THAT Wanderers slowed a dangerous haemorrhaging of funds to a trickle was perhaps the best news fans could hope for as the club announced their latest set of financial figures yesterday.

We already guessed the losses would be within the remit of Financial Fair Play – that much had been admitted by chairman Phil Gartside when he answered questions from The Bolton News back in October.

And to that end the club deserve some credit for pulling in their belts so quickly and avoiding the transfer embargo punishment which befell over-spenders Blackburn Rovers, Nottingham Forest and Leeds United.

But that a ‘mere’ £9.1million loss should be the smallest amount recorded since 2005 shows exactly how far the club has over-stretched itself in the last decade. And with only 12 months of parachute payments remaining from the top-flight days, there remains a lot of hard work ahead to remain the right side of the spending rules.

It is 10 years since Sam Allardyce’s side were chasing history as the first Bolton team to qualify for Europe, and that with debts of around £27million.

The consequent rise and fall was bankrolled almost entirely by the business interests of owner Eddie Davies and the well-worn argument in these parts is that while the lifelong fan remains content with that agreement, all the gloom-mongering over a now £172.9m debt is entirely hypothetical.

Nevertheless the figure, now nearly seven times what it was a decade ago, continues to make supporters nervous and will continue to climb until the club is either bought out, or gets promoted.

After a brief dalliance with Thai interest last year – which came to nothing – the hopes of another investor coming in while the club is still in the Championship remain thin.

That means the pressure to make Wanderers upwardly mobile again falls squarely on the shoulders of Neil Lennon, whose work in the transfer market this summer will again be done under tight financial restraints.

The Whites have reduced their wage bill from £37.4m to £28.4m, their lowest since 2006 when they were actually competing in the UEFA Cup. And they have done so by shedding some very big earners, such as David Ngog, Marvin Sordell and Chris Eagles.

Lennon still has a healthy budget to work with, however, and one which is actually larger than the one he had at Celtic, going toe-to-toe with the likes of Barcelona and Inter Milan in the Champions League.

Whether he can phase in the same sort of wage structure at the Macron remains to be seen but with more high-end salaries – Darren Pratley, Adam Bogdan, Keith Andrews, Matt Mills, Andy Lonergan – up in the summer, he may well have some room for manoeuvre.

Chung-Yong Lee’s move to Crystal Palace in January made another dent, while Jay Spearing, Medo Kamara and Rob Hall are all now viewed as expendable assets.

The club’s move towards self-sustainability places extra emphasis on a youth-first policy, and things look good on that front thanks to the rapid rise of Zach Clough, Tom Walker and Josh Vela this season.

What is going on outside the footballing arena may be just as important, as ventures like the newly-purchased hotel, the successful free school and the proposed Middlebrook Masterplan all start to bear fruit, slowly and surely.

Recent accounts suggest the worst may be over but turning losses into profits at this level will require a great deal more patience – a commodity in short supply in football at the best of times.

More likely Wanderers fans will dare to dream that Lennon can lead his side to the top table once again; only this time they will have learned their lesson.