Parkinson pleads with would-be Bolton owner Bassini to leave club alone

Phil Parkinson made an impassioned plea to would-be Bolton owner Laurence Bassini to “leave this great club alone” after Wanderers’ youngest team in its history earned a 0-0 Sky Bet League One draw against Coventry.

Parkinson’s squad, with an average age of just over 19, including 17-year-old rookie goalkeeper Matthew Alexander, received a standing ovation from the fans at the final whistle.

Bolton’s protracted summer-long takeover bid by Football Ventures had been near to completion when Bassini was awarded a court order blocking the sale last Thursday.

“It has gone on for too long,” added Parkinson. “It can’t be this week, next week, it’s got to be now.

“Mr Bassini can you just leave this great club alone and let everyone get on with helping rebuild this club back again.

“I can’t fathom it out and we just don’t need it.

“The supporters have done their bit. They came down in their numbers to Wycombe and they queued up in the rain on Friday to buy tickets for this game.

“Now, it is up to the people behind the scenes to sort this out and get it back going again.

“If this was a TV drama and some of the things that have happened, people would stop watching it because they would say it was too unbelievable; it was too far-fetched.

“That’s how ridiculous some of the situations have been, none more so than Thursday.”

On his team’s courageous display Parkinson added: “We said before the game we wanted the supporters to be driving away from the ground talking about our young players, collectively and individually. And they will have done that.”

Coventry had three goals disallowed for offside by referee James Adcock and his officials.

“The gods were with us but I think the club deserved that,” added Parkinson.

Coventry manager Mark Robins did not attend the after-match press conference.