Neil Lennon faces the most testing week of his Bolton tenure with the club staring relegation in the face.
A 2-1 home defeat from local rivals Preston North End wasn’t quite the outcome that new chief executive Dean Holdsworth was looking for 24 hours after completing his takeover.
With just four Championship wins all season Bolton are 11 points short of safety while Rotherham and MK Dons scrap away picking up points on a regular basis.
Lennon’s hands have been tied since the November payroll stalled with Holdsworth looking to get a transfer embargo lifted to give the club a chance of avoiding relegation to League One.
Tellingly there was no mention of backing the current manager when the former Bolton and Wimbledon striker outlined his plans for the immediate future.
“The Football League has seen everything they need to see this football club will survive – and that’s in the Championship and League One. They have seen everything to be satisfied, which tells you there is money there.
“Unfortunately today’s social media tells you many things, some true, some false. The important thing is that the powers that be – Eddie, Trevor Birch, Football League – have seen what finances are there, and they are satisfied.
“We have always had a plan A and a plan B because the dynamics have changed. We have always been aware that the process wouldn’t be easy.
“I have learned a hell of a lot about the business side of football clubs in the last six months. It has been a great education.
“We have been in this for a long time, probably six months. When our name was mentioned a long time ago you can’t deny something that you are interested in, it’s not fair. It has been a race and there have been many uncertain times where the dynamics changed in the transaction. Sometimes no-one was responsible for that but it was a very long process.
“You can see why, when you see the transactions that have gone on in the recent history of the club for its benefit there have been a lot of different sales of equity and things related to the club which has been done to survive.
“It isn’t going to be easy process but we’ve been in there from an early stage and we’ve done things calmly.”
Next Saturday Bolton travel to face sixth from bottom Bristol City with all eyes on the management team.