Kevin Nolan says he is “heartbroken” by Bolton Wanderers’ plight, while fellow former Bolton star Kevin Davies fears more clubs may face administration.
Bolton went into administration on Monday and will start next season with a 12-point deduction in League One.
The club have set up an emergency food bank with donations from local businesses to help staff who have not yet been paid their April salaries.
The Trotters were the first EFL club to enter administration for six years.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if there were one or two more, with other clubs that have been to court recently,” 42-year-old former striker Davies told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“There’s an overriding factor about the way football clubs have been run.
“The EFL, the PFA [Professional Footballers’ Association] and the FA need to look at this a little more closely, because outside the Premier League it can be very difficult for clubs to maintain the sort of sustainability that everyone is trying to achieve.”
Davies scored 73 goals in 351 league appearances for Bolton over a far more successful spell in the club’s history between 2003 and 2013.
‘A sorry state of affairs’
Ex-midfielder Nolan, who made 257 league starts for the club where he started his career as a trainee in the 1990s, hopes Wanderers entering administration can prove to be the start of a positive chapter.
“All of us who love the club, we’re hoping this is now the start of something and [the club] can look forward again,” Nolan added.
“To be putting food banks up is a sorry state of affairs. It’s heartbreaking to see. I’m still very close with a lot of people there behind the scenes.
“There are people who have been there through thick and thin for Bolton who are now having to rely on food banks to make ends meet – it’s so sad.
“I’m hoping this administration can get the club back on an even keel. It’s a special club. We had some special times and I hope this is the start of more special things to come.”
For the food bank, businesses have helped provide toiletries and nappies, as well as tinned goods, pasta, rice, freezer meals, frozen vegetables and bread.
And the Community Trust have also been given assistance from within the wider football community, including an unnamed Championship club believed to be Preston North End.
Players are still owed wages for March and April, while the club could face further sanctions from the EFL after their final home match of the season against Brentford was ultimately called off when the playing staff went on strike over going unpaid.
