PHIL Parkinson has confirmed Wanderers’ players were NOT paid their overdue salary this morning – but added that the club was working to find a swift solution.

A handful of Wanderers’ senior players had demanded an audience with the chairman last Friday and were assured in a telephone conversation that the money would be in accounts on the morning of December 6.

Coaching staff are also understood to have been given guarantees their money would hit their bank account by Tuesday – although that was later changed to Thursday to coincide with players’ payments.

Parkinson took his press conference this afternoon and hoped the situation would not cast a shadow over this Saturday’s trip to Norwich City.

“The chairman is working to resolve the situation today,” he said. “I think there will be a positive resolution.

“I had a brief chat with the lads this morning to explain the situation but I have touched base with Ken and he is looking to sort it.”

Asked whether any players had received payment, he added: “No, but the chairman is looking to resolve it.”

Prompted by a call from The Bolton News to reassure supporters that the short-term future of the club was not in jeopardy, the Bolton owner penned a 1,700-word web column by way of a response.

Anderson feels he has been unfairly criticised during a month where staff and players were told on November 29 by email that they would have their monthly salary delayed.

According to Anderson's estimate, around 400 non-football staff did receive their salary in a payment sanctioned on November 30 – but Anderson explained his decision not to pay coaching and playing staff was because they know they will get paid “come what May,” potentially with the assistance of the Professional Footballer’s Association.

“To continuously refer to repetitive non-payment of salaries is again factually incorrect. It’s happened once,” he said.

“For the record, November was the first time the majority of the players have been late in receiving their monthly salaries. However, l accept that the retention bonuses and severance pay on players who have left was paid late this summer and l have previously commented on this, so l see no need to repeat myself.”

Though this is the first time the whole playing squad has been affected by late payment of wages, five players were affected just last month – including first teamer Sammy Ameobi.

Anderson, who claims to have spent “several million” in the last few months on wages, even threatened to withdraw his funding completely in a website column published late on Wednesday afternoon.

“I do not want and cannot afford to end up losing substantial amounts of money in football as Ed (Davies) did and many others like him also have.

“Most of these are on public record and as far as l can see all they were trying to do was help and keep their respective clubs going.

“No doubt, with the benefit of hindsight, they would not repeat the same mistakes today and l for my part am happy to learn from their mistakes and not experience them and eventually suffer the same fate.

“Sometimes it is best not to follow the dream and accept that your first loss is your best loss! As they say be careful what you wish for.”

Anderson attempted to explain the reason for the late payment of player and staff salaries – pointing to reduced crowds at the University of Bolton Stadium as one of the root causes.

The current average attendance over 10 home games has been 14,155, which is down on last season’s 15,887.

“Since l have been at the club, l have always done my best to try and operate the club within its financial capabilities,” Anderson wrote.

“This is often made more difficult because of the uncertainty of the club’s cash flow and over the last few months has been extremely difficult for a number of reasons including the international breaks, where the club has little or no income and more importantly the 2,000 or so fewer supporters attending recent home matches.

“Unfortunately, a number of the people not attending are the ones that are the most critical on social media.

“The knock-on effects of this are horrendous and have been clearly seen in the late payment of the players and management staff salaries last month.”

He continued: “In an ideal world, if we can get the results on the pitch and get the 2,000 missing supporters to return then the financial problems off the pitch will improve significantly.”