THIS week marked two years since Ian Evatt took charge of Wanderers for a competitive match for the first time.
Just two players from the 18 named on the team-sheet against Bradford City in the Carabao Cup remain – Ricardo Santos and Gethin Jones – and the club itself has undergone significant change since those lockdown days.
Evatt has just passed 200 games as a manager, 116 of which have been in the Bolton dugout. To date, he has managed 54 victories, which gives him an overall win percentage of 46.55 – a figure beaten only by Bruce Rioch (48.26 from 172 games) in the club’s modern history.
We look at 20 highs and lows from the two years of competitive fixtures under Evatt, not only results on the pitch but also events off it which have helped to shape his successful reign.
For a countdown of 10th to first place, click here.
20. Muddy Marvellous.
The game at Mansfield looked destined never to be played. Twice cancelled – once with Bolton’s players already off the team bus – the third time proved a charm, even though the pitch at Field Mill looked more suited to growing potatoes than playing football.
Evatt’s side had not looked comfortable in poor conditions, a problem which would dog them for some time to come, and after going 2-0 down with 18 minutes left to go, their mini revival in League Two looked to have ground to a halt.
Then it happened. Declan John’s cross shot ended up in the net, and moments later another low cross from the Welshman bounced off Melvin Benning and over the line.
Quiet man Arthur Gnahoua then got his moment in the limelight, smashing an unstoppable effort from the edge of the box to seal an 11-minute comeback.
19. Hart-breaker. (Hartlepool).
Bolton fancied their chances of winning the 2021/22 Papa Johns Trophy. They had breezed through the group stages, beaten Fleetwood, then got a reasonable draw away at League Two Hartlepool United.
Evatt gave a debut to new signing Dion Charles, whose arrival at the club had been mired by some unsavoury headlines about historical online comments, and loan wing-back Marlon Fossey in what was a strong side.
But as the game inched towards full time with the score goalless, an error from keeper Joel Dixon gifted the home side a goal, effectively dumping the side out of the competition. A case of what might have been?
18. Dapo’s birthday treat.
Dapo Afolayan had already provided a welcome touch of pizzazz to Wanderers’ promotion campaign whilst on loan from West Ham. But when he signed for Bolton permanently in the summer of 2021, Evatt was able to get something more from him.
Portman Road had been a bogey ground for the Whites for decades – Barry Knight’s curse and all that – but on his 23rd birthday, Afolayan changed that almost single-handedly.
Scoring two goals in a comprehensive 5-2 win, the winger was nigh-on perfect, proving he was worth much more to Bolton than silky skills and tricks. He was a bona fide goal-scorer too.
17. The Outbreak.
Bolton had escaped the worst of the pandemic as they negotiated promotion from League Two, rarely losing players to the coronavirus and sticking rigidly to the protocols that were put in place by the EFL.
By the winter of 2021, however, things got that bad that they were forced to close their training ground. A total of 14 players and four staff, including Evatt, had tested positive, and the club was forced to postpone a series of games over the festive period.
Bolton did not play between December 11 and January 1 and some speculate that it worked in Bolton’s favour, allowing them to strengthen their squad. But it gave Evatt and his medical staff a significant challenge in the New Year, as players recovered at different rates.
16. Izzy’s scuff of the day.
Salford City’s promotion push had faltered in the weeks between their original home fixture with Bolton – postponed because of a waterlogged ‘patch’ – and the rescheduled game, but for the Whites, the pressure was really on.
Beaten for the first time since January at Newport over Easter, they had bounced back against Harrogate, but nevertheless had little room for margin in the race for a top three spot with half a dozen games to go.
The game was tight, hard-fought, and quicker than most at that level. And it was settled by a gloriously nonchalant side-footed shot from Lloyd Isgrove midway through the first half.
15. Best team in the league.
Opposition fans have never hung on Ian Evatt’s words more than when he proclaimed that – in his opinion – Bolton were the best side in League One, after a narrow defeat at Sheffield Wednesday.
Put into context, the conversation about attacking football and Bolton’s inflated xG stats at the time had been aimed at the local media. But picked up elsewhere, the words were quickly used against the Bolton boss as his side faltered in the weeks that followed.
14. Statement maker.
What would Ian Evatt’s Bolton look like? Could the new manager foster some excitement in such uncertain times? The signing of Eoin Doyle provided a definitive answer.
Leading scorer in League Two a year earlier with Swindon, the Irishman was looking to move closer to his Merseyside home, and Bolton proved a perfect fit… Albeit not instantly.
Doyle was exploring his options at Christmas as Bolton struggled in the bottom half but he came good to score 19 goals – the best tally of any Whites striker since Michael Ricketts nearly 20 years ago.
13. Rico stays put.
Evatt’s defensive charm, Ricardo Santos, was entering the final year of his contract this summer and was not short of clubs watching him at the end of the 2021/22 season.
The big centre-back had become so integral to Bolton’s tactical make-up even the manager admitted it would be hard to find a replacement, so talking him into a new contract really was a big deal.
Santos agreed, citing his respect for Evatt as one of the main reasons he wanted to stay with Wanderers.
12. Shape-shifting.
We had all seen the Tifo video. Brand Evatt had already been cut down into cartoon chunks for Bolton fans desperate to see their team in action once again. But when the games got started, the football wasn’t quite as smooth as the narrator had promised.
Bolton lost their first five competitive games and Evatt struggled to use the same formation which had brough him so much success at Barrow.
His favoured back three took some time to bed in, and arguably only worked well once he brought the steely MJ Williams into the midfield in January.
The timing of those formation switches were key and recruitment lessons were learned.
11. Lot of Foss about nothing.
Marlon Fossey’s impact as a loan player from Fulham was as surprising as it was exhilarating.
The American full-back spent a brief time at Shrewsbury Town under former Wanderer, Sam Ricketts, but injury had cut his time in Shropshire short.
From early on, however, you could tell his time at Wanderers was going to be worth watching. And though his campaign was once again cut short by a knee problem, the clamour for Bolton to get him on a permanent deal in the summer was huge.
Evatt had other ideas. Liverpool’s Conor Bradley had been his number one pick in January – and the Northern Ireland international became available for loan at the start of the summer.
Though the 2022/23 season is still new, Bradley’s performances have somehow managed to surpass those of Fossey, who has now moved on to Belgian club Standard Liege.
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