Ian Evatt says he will shoulder any “blame” for Wanderers recent inconsistency – but called on all corners of the club to unite to keep their promotion bid on track.

Bolton head to struggling Cambridge United on Saturday looking for a shot of confidence after back-to-back defeats.

An air of dissatisfaction has crept into the fanbase over the last few weeks, both with the team’s performance levels and some of the manager’s own selection and tactical decisions.

But Evatt – who stands, incredibly, the Football League’s 15th longest-serving manager at two years and 133 days – has underlined his commitment to bringing success to the University of Bolton Stadium and says his squad will go to the Abbey Stadium this weekend as a united front.

“I have broad shoulders,” he told The Bolton News. “And we will take responsibility, as we always do, collectively.

“I don’t think that [being 15th in the longest-serving list] is anything to be proud of, as an industry.

“Managers are seen as transient, and that is the way football is. But what I will say is that this manager is not going anywhere.

“This manager is going to make sure this team is successful, and it has been successful.

“We have progressed a long way, we have belief. We are doing things differently here, we want to be a sustainable football club that can have sustained success. That type of thing takes time, it is a process.

“There will be some ups and downs. I am going to get heavily criticised, the players will be as well, but it is how we manage the difficult times that really is going to define us.

“In those moments you have to stick together – the players, the staff, the board, the fans, the media, we can all only achieve something if it is together. If there is a disconnect then it is nigh on impossible to have success at a football club and win matches.

“That is what we are trying to do – and if people want to moan about it along the way, that’s great, but it is water off a duck’s back. We will carry on what we believe to be right and hopefully get judged at the end of the season.”

Wanderers are sixth in the table, which is on par with the targets set at the start of the season.

Evatt is confident that his superiors, the Football Ventures board and chairman Sharon Brittan, are on the same page as himself – and he says his security in the job is making it easier to plan ahead on recruitment for January and beyond.

“Loyalty is a two-way street and the board have been extremely good with me when I have had difficult spells but vice-versa, when people have come knocking for me I have been extremely loyal to them. It is the way football is,” he said.

“It helps to plan for future windows but the club is evolving so fast. Just over two years ago we were in League Two, each transfer window there has been a huge turnover because we are constantly striving to improve at a rate of knots. It can’t continue, it is not sustainable.

“Having that security and the full backing and belief of the board makes it that bit easier to plan – myself, Chris, the rest of the football department, a lot of work goes into recruitment. And if you look back at my managerial career so far I have had a lot of success. My teams always finish games strongly and we finish seasons strongly and I hope that will be the case again this year.”