The Warm-Up: Manchester United definitely don't regret letting Romelu Lukaku walk...

At 5pm on Friday August 23, the completion of the sale of the football club and the hotel had been agreed by all parties and undertakings had been issued by all solicitors except those of Ken Anderson. Devastatingly, on Saturday morning that deal collapsed. At this stage, there seems little point in apportioning blame because that makes no difference to the staff, players, management, supporters and the community who have once more seen their club taken back to the brink. My team have spent the last 48 hours working around the clock, striving to get a deal back on track and trying to convince the parties still in conflict that the very fate of Bolton Wanderers depends on them finding a compromise.

It looks like it. Who can now say if he can give it his all in three years’ time? If I decide for myself that I can’t go on anymore, I’ll take a break and in that year I’d have to make a definite decision [if he wants to continue at all]. I have absolute energy, but I have one problem: I can’t to ‘a little bit.’ I can only do ‘all or nothing.’ But the chances are very high that my energy levels will go up again [after a year’s break], and that I can then do the job the way I want to.

Some quirky things are happening in English football’s top flight. For the first time since 1955, 15 or more clubs have won one of their opening three matches. Another Opta stat doing the rounds on social media on the weekend, courtesy of Duncan Alexander, revealed that the last time 19 or more teams had three points after three games was in 1981-82, the first season after Jimmy Hill and others had successfully campaigned for the introduction of three points for a win. So, if English football is travelling back in time, what does it mean?