Bolton’s wage bill challenge

Bolton Wanderers face a major financial challenge as they seek to adjust their wage bill to life in League One.   The average salary for a League One footballer in 2015 was £90,000 a year.  Several Bolton players are well in excess of that.   The wage bill was the main reason Bolton were losing £1m a month when the Sports Shield consortium took over in February.

Bolton Wanderers face a major financial challenge as they seek to adjust their wage bill to life in League One.   The average salary for a League One footballer in 2015 was £90,000 a year.  Several Bolton players are well in excess of that.   The wage bill was the main reason Bolton were losing £1m a month when the Sports Shield consortium took over in February.

Darren Pratley has a weekly wage of £14k and a contract that runs until 2018.  Jay Spearing, currently in limbo because his next appearance would trigger a £100,000 payment to Liverpool, is on similar terms. Ben Amos, Liam Trotter, Derek Osede and Dorian Dervite all earn over £400,000 a year and have a year or more to run on their contracts.

When Wigan were threatened with relegation, ten players departed, slashing the wage bill from £30m to £20m.  The rebuilding that followed has led to promotion back to the Championship.   Wigan also had £16m of parachute payments coming in, whilst Bolton’s parachute payments stopped this season.

The player sale also allowed the Lactics to meet League One’s Salary Cost Management Protocol (SCMP) which stipulates clubs must spend no more than 60 per cent of income on player wages.

Unlike Financial Fair Play, SCMP places no restrictions on player input, but it is doubtful whether the Sports Shield consortium has money to chuck around.