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Glory, Debt & Self-Interest: Eddie Davies' Legacy at Bolton Wanderers

Chris has looked at Garty's legacy, and now turns his gaze on the owner

Michael Steele/Getty Images

So it appears that Bolton Wanderers are soon to be out of Eddie Davies' hands for the first time in a generation.

It's hard to equate our current funk with the glory days of the mid-2000s, but here we are.

What is Davies' legacy?

I think it can be divided into three sections - Glory, Debt and Self-Interest:

Glory

We have a nice shiny stadium, we had a decade in the sun and we had a time when we genuinely could claim to be one of the top ten clubs in the whole country.

That isn't hyperbole. That's fact.

Educate yourselves! (copyright Richard Keys and the reputation owls).

When it was good, it was really good.

Debt

The massive dock-off elephant in the room.

Currently over £170m, this has been spent somewhat recklessly via a series of awful, awful decisions.

Granted we had the glory years mentioned above, but they didn't come for free.

Self-Interest

One positive of Davies' stewardship is that it's meant to be a good thing that we have a Bolton Wanderers supporter at the helm.

The reality is that in the past six years, Davies and his family almost £23 million in interest from the club on the loans made (source here).

The payments are broken down as follows:

2009 - £2.01m

2010 - £3.6m

2011 - £4.7m

2012 - £5.5m

2013 - £6.94m

2014 - £0.13m

Just think about that. It's eye-watering.

Do you think we'd be in a better position now if the £23m had been spent on the team instead of going into the Davies family pockets? I bloody well do.

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So what do you think Davies' legacy is?

Glory? Debt? Self-interest?

Share your ideas below the line.