WANDERERS still have friends in high places – and they share my own concern with how things are looking at the club right now.

In the past week I’ve had the pleasure of chatting with Gary Cahill in Spain, before the England game, and also another modern-day legend in Kevin Nolan.

Neither of them can understand what has happened at a club that is still very close to their hearts.

I don’t know whether the proposed takeover will happen, or whether it’s just words. But if money is not made available by the next transfer window I’m worried the club is going to get relegated.

Wanderers need an overhaul from top to bottom – and that isn’t me being negative, I’m sure everyone can see that, not least the supporters.

The only person I exclude from that is the manager. I think Neil Lennon is doing a good job considering all the problems he has faced and I would like to see what he could do with a bit of cash behind him. But that has to happen quickly.

Reading the stories about the possible takeover it is difficult not to get excited if you have the club at heart.

I know Dean Holdsworth of old. He’s a vibrant fella, reminds me of Del Boy from Only Fools and Horses. But he’s definitely no plonker.

Dean is a street-wise chap and I am sure if he is involved with a plan to take on the club he will know what he is getting himself into. More importantly, he knows what it takes to get Bolton rocking again because he was part of a team under Sam Allardyce that brought the whole town together.

Naturally I ask the same questions as everyone else. Where is the money coming from? Will the club have cash to spend on players?

But we’ve reached the stage now where if it doesn’t happen, I can definitely see the club going down. No disrespect meant to Wigan Athletic but the situation looks very similar.

We should be beating teams like Bristol City at home. And you can see that Neil has got a massive task on his hands now, especially as it seems he won’t have anything to spend on transfers as things stand.

I spoke to Cahill over a cup of coffee over in Alicante the other day and even though he has moved on with his career at Chelsea and with his country, you could tell how concerned he was at the state Bolton is in. He spent a long time here and I know he watches out for them every week.

It was nice to catch up with him. I enjoyed the game too even though it was obvious that Roy Hodgson has also got a lot of work to do if he is going to make England competitive at next summer’s Euros.

Then on the way back home everything was brought into perspective with the news from Paris. It was truly horrifying.

I have visited that beautiful city and send my sympathy but the really scary thing is that it could happen anywhere in the world.

Crystal Palace right-back Martin Kelly and the daughter of a journalist friend of mine, Alan Biggs, were caught up in it all – and I am relieved to say they both came home safely. Others weren’t as lucky and my heart goes out to their families.

I think it was the right decision to play last night’s friendly. Yes, it was emotional, but I think it is important to show a bit of unity at times like this – to stand up and show that we will carry on.

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WE’RE getting down to crunch time as UEFA prepare to select the referees for next year’s European Championships.

On the face of it, the battle is between Mark Clattenburg and Martin Atkinson for the English quota at the tournament, unless they decide to break with tradition and allow two referees from the same country to attend.

Clattenburg was outstanding in the play-off between Norway and Hungary, getting two penalty calls absolutely spot on. My first reaction was that he had missed one of them but a replay showed it was clear simulation – so how he spotted it, I’ve no idea.

Martin Atkinson was in action last night at the Denmark v Sweden game and he too has been in good form this season. He also produced an excellent performance in last season’s Europa League final.

There are another couple of rounds of Champions League games before the final decision is made and I’m sure both men will be looking to stay in top form.

In my eyes, Clattenburg edges it. You rarely see him make a key match error and he took charge of the Super Cup back in August without any problem at all.

I have my reservations about whether he will get the nod, though, as I think there are a few people behind the scenes at the Football Association who would be happy to see Atkinson get the nod.

The ideal situation would be for all the major European nations – England, Germany, Italy, France, Spain – to send two officials apiece.

The problem with that, of course, is that those same nations will probably get to the latter stages of the tournament, which means selecting a referee may become more difficult.

You do have some good referees who should be selected that don’t come from countries who have qualified – for example Bjorn Kuipers who took control of the Ireland v Bosnia game the other night.

Meanwhile, the managerial merry go round is turning again, particularly in the Championship. We’ve seen a few come and go in the last couple of weeks but my own club, QPR, needed some change.

I didn’t think Chris Ramsey was a great appointment at the time, too inexperienced, and I think that view has been proven correct.

Neil Warnock has got the role for now and I hope he can add a bit of stability to the place.