NEW boss Phil Parkinson has wasted no time tackling Wanderers’ owners head-on about the club’s transfer embargo.

The 48-year-old will get straight to work on improving his squad after receiving assurances from Ken Anderson that the restrictions will be lifted quickly.

After signing a two-year deal, Parkinson cut an impressive figure in his first press conference and refused to make promises on where he felt the Whites should be aiming this season until he has had a chance to look at his players in closer proximity.

But he quickly underlined the message of how crucial lifting the embargo was to Wanderers' fortunes.

“The bottom line is that the club needs players,” he told The Bolton News. “The stadium and the name of the club will not be what gets it to the top of the league next year, it will be the quality of the team.

“There are some quality players here but the squad is nowhere near big enough.”

Given the financial problems faced by Wanderers in the last 12 months, Parkinson’s decision to jump ship from Bradford City – a club relatively settled and under new German ownership – has raised eyebrows in the football world.

He insisted, however, that he was fully aware of the task facing him at the Macron Stadium.

“I have asked the questions and got all the answers I felt I needed.

“Lifting the embargo was the key part of my conversation and that is going to be dealt with – Ken (Anderson) has got a meeting in the next week or so and he’s confident that we will move forward and get some players in.

“The club has had some difficult times but there has been a lot of work gone on behind the scenes to get the club moving back in the right direction again, and that’s why the job really appealed to me.

“There is a lot of work that goes on that sometimes supporters don’t see. I have come here in the belief that we will attract players at the top end of this division at least.”

Parkinson will be joined by assistant manager Steve Parkin, sports science chief Nick Allenby and goalkeeping coach Lee Butler.