Five years have passed since Bolton last competed in the second division; during that season, the team was almost bankrupt due to prior ownership.
The major task of keeping the Whites competitive in a division that is infamously cruel would come if Ian Evatt achieves his goal of finishing in the top two this season.
Hart thinks that the club’s current structure would be helpful and would lessen the need for extravagant spending if Wanderers were to get promoted.
“I have complete faith in our team, the workers, the people in the background, and our abilities if Bolton advances to the Championship,” he said to The Bolton News. Without a question, it would be difficult, but it doesn’t mean it is impossible.
“You look at clubs like Luton recently who have gone right through and done very well. You see clubs like Plymouth, who have what you’d consider a lower-end Championship budget, holding their own.
“The initial Burnley story – I won’t divulge the numbers, but they are similar to Luton in that respect – so it can be done with a bit of smartness, the right manager, the right board and executives. Get those things aligned and it can be done.”
Hart also notes that if the club is promoted that the spending plan does not hinge on the Premier League agreeing a ‘New Deal’ with the EFL for funding, even though he feels it is desperately needed at Championship level.
He is still optimistic that an agreement can be reached but feels the club would still enter into the division on a secure financial footing.
He remarked, “Like any club, we know what our revenue would be with and without the New Deal if we went up to the Championship now.” “And there is a noticeable difference.
It is really difficult. There are still Premier League teams that are running on four or five times that. Although I don’t think that’s very fair, that’s the environment that has been established.
“Do I perceive a way out? It’s a really tough one, to be honest. Although I have witnessed some chairmen and chief executives declare that something is “finished, over,” I wouldn’t follow their lead. It is undoubtedly untrue.
You must cooperate with one another. The Premier League and the EFL will decide League to find a way through this.
