STEVE Bruce has wished Wanderers the best of luck as they look to restore former glories.

The Hull City boss brings his promotion-chasing side to the Macron today looking to keep up some momentum ahead of the play-offs and a possible return to the Premier League.

By contrast, Wanderers are already condemned to third-tier football for the first time since the early 1990s and could set all manner of unwanted records, depending on the results in their last two games.

Bruce has fought many battles at Bolton down the years but has always had a soft spot for the club.

“I’ve got sympathy for Bolton because it wasn’t so long ago they were in the top half of the Premier League and getting into Europe under Sam (Allardyce),” he said.

“They’ve fallen out of the Premier League, where they were for 10 years, and now they find themselves in League One.

“I wish them the best of luck for the future. A new regime has taken over but it will still be very difficult to come back.

“It’s not easy to watch a club like that, with a good history and good tradition, find itself in League One.”

Hull City were down in the lower reaches of the league themselves not so long ago but after a couple of tastes of the top flight are now angling for a return.

As Wanderers have proved, the Championship can prove a tar pit for clubs who do not take their opportunities to be promoted.

“They’re a lesson over what can happen to any club,” Bruce said of Bolton. “That’s why I’ve said repeatedly that it’s not a given that we’re going to romp to promotion by 20 points.

“We’re all disappointed that we haven’t but we’ve maintained a promotion push which has been difficult after what happened last summer.

“They’re a lesson to everyone but there’s probably a good number of teams in League One now who have been in the Premier League at some stage.

“That shows how hard it can be. You can’t take anything for granted, not in football.”