There’s no point Wandering what might have been – Ross
SUNDERLAND could be facing Bolton Wanderers just as the crisis-hit League One club are starting to find their feet, but manager Jack Ross has no complaints.
Put into administration late last season, the Lancashire club started 2019-20 in disarray - and it was reflected in results.
With no more than a handful of senior contracted professionals while they struggled to get their finances in order, some very youthful Trotters teams were brutally dealt with in August, conceding five goals in four consecutive games.
Bolton now have a new manager, new owners and a raft of new players, signing nine on League One deadline day - including former Sunderland players Liam Bridcutt, Will Buckley and Daryl Murphy.
It did not have an immediate impact, Bolton losing 6-1 in the first match since that recruitment drive, but on Tuesday they won only their second point this season with a 0-0 draw at home to Oxford United.
The Black Cats could be forgiven for wishing they had played them earlier - but Ross is not thinking that way.
“We have to deal with whatever lies ahead,” he reasoned ahead of today’s game.
“I know it is unique circumstances but I suppose you could play a club pre-new ownership or post a new ownership which enables them to spend a lot of money.
“You might play them in a different set of circumstances at the start of the season and the next week they might have six injuries and suspensions. I am not too concerned about it.
“The whole situation regarding both clubs in the league who were in trouble (Rochdale were expelled from League One after failing to resolve their financial issues) could have been handled more strongly from a leadership point of view.
“In any leadership or governance position you have to make unpopular decisions at times. You have to make decisions, you are a decisionmaker and if you don’t want the responsibility don’t do it.
“The pleasing thing is Bolton have been able to survive and there is no thought in my mind they are in a stronger position - we just have to make sure we have enough about us to win the game.”
While the baggage around the club is completely different, Ross knows what is like to bring in so many players in such a short period of time, having totally overhauled the relegation-threatened St Mirren squad he inherited during his first window.
“It is not as easy to do as it is in pre-season,” he pointed out.
“Keith (Hill, Bolton’s new manager) will have beliefs in what he does and I suppose to a degree he will have recruited the players he wants in the circumstances they are recruiting in.
“In some ways to create a sense of togetherness might not be too difficult because they probably have this goal on the back of being written off by a lot of people and some players did not have a club, so there is probably a motivation to prove people wrong.
“You probably have that little period of grace but thereafter you need a couple of things to fall for you.
“Then of course it is about momentum building from there.”