UK Edition
Forest Green Rovers' row with Bolton escalates with club to sell T-shirts calling for chairman Ken Anderson to go
The chairman of Forest Green Rovers has escalated his row with the controversial owner of Bolton Wanderers by taking the extraordinary step of selling T-shirts in support of the fans’ group who want to see Ken Anderson ousted.
Dale Vince launched a scathing attack on Anderson this week, accusing the Bolton owner of reneging on promises and legally binding contracts after the collapse of Forest Green striker Christian Doidge’s proposed £1 million move to the embattled Championship club.
Vince raised questions about the way Anderson runs Bolton and has now stepped up his offensive by selling T-shirts emblazoned with the anti-Anderson message “No Ken Do” and vowing to give all the profits from sales to the Bolton Wanderers Supporters’ Trust (BWST).
The T-shirts, which cost £10 each, are available to buy on Forest Green’s official website. They will also be sold at the League Two club’s next home game against Bury on Saturday week, which Bolton fans have been encouraged to attend.
Vince - who took over as chairman of Forest Green in 2010 - said he had been struck by the support he has received from Bolton fans in the wake of his criticism of Anderson and wanted to show solidarity with “our new friends”.
Anderson reacted to Vince’s outburst in a rambling 1,580-word statement posted shortly after 10pm on Monday in which he accused the Forest Green chairman of being “very disrespectful and misleading”. Anderson also accused Vince of trying to bring forward the payment structure for the Doidge transfer. Vince had earlier claimed they had agreed a new payment plan only for Anderson to renege on the agreement the next day.
Anderson claims he has not given up hope of being able to register Doidge, as well as goalkeeper Remi Matthews and midfielder Gary O’Neil, after Bolton were placed under a registration embargo by the Football League.
But Vince has insisted there is “zero prospect” of Doidge now signing for Bolton while Matthews has since returned to Norwich from his loan spell at Bolton. Norwich are understood to be owed around £195,000 from Bolton in relation to fees associated with the loans of Matthews and forward Yanic Wildschut and are in the process of trying to find a new club for Matthews. Wildschut’s loan expires in June.
Vince and Anderson’s war of words comes as two Bolton baronesses issued a joint statement in which they slammed Anderson’s running of the club.
In their statement, Baroness Ann Taylor of Bolton and Baroness Trish Morris of Bolton spoke of their “grave concern over the way Bolton is being run” and said they could “no longer stand idly by and watch our club being treated like this.”
They added: “Every football club deserves to be run by someone who sees themselves more of a custodian than a 'secured lender'. Bolton Wanderers belongs to the community and its loyal and devoted fans are embarrassed by the way it is being run and genuinely worried about what the future holds for our once proud football club.”
The BWST have been vocal critics of Anderson and have written to Shaun Harvey, chief executive of the Football League, in recent days to register their “escalating concern” about the way the club is run.
Bolton declined to respond about Vince’s Anderson protest T-shirts.