It sounds like a fetid mess. Look under every stone and in each drain and there will be another wriggly thing or worse.

Something seriously untoward is a reasonable guess if we are trying to be logical based on what is in the public domain currently. However, if it were a serious criminal enterprise, it would be sufficiently funded at this stage and what we are seeing instead is more likely a poseur winging it. You don't mention Dave Richards and John Williams unless they are sitting with you in a press conference. He may well have rung them up but as things stand he is more likely to be dodging their unhappy returned calls than unveiling them in a completed take over. Either match fixing or ego tripping, Bolton are screwed. I reiterate my point that the administrators are probably Bolton's best and only future.

they are not but it does give Brentord a gimme to finish ahead of us. Forest cannot make the play-offs unless Bolton's results are expunged.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/48077182https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/48077182https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/48077182 Where is PFA?

Leeds +2 v BW Norwich +5 Sheff U +5 So again unless Leeds hit eight against Villa, even GD makes no difference to the title in the event of Norwich and Sheff U both losing their last two games.

Leeds Norwich Sheff U all doubled Wanderers so no impact at the top. It is the play off places where Derby lost away to them and the others in contention for 6th didn't which get mixed up. Ultimate irony if Boro miss out on 6th through a club not fulfilling its fixtures- no sympathy! Likeliest scenarios are going to be either Bolton starting L1 with -10 points or L1 being only 23 clubs next season. Having propped Bolton up this long, they will find a way of surviving the next 9 days.

Boro were also penalised 3 points Relevant rules are below: 12 Retirement and Admission of Clubs 12.1 Clubs retiring from The League pursuant to Regulations 10 and 11 shall retire with effect from the end of the relevant Season, whereupon new Clubs taking their places shall be admitted and be deemed to have been formally elected as members of The League. With effect from such time any new Club shall become entitled to receive a transfer of and to exercise the rights attaching to such share in The League held by the retiring Club as the Board shall direct and each of the retiring Clubs shall procure that, with effect from such date and until the respective transferee Club has been registered as the holder of its share in the Register of Members of The League, the rights attaching thereto shall be exercised in such manner as such transferee Club shall direct. 12.2 Cessation of membership. If a Club (or Clubs) ceases to be a member of The League for any reason (including, without limitation, pursuant to Article 4 of the Articles of Association or by way of relegation or expulsion for disciplinary reasons): 12.2.1 during any Normal Playing Season, its playing record shall be expunged and the number of relegation places from the relevant Division for that Season shall be reduced by the number of Clubs ceasing to be members; 12.2.2 during the period between the end of the Normal Playing Season and the conclusion of the last Play-Off Match for that Season, its playing record shall not be expunged but the number of relegation places from the relevant Division for that Season shall be reduced by the number of Clubs ceasing to be members; or 12.2.3 during the period between the conclusion of the last Play-Off Match and the start of the following Season, its playing record shall not be expunged but the number of relegation places from the Division in which a Club would have played but for its cessation of membership, shall be reduced by the number of Clubs ceasing to be members and, during that Season, the relevant Division shall operate with a reduced number of Clubs.

In all seriousness, if I were a Bolton supporter I would desperately want administration ASAP. If I were a supporter and an unpaid creditor I would be filing for winding up now. It would focus attention and give momentum for getting a supporters' consortium together. Doing it sooner would make full liquidation and expulsion from the league structure less likely. As things stand these are probabilities rather than possibilities. Bassini will be a fate worse than death which is why I suspect Bassini is in there.

If Bolton's record get expunged, Derby would be the big winners getting into the play-offs. Rotherham and Millwall would be helped by a couple of points relative to Wigan and Reading at the bottom.

Bolton v Brentford now postponed by EFL. Players striking in season while they can still protect their position as preferred creditors. Obvious whoever is behind Bassini trying for a cheapo cheapo.

Sheff U's great strength is their three mobile centre backs. He would probably be bought for cover rather than a first team place.

I must have missed that from Feb 2011 in the telegraph. I thought Bassini's Rovers connection was known but never presented in the press. Given what else was going on at that time this was astonishing hubris. Qatari offer to buy Rovers had recently been rejected. Him moving for Bolton means there are wheels within wheels within wheels and I have no idea what is the cog and what is the sprocket. I have a deep feeling though that administration is the better option for Bolton.

2 points advantage to Wigan last season and currently 11 points advantage to us this season. Putting the 2 squads together, how many Wigan players would get into a Wigburn first XI and who would be manager?

Bassini deal smells iffy.

Nuttall and Samuel were borderline OK in League 1 for us. If we are talking promotion push to the Premier League we have to be thinking differently.

Norwich were top of the league before that 7-1 hammering. Cannot see anything but a defeat if we are without Lenihan.

