A SKELETAL Bolton Wanderers squad of just 14 senior players and scholars is due to return for pre-season this week - but an exact date has still to be confirmed.

Phil Parkinson and his backroom are expected at Lostock to begin preparations for the upcoming League One campaign, which kicks-off against Wycombe in just 39 days’ time.

But such is the uncertainty swirling around the squad and coaching staff at present – the exact start date for pre-season, which usually begins with fitness testing, was still unclear as The Bolton News went to press.

A summer schedule issued to players in May said players would be required to return at the start of this week but no confirmation has seemingly been given to the squad.

Players and staff will risk breaching contracts if they fail to turn up for training despite going unpaid since March.

Non-football staff have been assured that wages for June will be in accounts on Friday, but Parkinson and his squad will have to wait until the club’s ownership issues have been settled before they receive a penny from the club.

Erhun Oztumer, who is one of the players under contract, is desperate to avoid last season’s negativity creeping into the current campaign.

The midfielder is keen to start afresh at Wanderers after a difficult 12 months but is finding it difficult to get motivated as the long wait for news of a takeover continues.

“Right now, if I am honest, I’m not excited at all for the start of the season,” he told The Bolton News. “There have been a lot of rumours that things are sorted and that it is going to be better but until that happens we don’t know if this is returning to normal.

“Usually when the fixtures come out you are picking out games you look forward to but I can’t really say I have looked at them. I don’t even know who we’ve got in the Carabao Cup.

“Like everyone else I’m just praying things mould back into place and we can get back to being a proper football club.

“We got told that things would be better so many times last season, so right now we’re just taking it day by day.

“At the moment I just want a text from someone at Bolton to say ‘report for training’ and that we know what we are going to be doing.”