One Thing: Bolton Wanderers 1-2 Middlesbrough

Just a short one this week folks.

Yesterday saw Bolton Wanderers go down by two goals to one at home to top of the league Middlesbrough in a tough game in the Championship.

So what have we learned?

1) We Have a LOT Of Work To Do

This is where the hard work begins.

Whether it's Jimmy Phillips, Kevin Nolan, Chris Wilder, Phil Brown or whoever, the new manager (to be revealed on Friday, apparently) has a lot of work to do.

The game against Middlesbrough only served to highlight our many, many deficiencies. Weak goalkeeping, slack-arsed defending, aimless midfield work and a toothless attack combined against a(n admittedly expensively-assembled) team in full flow and who excelled in all areas where we suffered.

So going forward we have to take action in these key areas:

*Goalkeeper - Ben Amos is a talented keeper going through a poor spell. We've seen him make some fantastic saves and make some equally breathtaking mistakes. I wouldn't be against him staying, but I think his expensive salary makes him one of the first out of the door.

*Defence - Rob Holding and Niall Maher aside, I think we can be pretty certain that the remaining members of the defensive line are on their way. Therefore the new manager will have to come up with at least another centre half and a left back.

*Midfield - Another contentious area of the pitch, but the midfield is one of our poorest areas, despite it being very well stocked at the moment. Salary restrictions and contract expirations will put paid to the majority. Josh Vela might survive, but he might not. The rest are entirely dispensable. Especially Darren Pratley.

*Forwards - I'd like to think that we could keep Zach Clough, but I'm a realist and think that someone of his ability probably does warrant a move back to the Championship. Whether he deserves one at this point in his career is another matter altogether. The likes of Gary Madine and Emile Heskey will (hopefully) all be out of the door.

You can well imagine that the new boss will need to bring in at least ten players. This is with Ken Anderson's claim of wanting a squad of 23/24 players in mind. Citing Wigan Athletic's business where they signed 20 and loaned in another 11 - this is clearly a positive route to revamping a tired and struggling squad.

Whether we'll have the finance for such a rebuilding project is another matter entirely.

So the Middlesbrough game showed where we need to improve.....and the answer is pretty much 'everywhere'.

It starts in the boardroom, with Dean Holdsworth and Ken Anderson putting aside their differences and coming to an agreement on the direction that their new Bolton Wanderers will take. Recent rumours of disagreements are not welcome and will hopefully serve both to remind as their new responsibilities.

It's possibly the most difficult, dangerous and important summer of the last twenty years. We have to get it right.