Can Bolton Wanderers prove promotion pedigree with a convincing pre-season?

Ian Evatt can call on virtually the same bank of players, save for two new summer additions in Jack Iredale and Conor Bradley. They even kick off their pre-season campaign in exactly the same place as they did 12 months ago.

This time, however, the Bolton boss knows there is a greater weight of expectation on his team’s shoulders to push for a promotion spot and a return to the Championship after three years away.

A win against Fleetwood ensured a ninth-placed finish on Bolton’s return to League One – short of Evatt’s own target of the top six but nevertheless regarded as a positive step, when factored in with rising attendances and season ticket sales.

The campaign was finished on a high note. Three defeats from the final 22 league games ensured the outlook was bright among supporters, who had watched on in shirt sleeves with a smile at Longridge the previous July just glad to be back in the fold after the soulless empty stadia of the pandemic.

The joy of live football’s return was intoxicating, and its effect lasted into the season. By the time those feelgood vibes began to wear out, Wanderers had hit a bad winter run and Evatt was feeling for the first time some of the more negative effects having a fanbase the size of Bolton’s can bring.

January’s remedial action brought with it a sharp upturn in form for the second year running. And the success of those winter window signings – Aaron Morley, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson, Dion Charles, James Trafford, Kieran Sadlier et al – has undoubtedly raised belief among the supporters.

In a Bolton News poll of 2,476 fans earlier this summer, we asked how Wanderers would fare next season if they could keep a squad of comparative quality.

More than 63 per cent of responses said the top six would be an achievable target, with another 18 per cent stating that automatic promotion should be the aim.

Whether that confidence is misplaced or not could depend on how far standards are raised elsewhere in League One.

Relegated sides Peterborough United and Barnsley have held their squads together, while Derby County’s fight find a new owner and come out of administration has taken some worrying and all-too-familiar twists and turns over the summer months, but now looks like the Rams’ tale will have a happy ending.

MK Dons, Ipswich Town, Sheffield Wednesday, Wycombe, Oxford and Portsmouth have all upgraded or at least maintained squads which made the top 10 last season and will be expected to do so again.

Bolton’s greatest strength this season may well prove to be continuity. Unlike the last two pre-seasons, Evatt does not have a raft of new signings to bed down, nor a huge amount of tactical teaching to do. And so, it stands to reason that the team which picks its way through the pre-season schedule will look more organised and less experimental than it has in the past.

As a result, many allowances that have been made previously may not now apply. And Evatt is aware that the goodwill garnered in mid-January onwards will quickly disappear if his side do not meet expectations.

“The thing is in football that at the end of every season your credit runs out and you have to start all over again,” the manager observed recently from the training ground in Portugal.

It remains to be seen how much pressure Evatt will put on himself.

This is the strongest squad he has yet managed at Wanderers, and so it would be surprising to see him adjust the promotion target he set last year. But there has been a tonal shift in the manager’s words thus far and it could be that he no longer needs to take a hyperbolic approach to get the response he needs from his players. The measured, internal confidence shown on the training ground in Portugal and in interviews from the likes of Gethin Jones, Ricardo Santos and Kyle Dempsey suggests that Bolton could be happier going about their business less bombastically and more efficiently than before.

Pre-season will churn up the same tropes about fitness and preparation but for Wanderers, the task will be to make sure no momentum is lost between the moment they walked off the pitch to a standing ovation against Fleetwood to the moment they walk on at Portman Road, Ipswich, at the end of July. Then, and only then, can we judge if this Bolton side can be truly judged as promotion contenders.

Meanwhile, Wanderers will wear their new home kit in their first pre-season friendly at Longridge Town after the design was revealed by the club last night.

Online pre-orders for the shirt, which costs £50 for an adult and £42 for juniors, are now available with season ticket holders able to claim a 10 per cent discount.

Featuring the logo of new shirt sponsors Service My Car, the shirt features an embossed design of the stadium silhouette in recognition of its 25th anniversary this September.

The press release goes on to state: “Presenting a retro-style, striped round neck the same white, blue and red lines don the sleeves and vertical embossed lines subtly encase a repeated motif of the BWFC crest across the front of the shirt.

“Bolton’s famous elephant and castle remain on the nape of the neck, as does the town’s motto ‘Supera Moras’.”

Wanderers launched the kit with a social media video including Dion Charles, Ricardo Santos, Amadou Bakayoko, Kieran Sadlier, Kyle Dempsey, Josh Sheehan and Gethin Jones. Head of Retail Paul Stanworth said: “This is a real milestone season for Bolton Wanderers as we celebrate the 25 year anniversary of the club’s move from Burnden Park to its home here in Horwich.

“We wanted to make sure the shirt played a part in marking that moment. It was an incredibly exciting time for the Wanderers back in 1997 and there’s a similar feeling at the club right now. We hope fans enjoy this special anniversary shirt – we can’t wait to see lots of Wanderers wearing it in the coming weeks!”

Full prices: Home adult shirt: £50, Home adult short: £26, Home adult sock: £12, Home junior shirt: £42, Home junior short: £21, Home junior sock: £10, Home infant kit: £45, Home baby kit: £42.