The reality is very probably that unofficially everybody has talked to everybody else and that a number of parties have got very comfy with the prospect of IE leaving and have conveniently neglected the elephant in the room which is a contract.barrowfan wrote: ↑Thu Jun 25, 2020 6:44 pmBolton asked Barrow for permission to talk to Evatt. I would call that an official approach.Sefton Aubergine wrote: ↑Thu Jun 25, 2020 5:50 pm Depends when... I doubt it was an official approach.
Having spent many years working on contracts I can say with some conviction that the footballing community has a great deal to learn when it comes to contract fulfilment issues. Both sides tend to use them as bargaining chips to "do a deal" and generally speaking behaviour around contract management is pretty deplorable because its not ultimately in anybody's interests to enforce them.
However this does not mean they cannot be enforced and that a very well constructed contract cannot stop a charging rhino dead in its tracks. I hope and believe that is what Paul Hornby has in front of him. That everything has its price and the contract spells out what that price is. In this respect Bolton are probably in a sh*t place because there are few obvious ways the contract could probably be legitimately avoided. The club has just achieved promotion it has no need to separate itself from its management and a legitimate desire to move forward with it in tact. If the manager walks he has breached his contract, could be sued and would be reputationally damaged. The punishment for Bolton could be much worse if they were seen to be enticing a manager - and remember that Bolton are in a precarious position.
So I think Paul Hornby may be the one with the most leverage at this moment. I do hope so and I hope he screws Bolton for every penny. But if you want my view it is in summary that if Bolton are actually prepared to pay the £250k for Evatt/Atherton (or anything approaching that amount) then those running Bolton FC should be carried off to the funny farm. It is truly bonkers to even consider paying that for a manager unproven at this level before you've even factored in salaries, pension contributions and other fees. But then nobody at Bolton seems to be bothered with their balance sheet at the moment.