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Bolton chairman Ken Anderson considering own t-shirt stunt as feud with Forest Green escalates

Forest Green Rovers are currently selling t-shirts reading 'No Ken Do' on the club's official website after the collapsed £1million transfer of Christian Doidge

Mark Critchley
Northern Football Correspondent
Wednesday 09 January 2019 17:39 GMT
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Ken Anderson, second left, labelled Dale Vince as 'one of the strangest people I have ever come across in football'
Ken Anderson, second left, labelled Dale Vince as 'one of the strangest people I have ever come across in football'

Ken Anderson, the chairman of Bolton Wanderers, is considering his own t-shirt stunt in response to his Forest Green Rovers counterpart Dale Vince as the feud between the two clubs escalates.

Vince is currently selling t-shirts reading 'No Ken Do' on Forest Green's official website, having already vowed to sue Bolton following the collapsed £1million transfer of Christian Doidge.

Doidge was on loan at the Championship club and had agreed a three-year contract to join the club permanently this month, with the first £250,000 instalment of his fee due to be paid, but the 26-year-old has now returned to his parent club.

The transfer collapsed after Bolton were placed under a registration embargo by the EFL last week, due to the club owing money to several football creditors.

Vince, who owns energy company Ecotricity, has accused Anderson of "continual contractual breaches" regarding the Doidge transfer and has received backing from sections of Bolton's support for his stance.

Forest Green Rovers owner Dale Vince

Forest Green began selling the 'No Ken Do' t-shirts went on sale on Tuesday, with the proceeds raised donated towards the Bolton Wanderers Supporters' Trust, but Anderson has revealed that he is considering launching his own range.

In a statement published on the club's official website on Wednesday, the Bolton chairman wrote: "I have to say that I found the t-shirts FGR are selling quite humorous and I’m sure the Supporters Trust will greatly receive the funds they generate.

"We are thinking about printing our own which will say, ‘Yes We Ken’ and we will donate all proceeds to those employees of Ecotricity who were made redundant. That said, I am not sure where his offer of a free pint of beer fits in with his green philosophy."

Anderson labelled Vince as "one of the strangest people I have ever come across in football" before reiterating his belief that Doidge's transfer can still be completed.

"What I can say is that he knows what he agreed in August 2018 and I have made it clear that we are still prepared to make the first payment, as always agreed from the outset, being next week when we receive the EFL distribution monies," Anderson wrote.

Doidge's £1m move to Bolton collapsed after the club were placed under a registration embargo by the EFL last week

"If this is not now acceptable, then so be it, but don’t go blaming me for disappointing Christian as we have made it absolutely clear that he is welcome here."

Vince, however, is adamant that Doidge will not join Bolton and has invited the club's supporters to attend Forest Green's next home fixture, against Bury in League Two on 19 January.

Bolton welcome West Bromwich Albion two days later and several Bolton supporters' groups have joined forces to plan a protest against Anderson's stewardship of the club before the game.

Currently 22nd in the Championship table, Bolton narrowly avoided entering administration in September when an eleventh-hour agreement was struck with creditors BluMarble.

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