Among Bolton fans, the vast majority (as opposed to the minuscule minority) would welcome a contract extension for Stu Holden with open arms. After all, Stu's contract is nearly at an end and Bolton Wanderers supporters were robbed of two years of seeing their best midfielder play. It would simply be a shame if Stu was to go without so much as a chance to show what he can do again.
It has been a very, very long road to recovery for Holden and on Tuesday, he took his largest step in it thus far by playing 65 minutes against Peterborough United. He spoke about his appearance in the Bolton News:
"I wish it had been under better circumstances because you never want to see a player get injured. I'm familiar with that one myself.
"I hope it's not too bad for Mark but any time you are called upon you have to get out there and try to put a stamp on the game. Sometimes It's tough coming on and for the first five minutes I was running around and could not catch up with the ball but after that I thought I settled quite well."
When the contract question came up, Stu was calm about it:
"We've spoken briefly about it (the contract) and decided that the most important thing was me playing football.
"Each side is happy with the situation. It isn't the case where one side is stressed.
"The main focus for me is to play football. I need to build on my performance and there are obviously a lot of things I can improve on and ways I feel I could have contributed but that is only going to come with playing more games, so hopefully that comes for me."
Manager Dougie Freedman clearly recognizes Stu's class but, as we've mentioned before, neither side is rushing into contract negotiations. Holden obviously wants the best possible deal for himself but is being realistic about it while Bolton Wanderers want to make sure that they are getting what they pay for in their investment. As a result, Bolton Wanderers fans will have to wait a bit longer for contract news regarding the dynamo.
Dougie expressed the same attitude:
"It's a hard one for Stuart because we want him to be here. I have told him that. I want him to stay longer. I want to give him a new contract.
"But it's a difficult position for the club, where we are right now. We had to focus on where the club is at. The fans deserved better than languishing at the bottom.
"But we are moving up now so I have got to start looking at a few people for next year. Against Peterborough he got good game time.
"(He showed) A brilliant attitude about fighting for the team. You want people like that here."