Down but not out

That's the price they are likely to pay for the defeat at Ipswich on Wednesday night when they were just minutes away from a place in the play-off final before a string of dramatic and ontroversial events left their promotion dream in tatters.

Already Sam Allardyce has warned it may be impossible to resist offers for his star players and the share price of Burnden Leisure plc, the club's parent company, has fallen 30 per cent to eight pence but chairman Phil Gartside struck a positive chord today when he said defiantly: "It's not a disaster. We're not throwing the towel in; we're going to be up and at 'em and planning for next year from a basis that we have moved forward significantly.

"We have a business plan and we've got the confidence of the bank behind us again. We've got monies to raise but we're not as desperate for it as we were when we started off in September-October.

"We're in the football business and the business has to balance its books. We made it quite plain when I took over as chairman that, from that day onwards, the books would be balanced.

"Now we're looking at it from the point of view of asking Sam to restructure his playing staff.

"He's got players out of contract, players he's wanting to trade and players he is wanting to sign. It just means that it's not going to be as easy as it could have been.

"The financial reality is that we do need to look at our costs and our budgets. The fan base we will have is going to be important to us.

"If we'd gone into the Premiership it would have been much different. If we'd got up there this year the TV money and the extra gates etc would have been worth £7m to £11m.

"We have to recognise that, because we've not made it, we've all got a part to play - fans and management alike.

"But we will pick ourselves up.

"If we had gone up this time we could have traded players, if Sam had wanted to, whereas now the reality is that we can't just trade, we have to realise some of our assets."

That's a stark warning that the sought-after talent such as Eidur Gudjohnsen may have to be sold in the close season but Mr Gartside says Wanderers are far from unique in that respect.

"We're no different from anyone else," he explained, "and Ipswich are in the same boat. They aren't in the Premiership yet and I know that they have a list of players - if they don't make it - who are being targeted.

"They sold arguably their best player (Kieron Dyer) last year after they failed to win promotion. They restructured and moved on. Who are we to say we shouldn't have to do that?

"And Sam's ability in that area is why we appointed him in the first place."

On the question of the anticipated break-up of the side that came so near to firing the club back into the top flight, the chairman said the players themselves could hold the key.

"Six months ago you wondered if they cared, now you can see that they want to stick together," he said, highlighting the team spirit generated as Wanderers bounced back from the potentially demoralising defeats in the semi-finals of the Worthington Cup and FA Cup.

"Nevertheless there are players in our squad who want to play Premiership football and that will dictate, to some extent, what happens in the summer. They want to achieve the best in their careers.

"I would have said that 90 per cent of the players here would like to do that with Bolton Wanderers but there's another year going by.

"But the team spirit that has built up over the past three months or so has been fantastic and it must be maintained.

"When you've had players like Dean Holdsworth talking about the Crazy Gang spirit and you see it build up - only for a couple of decisions to go against you ... I'm as disappointed as anyone but we've had a fantastic season. There's just more frustration attached to it now after what we've seen grow in the last three months.

"There are still a lot of initiatives with regard to the hotel and other developments and the business is going forward. We've had a severe blow but that doesn't say we won't continue to move forward. There's a great team spirit here on the management side as well as on the field and that gives me hope for the future.

"Everybody deserves credit for what has been achieved and how it has been achieved and I think it's starting to be recognised by the paying public. Hopefully, with their help, we'll see the benefits in 12 to 18 months time."