Liam's Thoughts: That Was Week That Was

As we head to the official opening of the transfer window, Bolton Wanderers' own Neil Lennon has been scouring the market whilst keeping tabs as his squad is analysed and picked apart by other clubs. Recent transfer news has been dominated by the potential departures of key players Adam Bogdan and Darren Pratley.

Bogdan is as disapointing as it is understandable as it is understood the Hungarian international stopper is off to Liverpool to fill the number 2 spot vacated by Australian handsome devil, Brad Jones.

At 27 years of age, very few can criticise Bogdan for chasing the dream at the top of the pyramid and in truth his departure was on the cards long before Anfield could be seen on the horizon and plans for a replacement were already in place.

Firstly, with hindsight it could probably be argued that Andy Lonergan retaining the shirt despite Bogdan's return from injury was probably an audition to see whether he was up to the task, in my eyes and probably that of the Wanderers management, he was not. This was not to say that Lonergan was poor, far from it, just not quite the required standard.

Up step Ben Amos, brought in on-loan from local shit stains Manchester United.

Amos looked a very comfortable and polished performer and provided real assurance there may well be life after Bogdan. It is no coincidence that days after Bogdan's move to Liverpool was all-but-confirmed, news emerged that Amos may well be heading back the Macron to take up the position as number one goalkeeper.

Now after all that are Bolton Wanderers better off?

Tough question, without knowing the respective salaries of each individual I would guess that Bogdan would have been offered more than Amos given his proven importance to the Wanderers cause. As good as Bogdan is, we are now in a position where we cannot keep players on sentiment and if a replacement is available cheaper, pretty much anyone in the Wanderers squad is replacable.

Good luck to Adam Bogdan but I can't help but think Bolton have done really well over this transfer.

The news of the academy changes was particularly disappointing for Wanderers fans but really had a sense of inevitability about it. Cost saving where applicable is the ultimate goal as the Wanderers board continue to turn Bolton into a profit making organisation.

Football aside, it looks as though there will be staff redundancies at the club and that is always disappointing to see as in reality it is simply just a scaling down of the academy which will continue to run with the same state of the art facilities and I don't think output will be affected too dramatically.

As for this idea that our academy has been the only thing to shout about over the last few years?

I'm not convinced about that at all, a few bright sparks of late do not hide the fact over the last decade we have failed in this area.

What are your thoughts? Register and leave your comments below.