Bolton Wanderers midfielder Jason Lowe has admitted that his side still find themselves in a difficult situation, but that it is nice to be focusing on football again following the recent financial issues at the club.
The Trotters currently lie bottom of League One on minus nine points, having received a 12 point deduction for entering administration at the end of last season.
But with the club having found a buyer last month to bring them out of administration, Lowe has revealed the relief he feels on being able to pay attention to on the pitch matters in recent weeks.
Speaking to The Bolton News about the club following the recent takeover, Lowe said: “Thankfully, there’s a normal feel of a football club again.
“We’re talking about football, performance and results and it’s long overdue.”
Reflecting on his experiences after deciding to remain at the club throughout the course of that period of uncertainty during the summer, Lowe continued: “Sometimes it was as simple as waking up and wondering if we had a job today.
“Other times it was constant chasing of information, things you didn’t want to be doing but had to do for the benefit of the staff and everyone connected with the club.
Describing how it felt during the time, the midfielder revealed: “It was a very stressful time, character-building to say the least. One thing we all want in life is honesty and knowing where you stand.
"It filters down in a football club and when you know you have got the support and backing from upstairs then it’s a nice feeling to have as a player.”
Having seen a significant turnover in the playing squad throughout the summer, which included the arrival of nine new players on the final day of the summer transfer window, Lowe admitted that adjusting to the change has been difficult on the pitch as well, as he added: “We know time isn’t on our side, so we have to adapt or die, so to speak.
“We are working hard on the training ground trying to fit with the manager’s ideas and I think you can see over the last couple of games we’re slowly getting there to where we want to be.
“In an ideal world you have a pre-season, you get the lads in, you have three, four or five new players but that’s the situation we find ourselves in."
Despite those challenges, Lowe was keen to pay tribute to the contribution to the club made by their recent arrivals, as he claimed: "The lads who have come in have been different class, great attitudes, and all willing to fight for the cause so we can’t ask for any more.”
Bolton, who were denied a first win of the season by a stoppage-time penalty against Sunderland on Saturday, are next in action when they travel to Fratton Park to face Portsmouth this weekend.
The Verdict
Firstly, I think it worth giving Lowe credit for the loyalty he showed in staying at Bolton over the course of the summer.
With so much uncertainty around the future of the club, you wouldn't have blamed him had he looked for a move elsewhere, just as a number of others understandably did.
Keeping a handful of players such as Lowe around the club has surely been crucial in giving them some form of foundation with which to build a squad on this season, and it is good to see that the club is slowly getting back to its feet again.
Having seen them go so close to a famous win at home to Sunderland on Saturday, it wouldn't surprise if Bolton's first victory of the season does indeed come in the not too distant future.