FOR several years now Bolton Wanderers fans have joked that the club’s fluctuating fortunes should have been made into a Hollywood drama.

Relegations, promotions, ownership battles, administration – the truth at the University of Bolton stadium genuinely has been stranger than fiction, for the most part.

At the start of the year a top-secret project was launched by production company 5or6 Creative, charting the recent history of a founder member of the Football League, which had by that point fallen into the fourth tier for only the second time in its history.

Cameras were given exclusive behind-the-scenes access to the dressing room, the training ground and everywhere in between to bring a unique view of Ian Evatt’s side in action.

On Friday, the first of a two-part documentary will air on Wanderers’ official YouTube channel entitled: Born to be a Wanderer.

The producers were responsible for the video which has accompanied Bolton’s season ticket campaign, which has gone down well with supporters, and a trailer released in midweek for the forthcoming documentary has also sparked excitement.

The sneak peek outlined a few of the things we can expect from the programme, which also contains appearances from chairman, Sharon Brittan, chief operating officer, Andy Gartside, Bolton’s media guru, Paul Holliday, manager, Ian Evatt, and Wanderers legend, John McGinlay.

But what else can we glean from the minute-long preview? We decided to take a look…

A TASTE OF HISTORY - “People of the town, the supporters, they are proud of their football club, they are proud of their town,” begins McGinlay, before stock footage of Nat Lofthouse, Frank Worthington, McGinlay himself and a snippet of commentary from the much-missed Dave Higson plays in the background.

“We have seen some hard times lately,” he adds, as a clip of Michael Ricketts scoring the winner against Manchester United in 2001.

A qualified narrator of all things Wanderers, the former Burnden Park favourite knows what makes fans of his beloved club tick.

FULL PRESS - “Football changes very often, as we have seen with Bolton Wanderers’ fortunes,” says BBC Radio Manchester’s Jack Dearden.

“Bad decisions were made, towards the end of their Premier League stay,” adds Marc Iles, of The Bolton News – unsurprisingly reverting to type as the local harbinger of doom.

“You could just see that the club had been going in the wrong direction for too long, for far too long” added McGinlay.

The local press feature strongly in the clip. Complaints should be directed to 5or6 Creative.

HEADLINES – The front and back pages of The Bolton News are used throughout the documentary to underline the huge public interest in Wanderers’ issues.

‘Darkness Before The Dawn’ screams one splash, composed on the day the Whites were officially put into administration and the Ken Anderson reign finally over.

“The future of Bolton Wanderers Football Club is hanging in the balance,” reads one presenter on Sky Sports News, before ITV Granada Reports’ Mike Hall adds: “A founder member of the Football League could be gone within days.”

 

 

SHARON’S STATEMENT - We get a glimpse of what the Wanderers chairman will be talking about as she described the motivation for buying the club in the summer of 2019.

“I just wanted to save Bolton Wanderers, for the fans, for the whole town of Bolton,” she says as a few frames of the Town Hall and the Fred Dibnah statue flicker on the screen.

It will be interesting to hear more from Brittan, who has rarely appeared in front of the cameras, about Football Ventures’ takeover and the rebuilding process thereafter.

QUICK TIME - Its at that point that the trailer picks up in pace. A stomping drum beat strikes in the background and high-speed images of Bolton’s players on the training ground speed across the screen.

We see Eoin Doyle jog across the pitch, Shaun Miller celebrate a goal against Barrow, Ian Evatt looking pensive on the touchline, Dapo Afolayan looking like he is getting a dressing down at half time, Antoni Sarcevic celebrates a goal against Cambridge United, and then a moody shot of Nathan Delfouneso as he walks out of the dressing room and leans against the wall near the home tunnel.

The camera pans to the interior of the stadium, looking up into the East Stand, and then fade to black with the words: Born to be a Wanderer, coming soon.

The Bolton News: