What happened at Bolton Wanderers on this day in history?

FROM The Bolton News – March 30, 2012

WANDERERS were lifted by the first photo of fallen team-mate Fabrice Muamba in hospital but Owen Coyle warned there were big challenges ahead.

After victories against QPR and Blackburn, Bolton had edged cleared of the bottom three in the Premier League but were heading to a Wolves side also showing signs of fight under Mick McCarthy.

“We’ve been involved in a number of those games (six-pointers) recently – against QPR and Blackburn – and in a football context, it’s a huge game,” Coyle said.

“It gives us the opportunity to open the gap on Wolves to seven points with a game in hand. But they will be looking at it as a means to close the gap.

“We go into it in good fettle in terms of confidence and how we’ve been playing. We’ll go there to be positive and try to win the match, knowing we’re in for a tough test.

“Wolves are in the mix the same as everyone else, including ourselves. I think the battle will go all the way.”

FROM The Bolton News – March 30, 2004

STELIOS told Bolton Wanderers fans that he would improve after finding life in the Premier League a tough adjustment.

The hard-working Greece international had been one of the most sought-after transfers in Europe when he announced he was leaving Olympiakos.

But despite landing seven league championships in his home country and winning the equivalent player of the year the season before, Stelios admitted playing at Bolton was a step up.

"I knew it was going to be hard but, if you don't play it, you can't taste it," he said, preparing to take on Switzerland with Greece. "Now I'm tasting it and it is quite hard for me but at the same time I am enjoying it because I am playing in one of the top leagues in the world.

"In Olympiakos I was quite a different player because we played another type, another style of football. Every game I have to adjust and the adjustment is still going on because I have to change a lot of things in my play so I am not yet at my best.”

Wanderers were also thwarted in their attempts to sign French midfielder Olivier Kapo from Auxerrre after he agreed a pre-contract with Juventus to take him to Italy the following season.

FROM The Bolton News – March 30, 1996

WANDERERS were hard at work in the transfer market, securing the services of Gavin Ward and Scott Taylor to aid their Premier League survival effort.

Ward, a £400,000 capture from Bradford City, plugged the gap left by an injured Keith Branagan and was a move that only materialised after the Bantams lost against Wycombe, weakening Chris Kamara’s resolve to keep hold of his services.

“I’ve no idea what would have happened if Bradford would have beaten Wycombe,” Todd reflected. “We’ll never need to know now. We have got a good goalkeeper there.”

Wanderers had also been interested in Aberdeen’s Theo Snelders and York City’s Dean Kiely but after grabbing top target Ward they then bolstered their attacking ranks a few hours later with a deal worth £150,000 for Taylor.

“They (Millwall) were asking big, big money when we first went in for him,” Todd said of the 19-year-old, who had shot to prominence with two goals against Everton in the Coca Cola Cup.

“We have been watching him over a period of time and I am convinced that if we had not taken him now we wouldn’t have got him.

“The money we paid was next to nothing compared to what they asked for him originally.”

FROM The Bolton News – March 30, 1991

WANDERERS were mourning the loss of former chairman Bill Isherwood, who had led the club out of some dark financial times in the late sixties to early seventies.

William George Isherwood was financial director at Burnden Park from 1969 to 1976 – traumatic times when the club slipped down to Division Three for the first time in its history, and employed six different managers.

He was the chairman when soccer was hit by the three day week and matches were played on Sunday afternoons.

But he enjoyed significant success when Jimmy Armfield led the club back to promotion in 1972/73 as Third Division champions and also appointed Ian Greaves, who would eventually restore Wanderers to the top flight.

A former executive with the Magee Marshall Brewery who saw action in the Second World War at the Normandy landings whilst with the Royal Navy, Isherwood was also a keen Bolton fan who would regularly watch the youth team at Bromwich Street.

FROM The Bolton News – March 30, 1989

WANDERERS were given the red card in their attempts to find a new training pitch.

They had intended to use the Walkers FC ground at Cotefield Avenue, Great Lever, for midweek training sessions.

But Bolton Council’s environmental services department declared the move offside.

Mr Harold Haywood, assistant director, told a committee meeting: “This would lead to intensive use for what is intended to be a restricted facility.”