Allardyce departed the club in October 1999 to join his old team Bolton Wanderers. In September 2003, many feared that Notts County would be closed down. Crippling debts and an increasingly impatient Football League board combined to leave a question mark over the future of the league's oldest club. The considerable efforts of a group of local businessmen and the club's loyal and incredibly upbeat supporters were responsible for saving the club from extinction. Despite new ownership, the club were unable to avoid demotion back into the lowest division in 2004.