AS Premiership salaries continue to astound the ordinary working man, here's a look back to what Wanderers players were earning at the turn of the century.

"FROM the Evening News, April 20, 1904: EVERYTHING passed off very successfully at the annual meeting of shareholders of the Bolton Wanderers Football and Athletic Co Ltd, held on Tuesday evening in the Empress Hall, Mealhouse Lane.

"The chairman, Mr TY Ritson, said the directors regretted the failure of the team to qualify for the First Division of the League, but, on the other hand, had every reason to congratulate the shareholders on the team's success in the cup ties.

"To beat such clubs as Reading, Southampton, Sheffield United and Derby County was a feat of which any club might be proud.

"The Second Division would again have to be faced and it was the intention of the directors to keep the team together, to secure some first-class men and make a determined effort to get their place in the First Division next season.

"The balance sheet showed there had been a loss on the year's working to February 29 of £525 5s 5d, but the club had yet to receive its share of the third round, semi-final and final gates, which the directors estimated at £1,500. Players' wages and signing-on bonuses absorbed £3,752 9s 8d!"