CHAIRMAN Phil Gartside has outlined Bolton Wanderers' burning ambition to return to the Premiership.

But he insists the club will not jeapardise its future by throwing money at the dream.

Mr Gartside told Burnden Leisure shareholders Wanderers "don't just want to, but need to be in the Premiership" and insisted that was the ultimate goal in the current business plan which is geared to end the financial problems which saw the club lose £7.5m over the last two years.

Wandering financial plight stems from the last time they went into the top flight when they spent beyond their means in a bid to establish themselves.

They failed to stay up and they have been paying for it ever since.

The club is succeeding in narrowing the gap between income and expenditure with a rigid business plan which will put Wanderers on a more secure financial footing in the future.

But it has come at a price of having to sell some of their best players which has seen the club's ambition called into question from some quarters.

Mr Gartside backed the policy insisting the club could not afford to make the mistakes of the past.

He said: "We want to get into the Premier League and next time we want to be able to stay there.

"It is the only place to play - we have to be there."

On a cautionary note, he added: "We have risked things in the past and we have been left in financial difficulties as a result.

"It is not that we don't want to take risks as shown by signing Per Frandsen and we will look to take those risks but we don't want to fall back into the situation where we put the football club in jeopardy.

"The football insustry has changed in the last 12 months. We compare ourselves to Leicester City in terms of size of football club and support. But while they will get more than £20m from television money next year, we will get £3m.

"We cannot afford to take risks to jeopardise the club again and put the club in the position it has been in the last three years."

Responding to the suggestion that if Wanderers spent big money on players now they could win promotion and reap the rich rewards next season, he said: "We might get £20m but I don't want to risk £20m to get £20m.

"Look at what happened to us with Robbie Elliott. We paid £2.5m for a player who we all respected when he played for Newcastle then he plays 20 minutes for us and breaks his leg.

"We have to get promotion. We don't just want it, we have to have it.

"You cannot sit in a stadium which costs £45m to £50m - including the hotel - and not be in the Premier League. Then the gap in the income is so great that once you get there you can afford to take risks."