IT wasn’t Dougie Freedman’s long-term vision for Bolton Wanderers that proved his undoing, it was his short-term failures.

Speak to the Glaswegian about his plans for the club in the next few years and it was difficult not to be impressed.

Costs would come down, youth would be brought through the system, and the good old days would eventually return if he got time to put down the right foundations.

No doubt that cajoled Phil Gartside into paying off the remaining months of his contract at Crystal Palace to make him Owen Coyle’s successor back in October 2012.

But time is one commodity precious few managers get, especially when performances on the pitch have hit such a depressing low.

However meticulous his preparation, the fact his product on the pitch deteriorated significantly in the last 12 months was always going to prove his downfall.

Standing one short of a century of games in charge of the club, Freedman had won a third. Success came in short bursts, such as the late run for the play-offs in his first season or the sequence of seven wins in 11 at the end of last term that put a mildly-respectable veneer on a dreadful campaign.

The bad times, of which there were many, seemed to be never-ending.

A 7-1 defeat at Reading will stand out as a career-defining result, although Wednesday’s lifeless display at Fulham and the 4-1 embarrassment against Blackburn Rovers last season also damaged his standing among the fans considerably.

Freedman’s squad rotation policy caused instant concern within the Wanderers ranks but the Scot prickled at the tag “Tinkerman” which was bestowed upon him – playfully at first – by this very newspaper.

He claimed his modern detailed approach was the antidote to the more traditional coaching of his predecessor. He famously picked his side three weeks in advance and was never averse to withdrawing a player on a Saturday who had excelled in midweek.

Fans argued that he never knew what his best team was. Certainly, a constantly-changing line-up and tactical approach did little for stability in a squad that was diminishing in quality with each transfer window.

Freedman admitted the job was “harder than he had thought it would be” and had private frustrations about the lack of financial support he had been given to make key signings such as Craig Dawson from West Brom and Lukas Jutkiewicz from Middlesbrough.

He was forced into the loan market on too many occasions but while the club got short-term gain from the likes of Neil Danns, Kevin McNaughton and Joe Mason, it can be argued their impact this time around – or since being signed permanently – has diminished considerably.

Tactically Freedman’s beliefs were another hard-sell in Bolton.

His Palace side had built their success on patient possession, earned by ball-winners such as Mile Jedinak, used by dynamic wide men like Wilfried Zaha and Yannick Bolasie to supply goals for Glenn Murray.

That approach seemed grafted on when he arrived at Wanderers. It developed over time and when Jutkiewicz was at his pomp on loan last season it appeared that the Scot had finally cracked it.

But when the striker opted to move to Burnley in the summer – the Whites still pondering over an offer – a crucial piece of the jigsaw was lost for good.

This season’s squad looked incomplete. Freedman admitted as much recently when he adopted a “back to basics” approach for the trip to Fulham, naming his most experienced and physical 11 in preference to the skills and finesse of Chung-Yong, Mark Davies or Joe Mason.

The result failed spectacularly.

Players often looked devoid of direction and while some have escaped blame, rather unfairly in this writer’s view, the manager was under no illusion that the buck stopped with him.

Freedman helped a handful of players to revive their Wanderers career – Darren Pratley, Tim Ream, Marcos Alonso, Matt Mills – but also left several players feeling isolated and unwanted.

Nowhere was this felt more than in the youth ranks where a civil war started almost from the moment the 40-year-old and his staff walked through the door.

Wanderers legends and popular members of staff complained they were treated badly, while players who were working their way through the Academy were often told they were not up to the grade.

Freedman actually gave more debuts to young players than any other Whites boss in recent memory but it too often felt the case that having made the grade, young players quickly found themselves back at square one.

Josh Vela, Oscar Threlkeld, Andy Kellett, Rob Hall, Tom Eaves, the list was extensive.

So was the list of senior players who felt wronged by the manager, not least club legend Kevin Davies who has maintained a dignified silence since leaving last summer but who felt badly let down by the way he was allowed to drift away after a decade of distinguished service.

By the end, as fans started to voice their displeasure more regularly, Freedman’s every word mixed with fans like water and oil.

Bullishly telling the local press on Wednesday night that he still had the answers and would be taking charge of the game at Bournemouth proved to be a huge PR own goal by the young manager.

His expression, glassy-eyed and haunted by disappointment, told a different tale.

Freedman is an intelligent football-thinker and a good person who cares passionately about the job he does.

Unfortunately, even in the good times, both his personality and his philosophy just didn’t fit.