BRUCE Rioch has revealed how heartache with Middlesbrough helped him learn the trick to promotion with Wanderers.

The legendary Burnden Park boss was in charge the last time the Whites got out of the third tier in 1993, John McGinlay scoring a memorable penalty to consign Lancashire rivals Preston North End to relegation.

Rioch went on to lead Bolton into the Premier League for the first time via a dramatic play-off final victory over Reading at Wembley two years later.

But he admits to making mistakes with his previous club Boro as they went for automatic promotion to the top flight in 1988, which could help Phil Parkinson in his preparation for today’s all-important game.

“We had to beat Leicester City on the final day to go up but because I didn’t have the experience I left the players at home on the day of the game, had them turn up for 1pm,” he told The Bolton News.

“They were all eager, bouncing around the place but by 3pm that energy had burned out and we were beaten. From there on in I was determined not to make that error again.

“At Bolton we got players together in the hotel, went into the ground late – about 2pm. There was no hanging around in the dressing room.

“Your staff play a massive part on the day of the game and we had Jimmy Dewsnip, who was head of the youth side, who’d be cracking jokes and telling stories. It kept the players relaxed.

“Phil Parkinson has been a manager long enough to know the tricks. He’ll want to make a confident start to the game, try to eliminate any anxiety or nerves around the stadium. But you don’t want to chase something and leave yourself playing catch up.”

Even the motivator needs motivating – and Rioch revealed his pre-match routine for the Preston game had also been out of the norm.

“We got away from the pressure,” he said. “Myself and Toddy (Colin Todd) went to Carlisle races and had a great day.

“I’m not much of a gambler, although Colin knew a thing or two. But it was a good distraction, it got you thinking about something other than the game.”

Watching from afar has not been easy for Rioch, who retains a real affinity with Wanderers after spending three successful years in charge before leaving for Arsenal in the summer of 1995.

Wanderers’ financial problems at one point threatened to plunge the club back to the hand-to-mouth situation his predecessor Phil Neal once had to contend with, although Rioch is hopeful that things have now reached a more even keel.

“It is difficult when you have a wealthy benefactor because you never know what is going to happen once that funding goes away,” he said, referring to Eddie Davies’s long run as owner.

“I know when I went to work in America it was one of my chief concerns. A very wealthy man was subsidising the club but I sat down with the people in charge there and asked right away ‘what happens if this guy keels over?’

“It appears Bolton are through the other side now and I’d like to think there is a sensible budget plan in place for next season.

“I know in my time at the club Gordon Hargreaves, who is still the best chairman I ever worked with, was brilliant at that.

“When I came in there was only £20,000 to spend. We raised money by letting Tony Philliskirk go but for the same sort of amount managed to bring in John McGinlay and Keith Branagan.

“We couldn’t afford David Lee, so had to loan him from Southampton for a few months. We raised the cash eventually by selling Michael Brown. Working on that budget was always very hard but rewarding.

“I just felt that when you have someone who put £170million-plus into a football club there had to be a better plan for what happens when that isn’t the case anymore.

“Hopefully, Bolton are over the worst of it now.”

Rioch has been impressed with the camaraderie which has developed in the current Wanderers squad and tapping into his own experience at the club, reckons it is a crucial ingredient in success.

“A successful team is generally friends off the pitch as well as team-mates on it,” he said. “They need to know when to work hard, and when to take a step back.

“We’d try lots of different tactics to shake things up and get a response from the players.

“Sometimes I’d take them up to Edgworth and walk round the reservoir then go and sit them in a tea room and have some cake.

“When we’d get back to the stadium you’d naturally assume that’s it, and that the lads would go about their business. But they wanted to train, they went in the gym, did head tennis, laps, that sort of thing.

“It is what made them a successful team. They knew it would be hard work and there were plenty of workers in the squad.”