Bolton Wanderers chairman Phil Gartside admits they've been hurt this season by the exodus that followed Sam Allardyce over the summer.

Gartside admitted the turmoil after Allardyce left for Newcastle, along with his backroom staff, has been too much to bear. He said: "We lost too many pieces of the jigsaw, and we were not robust enough to stand it.

"We are in a precarious situation. There are a lot of negative comments about and they hurt. But some of the people saying things are looking for us to fail."