Bolton Wanderers have delayed the club's start to pre-season until Monday, with manager Phil Parkinson set to remain in charge of the first team squad for the time being, The Bolton News have reported.
The club will start next season in League One with a 12 point deduction after entering administration last month, having been relegated from the Championship last season after winning just eight league games last season.
It had been expected that the club would return to pre-season training on Wednesday, but after players claimed they had received no official confirmation of that, it is now thought that Wanderers will regroup ahead of next season on Monday following discussions between the club's administrators and manager Phil Parkinson, in the hope that there will have been progress in the takeover of the club by then.
There are just 14 first team players remaining at the club, and neither they nor the management team have been paid their full wages for the past four months, with speculation over their long term futures at the club continuing to linger.
Bolton have yet to confirm any pre-season friendlies or announce any signings ahead of the new season.
The Verdict
This isn't going to help Bolton much.
There is clearly much for the club to get sorted between now and the opening game of the season at Wycombe in the first weekend in August, so you would have thought that the club would have wanted to get back to work as soon as possible to give them as much time as they can get in order to cover those bases.
Despite his record last season, it does however seem like a sensible move to keep Parkinson in charge at the club for now.
It is likely that any potential buyer for the club will have their own vision on what they want to do with Wanderers, and the administrators letting Parkinson go it could affect those plans, and with finding a buyer the most important job in securing the club's immediate and long term future, it feels like an unnecessary risk to do anything that could put one of those buyers off.