Checked the match thread and nobody has volunteered for this one so here goes. I had vowed never to do a Match preview again after chalking up a 100% record of defeats in games I wrote in anticipation of last season so probably as well I saved my literary endeavours for one that doesn't matter. Not even prize money for places are at stake unless someone can correct me. 1965/6 was the first season I followed Rovers in depth and we had a decent Cup run as well as an abysmal relegation. In the 5th round we drew then 2nd Division Norwich away and got a 2-2 draw before winning the replay at Ewood 3-2 after a fright of being pulled back from an early lead to trailing 1-2 until quite late. Roll forward 15 years and I worked with a pleasant guy at Shell who was a passionate Norwich supporter who told me he had been at the Carrow Road game and had see his first incident of football hooliganism when Rovers supporters pelted a guy dressed as a canary with anything they could get their hands on. So much for football mascots... Back to Saturday night and the late late kick off and a chance for somebody to put themselves in the shop window... perhaps... Leeds are not playing Villa until Sunday and If Sheffield United fail to beat Ipswich at 3pm then Norwich will be playing for both promotion and the title. Party pooping time! Something we did a few times when in the Prem but not recently. Of course Norwich will be on a roll in a packed Carrow Road which can get quite noisy as a smallish stadium extended upwards over the years. So not perfect for blooding youngsters but I hope we will see a repeat of u-23s on the bench while saving the nappy job for Swansea. I see no benefit from not restoring Raya and very much hope travis has recovered to give us an otherwise unchanged outfield line-up from the stroll against Bolton. We have shown we can give all of the teams at the top a headache (even Sheff U away until the sending off) and Norwich had their work cut out at Ewood until the clock struck 80 and the most vulnerable defence to late goals met the most potent late scorers. Norwich have now drawn 4 consecutively and not been commanding in any of their games recently. Of course if we see Mulgrove, Evans and Smallwood together- we will let in at least 4, again. Not a game for Charlie unless we win a late corner. I would particularly like to see Rodwell in midfield under the pressure Norwich will exert. We have seen enough from Rovers to know we can get in amongst the Canaries. I don't expect we will get to or past the 60 point mark with a game to spare but I do expect we will make a decent game of it which is the very least the tv audience and the travelling 600 deserve.

Very sad. Not that he is banned but that he should find it worth his time to do such a thing.

Hoping we don't end up with a single colour on the back in the way that has been inflicted on stripes this season. I believe pale blue was mandated by the sponsors so the logo would stand out so I am not expecting any change back to proper blue any time soon.

Could be a key point in what we all have seen as excessive loyalty this season. Listening to Mowbray's post match interview on Saturday I got a sense that certain players are not taking kindly to being dropped and he was not sympathetic.

Senior left 8 May, the day we were relegated. Cheston had been completely overruled on appointing Warnock and have we heard anything of him or Silvester? Accountants were external- KPMG and EY brought in to review the club after relegation and Mowbray's visit to Pune so I doubt they were in any way directly responsible persuading Dack to join or keeping the key players after the drop. From what I heard at the time, Mowbray played a huge part in keeping the club together when it could easily have been allowed to fall apart.

A series of improbable scorelines could see Bradford, Walsall, Scunthorpe and Accrington relegated. A single point v Plymouth or either of Wimbledon not winning or Southend not getting at least a point and they are totally safe this Saturday.

Your memory is betraying you.. No senior management other than Mowbray at Ewood when we were relegated and Mowbray went to Pune on 22 May 2017. 2 lots of accountants were swarming all over Ewood while the summer transfer window was open which undoubtedly meant that no strategy was agreed until almost when the new season opened (disastrously if you recall). Other than Dack, new signings were pretty late as well. Mowbray worked an absolute blinder in very difficult circumstances.

L1 tougher this season only because half the division is driven by fear of relegation in an insane scrap at the bottom. Having sung the praises of Luton, both Rovers and Wigan of last season were better sides than they are currently. Mowbray's record relative to past records in L1 more than speaks for itself and should only be held as a pure + for him. It is whether he can repeat the trick and get us promoted from the Championship which is the nub of the debate, isn't it?

Luton are being diminished by having only just come up but they have some good players and pace throughout the front line. If they keep them and strengthen judiciously, no reason for not finishing top half of the Championship. For what it is worth, Rovers' 96 points is a record high for second place in League 1. Average points for 1st are 93.5 and 2nd 86.7. If you look at Gordon Lee's title winners in 1975 recasting with 3 points for a win, they would have got 82 points and that fabulous side of Howard Kendall in 1980 would have got 84 points coming second in Division 3- all 46 games. So Mowbray last season needs to be viewed in that context. But I would back both our 1975 and 1980 teams to beat last year's Rovers but that is what hindsight does for you...