isn't. I know you aren't saying that but for me this concept of him winning aerial duels and being a good defensive player is only a minor and debateable positive. If we wanted to defend better than we bring in better defenders and defensive midfielders. Strikers are brought in to score and assist goals. If they help defend then that's a bonus, but they will always be judged on how many they score and create. As for stretching the stats being muddling, no, I wouldn't say so. It's clear that Gallagher's goalscoring dropped off significantly as soon as Mowbray arrived and has continued in that vein so far this season. It suggests that the way Mowbray plays isn't conductive to Gallagher being a goalscoring threat, although the only time he has been a goalscoring threat was under Owen Coyle in a team that lost most weeks, so, unless we discount his whole career thus far and wipe the slate clean it might just be that he can't operate well as an offensive player in a team that defends properly. Ultimately stats are just stats and don't tell the whole story. They only provide an indicator and thus far this season it's an accurate indicator. I very much hope it changes, as otherwise we've spent £12m combined on two strikers who aren't contributing to goals or assists, which would obviously be hugely concerning.

A different beast I'm afraid. Coyle's gung ho style meant we scored plenty of goals but conceded a ton at the back too. This was technically true of Mowbray last season but the goals were largely concentrated around Graham and Dack, not our wide players. This season we aren't anywhere near as effective as an attacking force but there are signs of improving defensively. Under Coyle Gallagher scored 10 in 31 matches, with 3 assists. Under Mowbray it was 1 goal in 13 appearances with 1 assist. Overall when working with Mowbray Gallagher has 18 apps, 1 goal, 1 assist. So, it would take quite a turnaround of form for him to get to 6 let alone 10 goals. Not saying it's impossible but there is no history of Gallagher scoring or creating goals under this manager. Although the same could be said for more or less every player in our team save for Graham and Dack.

In terms of net we only have one extra defender, not defenders. Raya and Mulgrew out, Walton, Tosin and Cunningham in. A stronger backline yes, but I don't think anybody expected that he meant shipping out Raya & Mulgrew when he made that promise. It doesn't really matter though. Managers will say whatever they need to say to appease fans, so it's a case of accepting that words mean nothing and actions determine whether a manager works out or fails. If Mowbray does well this season I don't give a toss what he promised or didn't promise. If he fails then it'll be because of his actions, not his words.

Yeah, but only after we had already been beaten by Charlton and he told us in July that our defence "was alright". The Mulgrew/Cunningham stuff was all clearly last minute and I do not believe it was planned beyond the last day or two of the window. Tosin was our only defensive reinforcement until Charlton exposed our issues once again and forced Mowbray into a decision. We look OK now but an injury to Cunningham means we have Bell as our only proper LB option if Williams is now a CB, and if Williams/Tosin/Lenihan get injured then we're down to Grayson and Platt as backup. So I don't really buy a defence of Mowbray on this one. Defence looks good for now, but I'll see how the first half of the season plays out before deciding if he really fulfilled his promise on sorting out our defence.

It's obviously great for PR and helps keep the fans onside. Obviously not so much when you promise something at those fan evenings and then backtrack, but that's another story.

Anderson has been on Talksport telling Jim White that the parties are back at the table and he expects a deal to be concluded tonight. We've heard that before.

https://www.bwfc.co.uk/news/2019/august/a-statement-on-behalf-of-paul-appleton-joint-administrator-for-bolton-wanderers/ The administrator basically confirming it is FV or bust. Our good friend Alan Nixon has been peddling rumours of a second buyer but it appears to be bullshit. Shocking I know.

A post from somebody on the Bolton forum who they seem to think is ITK:

5PM tomorrow is the deadline, same as Bury. They will then receive a 14 day notice. That isn't the major issue though. The problem is that the administrators have said there is no money left and they will begin shutting the club down on Wednesday if there is no progress. Bolton could well be gone before the EFL's 14 day notice even expires.