In a year where people at the very top of English football tried to take the game away from their loyal match-going supporters, it was ironic that us Wanderers ‘legacy fans’ had to watch our team play out a season at its joint lowest ebb on TV and computer screens.

Back in September, a lot of things in the world were still uncertain, however one thing that seemed to be guaranteed was that the Whites’ stay in the fourth tier of English football would be as shortlived as their last.

But, such is life as a Wanderers fan, nothing is ever that easy.

A summer of isolation and lockdowns had left Bolton fans eager to see the lads play. The EFL introduced us to their streaming service ‘iFollow’ and pre-match rituals of a pint and Carrs Pastie from the concourse had been swapped for a brew and biscuits on the sofa.

LISTEN: Wanderers promotion special and Buff awards 

As poor as the iFollow service was at times, and by poor I mean intermittent outages and Feargal Sharkey playing out over a Bolton Wanderers attack, it was better than nothing, and it only matched the quality that we were seeing on the pitch at the time anyway.

I don’t want to dwell on the first half of the season too much because as with any good series, you have to put up with some lacklustre episodes that add to the story so it can have a blockbuster ending.

And boy, did we have a blockbuster ending!

As we binge-watched our way through February and March an unusual set of ‘Ws’ were appearing next to Bolton’s name in the table and barring a few plot twists at Newport, Grimsby and against Exeter, Wanderers fans were starting to believe there would be a happy ending.

LISTEN: The Buff podcast rates every Wanderers player this season

As the series headed to a conclusion, Bolton fans prepared for the final episode. iFollow had been replaced by Sky Sports and Derek Clark’s dulcet tones were swapped for the voice of former Wanderer Keith Andrews… okay, iFollow wasn’t too bad!

As it happens, it did end up being an unexpected ending but that’s just because Bolton got promotion without any complications. 

The interest has resulted in another series being commissioned with filming set to start in August, however this time there will be a live studio audience.

I can’t wait to be back at the UniBol to see these new found TV stars in action...let’s just hope the ending is as good as this one.

Our Wanderers podcast The Buff is available on The Bolton News website, Apple, Spotify and Soundcloud