The chairman revealed the huge amount of cash that has been poured into Bolton in pursuit of promotion to the Championship, and her own frustration that the Whites had not yet managed to bridge the gap.
This summer saw an £18m ‘chunk’ converted into equity and Ms Brittan confirmed that the only external debt was the outstanding £4.5m owed to those who invested in the bond scheme in the summer of 2023.
“This business is getting all the money that goes in,” the chairman said. “And that is from the original five investors and then the Swiss consortium, who are Nick Luckock’s brothers and friends, and it’s £60m that has gone in over the last six years. That simplifies it.
“Just so everyone is really clear, it is really expensive. The stadium is coming to a stage in its life where there are roof leaks and little things can go wrong, lifts can break down, so it has been more expensive than we would have liked. And I I think that’s why having someone here like David (Ray) who has a very strong financial background is important.
“It is very, very easy in football to spend money but we need to try and be smarter than that.
“We have seen so many football clubs with huge budgets for players, which everybody wants, and they still don’t get where they want to get.
“We have tried to be patient. We are really frustrated that we’re still in League One and we have spent £60m but we do believe that when you look at the last six years and you look at where this football club was when we arrived, then you look six months later we had COVID, what we’ve done is try to build it step by step so that when we do get to the Championship we then have further resource and we’re able to compete.
“You are here forever. We as owners are not, we’re just custodians. And I will always do the right thing for this football club, so if someone comes along and they have huge amounts of money and they are the right types of people and they can take it forward in the right way I will consider everything because it’s not about what’s best for me, it’s about what is best to take this football club back to the Premier League.
“That is what I’m here to do and when I step off, at whatever stage I step off, I will absolutely make sure that the football club has been left in a better place than we found it.
“The fans need to know that there is nothing to hide, so when you ask that question there’s no convoluted answer – it’s all simple. The money has gone in from the investors and there is one £4.5m bond.
“I think it was extraordinary after what the fans have been through at this football club that they trusted us enough to put £4.5m pounds in.”
Chief executive David Ray explained how the £18m share capital issue in the summer went into the general running of the club and did not represent ‘added money’ for the transfer budget.
“There has been funding coming into the football club over a period of time and I think Sharon talked about sustainability before – and we’re not quite as close as we’d like to be at the moment.
“We would like to be more sustainable, and that will come from generating more income and creating a better experience so that more people come to the game on matchday.
“But that (£18m) was just the conversion of funds that had come in previously into equity at that given point in time and we made the relevant filings and the relevant regulatory stuff with the EFL at that point in time.
“I saw a comment on social media that was suddenly had £18m and I think Fergal’s eyes lit up – but it wasn’t that, it was just the accumulation over a period of time, which was then converted. We weren’t saving £18m but it does highlight the significance of the funding that has come into this football club and what is being invested.”
Asked about what the money raised by the supporter bond has helped to fund, Ray – who was officially appointed as chief executive officer this summer – maintained that every penny had helped improve the business.
Estimating that wage budgets had, on average, more than doubled since he last worked in League One with Plymouth Argyle just three years ago, he also revealed that the club is currently trying to lower its energy bills, which have ballooned from £750,000 to more than £2m in the last six years.
But he reassured supporters that all the money which has come into the club – especially that raised by the bond – has helped to steer Wanderers towards a more sustainable future.
“I remember reading about the bond before I joined Bolton Wanderers, and I’ve been in football for a number of years now but I just remember being astounded by the amount of money that was raised,” he said.
“To raise more than £4m from your own supporters in cash into the business is remarkable. I wasn’t here at the time but I say it now, thank you to those who subscribed. That enabled us to invest in facilities like this that we’re setting today (the 1877 Suite), the FanZone, the lights which help us keep the pitch in such good condition and allow us to play the kind of football that Fergal, Shuey and the rest of the team want to deliver. All of these investments help us on that journey to where Sharon was describing earlier.
“It goes beyond just the bond, though, it’s the money that comes into the football club, it doesn’t go anywhere else, it doesn’t go into anybody’s pocket, it all goes back into the running of the football club.
“It comes from selling drinks on a matchday, people coming to hospitality, buying tickets, people staying in the hotel – all of these contributions go into the running of the football club and then it’s really my job, and the job of everybody else in the team, to treat that money as if it’s their own.
“And I truly that is my philosophy. I remember saying it to Sharon and Nick and Michael (James) when I first met them that I’m going to treat every pound like it’s my own because at the end of the day it’s your money, and it’s their money that they’ve invested in the club.
“I’m here to do a job and to deliver as much of that as possible towards Fergal so that they can invest it in the right areas on the pitch.
“But that bond was a significant investment and it’s helped us get to where we are.”