DE.

It's looking that way. I'm sure the excuse will be that they want to help the new owners settle in and stabilise Bolton, but it ultimately sets a precedent that can and I imagine will be brought up going forward when similar situations arise.

Not sure why this needs such a detailed, warts-and-all explanation. Could easily have just said "Harry is in contention for the first team, but competition is tough at the moment and he has to be patient". But nope. Full on discussion as to every little detail which I, as a player, would not appreciate being put out in the press. Maybe our players are different.

Great, so if Walton gets injured or suspended we'll have two League 1 level backup goalies instead of just one.

If his major contribution came from out wide with a cross then it surely suggests that's where he's better positioned? Granted he's only been given brief appearances up top but I don't think our style of play necessarily suits to running behind defenders, but rather getting chances from crosses and set pieces. In that case you'd want a DG or SG up there to maximise potential damage. For me he's too inconsistent with his goalscoring to play up top by himself. It might work if he was in a two but I don't see us going with a formation that has DG or SG alongside AA in attack so if Armstrong is to play I'd rather it was out wide where his pace can hurt full backs and maybe even CB's if he makes an incisive run into the centre. We simply have to find a way to make our chances count more frequently. Having a lot of shots is meaningless if they don't go in or are off target. With that said if we are able to solve that problem whilst keeping ourselves defensively solid then we could be in for a good season. I have my doubts at the moment though.

According to the administrators if nobody puts in any cash then the club are insolvent and therefore must begin winding up, as it would otherwise be illegal to keep running the business. So either the admins were twisting the truth in their earlier statements to try and scare KA/FV/EDT into reconvening, or there has been or will soon be money injected into the club's funds in order to make the necessary payments.

I appreciate text is sometimes easy to misread but I'd hope I don't come across as a poster who would think something as crazy as that, so I assumed it would be understood that the tone was not serious. Obviously not, so just to make it clear - whilst the selection of Evans, Smallwood and Leutwiler checked me out of the match immediately as I knew we'd lose, I do not actually consider it a lack of integrity or ethics, although I do find it amusing and strange that Mowbray was sent off for trying to lecture a ballboy on these things. Let's end it there and resume discussion of the match Interesting stats on this one. You'd expect a team with such domination in stats to win the game comfortably or at least draw. But when you can't keep the ball out of the net at your end and fail to take your chances at the other end this is where it leads. Hopefully this puts the Armstrong up top method to bed as he just isn't good in that role, and Gallagher scoring in the middle may give TM a bit more confidence to try playing him in the centre again rather than out on the wing. I still think a midfield spread of Downing/Dack/Rothwell with Graham or Gallagher in the centre would yield solid results. Not sure what this result/performance means for Nyambe. Will Tony see him as part of the reason we conceded two goals, or part of the reason we otherwise dominated a PL team? Bennett will almost certainly be back in at RB on Saturday regardless.

Mate, I'm not being 100% serious here. I'm just making a little light of the situation. Maybe I needed to add a smiling emoji or something to make it clear I don't consider picking Evans or Smallwood on the same level as cheating - I thought it would be absurd enough to be obvious but I guess not. For the record disagreeing with TM's decisions doesn't equate to me "hating" him, although I find it interesting you've come to that conclusion. Whilst I often disagree with what he does I've always said he's a decent enough bloke and would be a good manager if not for his inability to adapt to change. It's not just you, but people do need to stop taking criticism of TM so personally. The fact I can joke about picking Evans/Smallwood as having a lack of ethics, integrity, etc and it actually being taken seriously is a bit worrying to me in all honesty!

True, it's worse.

Destroying Bury by the sounds of it.

Somebody needs to talk to TM about the ethics, honour, integrity and personal values of picking Smallwood/Evans in midfield and giving Leutwiler an extension despite not being good enough to start in League 1, let alone for a Championship club.

Somebody must have injected some money then, as it would be illegal for them to continue trading whilst being insolvent.

Sad for Bury, but it feels like this is only the beginning. The EFL is completely rotten at the moment and the structure as a whole makes no business sense as most clubs lose money. Bury are the first EFL club since Maidstone in 1992 to go under, but this time there are many other clubs who could easily fall into the same pit. Indeed we have Bolton on the brink themselves right now. If the balance is not redressed soon then I fear we are going to lose more clubs over the next decade.

So whilst I imagine FV will eventually complete their takeover of Bolton, if they are expelled what does that mean for the league structure? It's already been determined that League 1 is reduced to three relegation places and League 2 reduced to one relegation place. If Bolton also get expelled would that mean nobody gets relegated from League 2 this season? Some real #integrity there.

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.