Bolton fans' jury: How do you rate Ken Anderson's reign?

Since coming in as a business partner to Dean Holdsworth in March 2016 there have been plenty of dramas and disappointments for Anderson to handle – but can his tenure be considered a success?

That’s the question we posed to three readers in this week’s Fans’ Jury. Here’s what they had to say.

EVENTFUL, roller-coaster, toxic, controversial are some of the words that could be used to describe Ken Andersons reign at the helm of this famous club. The brinkmanship of the owner, the fans protests, winding up petitions, the banning of the local reporter and of ‘Super’ John McGinlay are recent memories that perhaps paint a disastrous view of the Chairman’s tenure. The football, and it’s sometimes easy to forget this is about football, has been a painful watch this season, however over the whole period, there have been big successes.

Life in League One under fresh ownership started for many realistic observers wondering whether stability would represent success on the field. A promotion at the first time of asking was an incredible achievement given a transfer embargo and a realisation the financial mess inherited was possibly worse than imagined.

An ugly divorce between Anderson and Holdsworth was played out for all to see and unfortunately public spats have been commonplace. Positively, though, it seemed costs were being tackled for the first time in years and the football continued overall to be a success, just about, thanks to Aaron Wilbraham and a day none of us will forget in May 2018. Costs had been cut, Championship status secured, and the club was ready to move forward.

Investment has been the key word and had Ken achieved a sale eight months ago, it is probable his time would have been deemed a huge success.

Sadly, timing is everything, financial difficulties heightened severely, money ran dry and we find ourselves in a similar situation to exactly three years ago. We can assume Ken’s aim was always to cut costs and sell for a profit although whatever business plan was presented in 2016, it can’t have banked on £10million being achieved from the sales of Holding, Clough and Madine.

We hope new owners have deeper pockets and Andersons legacy may well depend on this. ‘Mixed’ is a generous assessment of the Anderson experience, it has certainly been far from dull!

Damien Haydock

It is challenging to assess the period of Ken Anderson's ownership of the club without resorting to hyperbolic abuse and unbridled criticism.

Throughout his three-year tenure controversy has never been far from the forefront, with numerous unwanted headlines serving to drag the club's proud name through the mud. Such negativity has surrounded this time period, resulting in either misery or apathy amongst the loyal supporters.

Some staunch Anderson loyalists will point towards the perceived mess that he inherited upon completing his purchase of the club alongside Dean Holdsworth. They will point towards the commercial revenue streams that have opened up in recent times, such as the live concerts and Rugby League matches, serving to boost the profile of the club and stadium. Also, some on-field high-spots such as promotion from League One whilst under a transfer embargo that pre-dated his tenure and the jubilation of last season's great escape will live long in the memory.

However, so many events have served to render his era as one that will not be remembered fondly by all concerned.

The constant brinksmanship with numerous creditors, meaning winding up orders are more frequent than league victories. The confusing and bizarre statements issued via the club's media outlets, running the gamut from Churchillian quotes to detailed critiques of FGR owner Dale Vince, who was the wronged party over the Christian Doidge fiasco. PR faux pas achieved by blacklisting club icon John McGinlay and Marc Iles of the Bolton News. Their crimes? Fair and honest criticism. The list goes on and on, and has only served to make the club a figure of fun, there to be mocked by fans of neighbouring clubs, who aren't without their own issues to concern themselves with.

The anticipated takeover cannot come quickly enough, a line needs to be drawn under Mr Anderson's time at the club.

History will judge his legacy, which at the moment doesn't seem to be much. There is a dark cloud over the club at the moment, on and off the pitch, with a need to reset and move forward.

A situation that already riddled with issues has not improved during this era, we can all only hope that happier times are just around the corner.

Max Byrne

WE all know the background to Ken’s arrival: near liquidation, relegated, no squad/manager, transfer embargo and a club haemorrhaging money, so due to the constraint of space, we’ll not go into that.

Ken's game-plan seemed to be to take control of the club, stem or reduce the flow of losses and then make the club a more viable prospect to another investor or even a buyer. This way, Ken could make a profit from his time here and then hopefully leave us in the hands of someone with deeper pockets than his own. It was always made clear that Ken couldn't really fund the club going forward.

A squad was assembled, promotion achieved and a subsequent Championship survival with little complaints from the fan base. The rise of discontent at the running of the club has gone hand in hand with poor results on the pitch with more and more attention being directed at Ken's business methods.

These methods have been dubious and distasteful at times with the owner seeming to pick and choose who he paid and when, staving off court orders and winding-up proceedings along the way, but if you've not got the money to pay everyone at once, you have to choose who to pay first and work out who you can ask to wait.

Multiple winding-up petitions have appeared and disappeared and with the club currently losing far less money than when he arrived, in a division higher than when he arrived and operating outside of a transfer embargo, then surely that is signs of progress, albeit slow.

Further sources of income via concerts and rugby etc have been re-introduced to the stadium, which also bode well for the future.

Has it been a success? Not really, but it hasn’t been a disaster either.

Chris Worrall

FOR many Bolton fans, the name Ken Anderson brings about powerful feelings of repulsion.

Not since the days of Roy McFarland’s disastrous spell as manager have thousands felt strongly enough to protest en masse.

However, many fans seem to forget that without Ken stumping up the cash to bail out the failed Dean Holdsworth deal, we may not have a club to support. Ken never proclaimed to be a money man and from day one he stated that the club was in a mess, largely as a result of commercially poor deals, epitomised by the huge contract given to Ben Amos. Ken continued to reduce outgoings, increase revenue streams with concerts and rugby league matches and improve communication with the fans, something which was welcomed at the time.

Sadly, in recent months, things began to unravel. Winding up orders, the Doidge fiasco, the blacklisting of Marc Iles and John McGinlay and the regular use of official club media to take cheap shots at the likes of Paul Heathcote have left fans at the end of their tether.

I always supported Ken, but the child-like way he behaved towards anyone who dared to criticise him, coupled with the longer-term damage to the club’s reputation have soured his legacy. The main reason for the loss of my backing came with his refusal to ‘take action’, as he promised, against a failing manager, which ultimately has left us facing a likely relegation.

Having said all that, Ken always stated that his end game was to restructure the club in order to make it more sellable, to somebody who had deeper pockets that he has. To that effect, he has achieved what he set out to do.

So thank you Ken for your part in avoiding administration, or worse, but please take your hefty paycheque off to the Caribbean, and don’t bother dropping by if you are ever passing.

Chris Evans