Ten years ago, Bolton Wanderers' fans were enjoying an eighth consecutive campaign in the Premier League.
The previous season they had reached the last 16 of the UEFA Cup, knocking out Atletico Madrid, and grabbing a 2-2 draw at Bayern Munich during a memorable European tour.
Now, with their team third bottom of the Championship and in apparent financial meltdown, Bolton's supporters are set to protest before, during and after their next home match with West Brom. The subject of their anger will be owner Ken Anderson.
Anderson, who bought the club for £1, was disqualified from being a company director in 2005 for transgressions relating to eight companies, including diverting or seeking to divert company funds, and was only allowed by the EFL to take his position at Bolton after the expiration of that ban.
He has already taken £525,000 in consultancy fees from Bolton and paid £125,000 to a company 'owned by a family member' in a year in which accounts show the club lost £12.9million.
Earlier this week, Dale Vince, chairman of Forest Green Rovers, alleged that Anderson reneged on a legal contract to sign a player and described him as untrustworthy. According to Vince, Forest Green ended up paying the wages of Christian Doidge who had been loaned to Bolton with a permanent move agreed to follow. It is the latest chapter in a sorry saga of financial turmoil.
Last month, Sportsmail revealed that Bolton players, fed up with the late payment of wages, were trying to find new clubs. In December it was reported that the Professional Footballers' Association were to step in with a loan — understood to be more than £400,000 — to help pay November and December salaries.
The PFA declined to comment, but are set to step in this month too. On Wednesday night, it emerged Bolton had been hit by two winding-up petitions. One from the agency Stellar and one from HMRC.
Bolton are due a payment from the EFL, which may well have influenced the petitions.
While Bolton's players awaited their delayed salaries, one senior star lent a cash-strapped young player £1,600 so he could pay his bills and put petrol in his car.
Things are so bad that Aaron Wilbraham is yet to be paid his goal bonus for his 88th-minute header against Nottingham Forest which saved Bolton from relegation on the final day of last season.
Not paying strikers would appear to be a theme. 'They've had our top striker for half a season and not paid a penny for him,' said Vince. 'Shocking. We've told Bolton we are going to sue them for breach of contract.
'Christian is out of pocket — he was promised a three-year deal at Championship wages, so he's got a claim against them as well.'
It is safe to say Vince is no fan of Anderson. 'He is so slippery,' he added. 'He wasn't apologetic. He just laughed it all off. He said, "It doesn't matter what you do. If you bankrupt the club, I'm a secured creditor, I will get paid, you won't, you will get 10p in the pound". He doesn't give a s***.'
Anderson said the claims about Doidge were 'misleading'. But the Forest Green owner is not alone. One agent, who asked not to be named, described dealing with Anderson as 'a brick wall of nonsense. You never get a straight answer. Pinning him down to a commitment is impossible.'
It is a view shared by a source close to the Remi Matthews situation. In the summer, Bolton took goalkeeper Matthews and team-mate Yanic Wildschut from Norwich City on loan.
Matthews, 24, was meant to sign a permanent deal in January but has returned to Carrow Road and Sportsmail can disclose that, at the last count, more than £200,000 is owed to Norwich.
'Remi had a contract with Bolton for the next 18 months and now he only has one at Norwich for the next six,' the source said. 'Effectively he is out of work in the summer. It's people's lives they are messing with. It's wrong. He feels really let down. The problem with these guys is they don't communicate and when you ring them they just say, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll do it".'
The source also hit out at the EFL's handling of the matter and refusal to make public those clubs operating under a transfer embargo. 'This is where the EFL are a disgrace, because they won't announce embargoes,' the source said.
'They should be embarrassing Bolton now. They should be telling the whole world. They are getting away with it. It is a scandal. You have clubs trying to do business properly and they get stitched up. Bolton are taking the p***.'
Staff at Bolton are reluctant to speak out for fear of losing their jobs. However, one insider said that many of Anderson's decisions 'beggared belief'. None more so, in their opinion, than the signing of ex-Manchester City midfielder Stephen Ireland in October.
'Stephen was a good player in his time, but the manager was never going to play him,' the source said. 'Regardless, Ken brings him in, he does not start and then he leaves on a free in January. The PFA are having to help to pay the wages and here's Ken bringing someone in on a few grand a week who is not going to kick a ball for us.'
Anderson took over the club with former Bolton striker Dean Holdsworth in 2016 after former owner Eddie Davies wrote off debts of £175m. The pair paid £1 and took out a £4.4m loan to cover tax debts.
Anderson bought Holdsworth out for £150,000 in 2017. In September, Bolton looked set to go into administration but were rescued when — four days before his death — Davies made a £5m loan to Anderson who then loaned money to the club.
In a statement on Wednesday, Anderson said he was doing his 'utmost' to sell the club and claimed the PFA loan would not cover the cost of one month's wages, let alone two. He also accused Forest Green of being 'disrespectful' and 'misleading' over Doidge. The club, along with the EFL, declined to comment.
