‘Disgrace’ as Bolton Wanderers axe backroom staff

Relegated Bolton Wanderers have made significant cuts to their first team backroom staff, with the possibility of more to follow.

Faced with a loss of more than £5 million in revenue after dropping into League One for the first time in 23 years, the club’s owners informed a number of coaching and medical personnel their services would no longer be required at the end of last week.

It is believed Under-21 coach Iain Brunskill, head of sports science Mark Leather, goalkeeping coach Bobby Mimms, fitness coach Chris Short and sports rehabilitator Dave Dean are among those affected.

Wanderers have declined to comment but say a statement will be issued in due course.

The club announced on Thursday last week it had entered into a consultation process with a view to restructuring its football operation and staff.

Meetings took place before the staff travelled to London for the game against Fulham, which ended in a 1-0 defeat.

One member of staff, who asked not to be named, said: “About 10 or 11 of the backroom staff were called in individually on Thursday and told they were no longer needed anymore, and the club expected them to go on the bus to the Fulham game.

“I think it’s absolutely disgraceful way to treat people who have given such loyal service.

“They weren’t even thanked for their work.

“The backroom staff don’t earn anywhere near what the players earn – they have mortgages to pay, families and children and will have to look for new jobs.”

Wanderers are currently without a manager and interim boss Jimmy Phillips confirmed after the Fulham game that he, football advisor Peter Reid and coach Nicky Spooner would be stepping down from their role with the first team having completed the nine games they were asked to cover.

Though some of the staff are expected to serve out a notice period of up to six months, the cuts cast doubt on preparations for next season, which kicks-off on August 6.

Phillips, the academy manager, also voiced concern after the Fulham game the redundancies could spread to the academy at Lostock – which provided the schooling for first team stars such as Rob Holding, Zach Clough and Josh Vela.

“They haven’t affected us yet,” he said. “But once they have sorted out the first team structure you would think they would move on to the academy.”

Darren Pratley, the first team captain, summed up the mood in the camp by saying the redundancies were like “losing family”.

“There is a great relationship here, these are people you see every day and they are like family,” he said.

“It is very tough on them. It’s their livelihoods. But they have stayed so professional.”

Source

Obviously upsetting to those on the receiving end of being shown the door but surely it can't have come as such a big surprise to them?

Clearly the club has been paying out more than it is getting in and that can't continue and something as to give.

The players contracts seem to be untouchable under football rules (surely that is fundamentally wrong - no other 'employee' in any other field of work is given unlimited job protection as far as I know) and so cuts HAVE to be made elsewhere and it is these ancillary staff that suffer.

I'm sorry for everyone who has to go because of this process (I've gone through it myself) and life is sometimes not fair but I don't think you had to be a rocket scientist for most of them to see this coming and if they had anything about them would have already been looking for a way out anyway (some maybe even sticking around deliberately for a redundancy package even!).

I guess this is only the beginning as costs need to be brought down greatly still.

I am surprised that we are still employing Rocket Scientists.

I believe this stems from a period when a faction within the club were in favour of putting Gary Megson on the moon.

It's seems weird that they haven't been given their marching orders before now.

It's the way the layoffs are handled that upsets people. No notice ...go down to Fulham and then fook off....nice.
Of course all at the club should be looking for jobs in advance of this but it all leaves a bad taste and does not set up a good atmosphere for next season.

There's going to be a lot of people multitasking next season by the sounds of it

I think it was BTID that posted a while back that stated we had over 300 staff which seems an incredible amount to me!

terenceanne wrote:It's the way the layoffs are handled that upsets people. No notice ...go down to Fulham and then fook off....nice.
Of course all at the club should be looking for jobs in advance of this but it all leaves a bad taste and does not set up a good atmosphere for next season.

Agreed, such short notice, and the way its been done, isn't very sensitive. however, bear in mind that the current management weren't in place, and they are starting from scratch, with no time to spare. Also, they were not in a position to arrange redundancies, resignations, etc. That should have been done by the outgoing management.

Just an aside, I hope the players are aware of the consequences of their bone idle attitude throughout most of the season. An awful lot of this is down to them.

gloswhite wrote:

terenceanne wrote:It's the way the layoffs are handled that upsets people. No notice ...go down to Fulham and then fook off....nice.
Of course all at the club should be looking for jobs in advance of this but it all leaves a bad taste and does not set up a good atmosphere for next season.

Agreed, such short notice, and the way its been done, isn't very sensitive. however, bear in mind that the current management weren't in place, and they are starting from scratch, with no time to spare. Also, they were not in a position to arrange redundancies, resignations, etc. That should have been done by the outgoing management.

Just an aside, I hope the players are aware of the consequences of their bone idle attitude throughout most of the season. An awful lot of this is down to them.

Agree with most of what you say ....however the players we have now are just not good enough (not their fault) and Lennon had his hands tied behind his back..... so outgoing management is much more to blame IMO.

Agreed, but as we saw, it was non-existent. Feel sorry for the poor employees who have to carry the can for all the idleness and ineptitude.

While it's not a surprise it does annoy me, largely because of how amaturishly the whole thing is being handled. An announcement that says "We are looking at how to restructure the club" and firing back room staff on the same day smacks of someone thinking "Oh shit, we have to do something quick so it looks like we're right on top of things."

Telling staff "Travel on the team bus all the way to London in two days and when you come back you're sacked" is worse than amateurish, it's downright stupid. Surely the new owners must realise how much resentment that would cause and that the affected people wouldn't hesitate to talk to the media about what happened?

I realise costs have to be cut of course and I don't blame the owners for doing that BUT the way they're doing it leaves a sour taste in the mouth.

It also indicates to me that we might still be under the "E" word for quite some time yet and that the reason they're chopping so much backroom payroll is because we HAVE to hang onto the playing staff we have now because no one else is coming in. I know that sounds like a stretch and it might well be one but in all truth I truly think it may be the case. I note too that JP is quoted as saying he, Reidy and Spooner have all stepped down too but I still think he or Peter Reid will be named as manager before next Monday.

I don't like it a bit but if the books are in as much of a shambles as I suspect they are then there might not be any other choice either in where the axe is swung or who takes over the team. I fear there's a lot more to come out yet and none of it's going to be good in the short term at least.