ADAM Le Fondre has “no doubt” Wanderers will return to the Championship a stronger prospect than they were 12 months ago.

Relegated out of sight amid financial problems in 2015/16, the Whites have bounced back under Phil Parkinson for another crack at the second tier.

Le Fondre was not involved in the relegation campaign but saw enough in his loan spell over the last few months to suggest his team-mates will fare better.

“If everyone had left last summer a lot of the squad would have stayed in the Championship because the quality is there,” he told The Bolton News. “Staying with Bolton might have been a big call for some of them. Maybe they looked at the bigger picture and thought ‘one step back to take two forward?’

“But I look at a club on the rise, so why not embrace it?

“There is a strong spine of the team and if that can be kept together there’s no doubt in my mind it can compete in the Championship, no doubt at all.”

Le Fondre is hopeful of returning on a permanent basis to Wanderers next season and is also keen to link-up again with ex-Reading team-mate Jem Karacan.

Signed on Le Fondre’s recommendation, midfielder Karacan produced two big performances against Port Vale and Peterborough to help see the Whites over the line to promotion.

“He was outstanding and I knew he would be,” he said.

“I’d been telling the club since January how good he was, how he would do a good job if they could get him in.

“He’d been having a bad time in Galatasaray and I know first-hand how important he is from playing in a good team with him at Reading. We went up that season and he was outstanding for us.

“He’s been great around this place, he’s got a great attitude and he’s raised the training level immensely. That’s what we’ve got here, some fantastic professionals, there’s such a good core.”

Meanwhile, Wanderers have reported 7,000 season tickets have been sold so far this summer, with the club on target to eclipse last season’s sales.