New Hibs signing Josh Vela reveals his Bolton ‘nightmare’

Josh Vela is desperate to strike for Hibs but only in the sense that he wants to hit the net. Striking as a course of action was an extreme, if necessary, step at his last club. He wants to avoid ever having to do so again.
Josh Vela could feature for Hibs for the first time in the Betfred Cup clash against Arbroath. Picture: Paul Devlin/SNSJosh Vela could feature for Hibs for the first time in the Betfred Cup clash against Arbroath. Picture: Paul Devlin/SNS
Josh Vela could feature for Hibs for the first time in the Betfred Cup clash against Arbroath. Picture: Paul Devlin/SNS

It was particularly dismaying because he had such a long connection with Bolton Wanderers having been attached to the club since the age of eight.

It’s all he has ever known. He made more than 180 appearances after graduating from the academy. It was not a decision he in particular took lightly as the players resolved to refuse to play after an extended period of non-payment of wages and continual lies by the then owner, Ken Anderson.

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Even as recently as last week a friendly match against Chester City was called off due to further problems with the payment of staff, footballers and otherwise. Another friendly, due 
to be against Preston North End tonight, has also been cancelled.

Vela is relieved to have left a club operating in such straitened circumstances and join one roundly viewed as being among the most stable in the land. A box-to-box midfielder
who started his career as a 
full-back, he wants to quickly start repaying manager Paul Heckingbotton for rescuing him from such an intolerable situation.

Having recently become the father of a daughter, Vela was particularly conscious of the need for security. It was a last measure when he and his team-mates opted to strike – they first did so at the expense of a friendly against St Mirren this time last year, and then did so again before a Championship fixture against Brentford in April. Only seven players from last season’s squad remain and even those such as Vela who have left are continuing to wait for the money they are owed, with administrators now in charge of the club.

“We hadn’t been paid in five months,” explained Vela, one of whose managers at Bolton was former Easter Road boss Neil Lennon. “I’ve got a mortgage to pay and have a young baby now. I needed money. I had saved money away but I didn’t really want to use that because that’s for after football, but I’ve had to use that.

“The younger players didn’t have many savings and it was a big struggle for them. I’ve still not been paid and it’s still ongoing now. The new owners have got to pay the players before they can start bringing in their own players really.

“It was a big decision [to strike] but we had to get the thing moving. People kept on lying to us, saying, ‘we’re going to pay you’. Then you get to pay day and you weren’t paid.

“It was a group decision from the lads and it was last resort. I wasn’t playing at the time but it was a big decision from the lads to say they weren’t playing. They needed money to pay the bills, we weren’t on Premier League money. It was a nightmare really.”

While there was interest from elsewhere in England, Vela has opted for a new start in Scotland, under a manager
he has heard a lot about. “I needed a new fresh challenge,” he said.

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“I wanted to get out of 
the English league and I came up here to test myself. The manager was a big factor. A couple of players who have played under him said how good he was.”

Vela received positive reports about Heckingbottom from Barnsley’s Joe Williams and also new team-mate Christian Doidge, both of whom he played with at Bolton.

Despite not playing since March, he feels in good shape and is desperate to start feeling like a proper professional footballer again – one who is paid, on time, for playing football. He is in line to make his debut tonight at Easter Road in a Betfred Cup tie against Arbroath. “I have been keeping myself ticking over and I have been training hard for three or four days,” the 25-year-old said.