LEAGUE position has rarely correlated with the resolute talk at Wanderers over the last few months, and Ian Evatt has had a difficult time convincing supporters that lost ground can be reclaimed.
Since Bolton dropped momentarily into the relegation zone in September, their climb up the table has been slow, steady and not without its hiccups.
All the while, the manager and his players have maintained the same stubborn rhetoric that the situation will improve, better times are to come, and that the longer-term chase for a top two spot is still ongoing. It is a request for faith that some are willing to embrace and others have rejected altogether, and the split remains just as pronounced as it was following the play-off final in May.
December’s games should go a long way to sorting out where Wanderers should be pitching themselves in 2025. With 18 points on offer, the first three of which will be contested against Mansfield Town on Tuesday night, the scope to improve the mood is obvious. Best case scenario would see the club climb above the two-points-per game benchmark ordinarily used to signal promotion form.
At this time last year, Evatt’s side were second in the table with 39 points from 18 games, three behind leaders Portsmouth but with one game in hand. By the turn of the year that gap was just two points, still with a game advantage.
This season’s promotion race does appear to have a larger field, perhaps spread out as far as Mansfield in 10th and yet Bolton’s inability to break back into the top six has dampened any real excitement at feeling a part of it all.
Had the Whites held out against Cambridge United last Tuesday they would be sixth, and the post-match bravado a little easier to digest. Breaking back above the dotted line for only the second time since the opening weekend of the season should be a psychological boost for a team whose ego has been so regularly bruised.
Of course, the December 14 meeting with Wigan Athletic sticks out above the rest of this month’s challenges. And one wonders how many of his Christmas presents Evatt would trade to get a positive result against a side that has dealt him some of the most brutal blows of the last few seasons.
In the meantime, however, Wanderers face an opponent which has had luckier connotations for the manager and his side in the recent past.
Mansfield were beaten on penalties earlier this season in the Carabao Cup and the last league meeting between the two sides proved a pivotal result for Bolton in their chase for League Two promotion in 2020/21. Battling back from 2-0 down with 18 minutes to go on a quagmire of a pitch at Field Mill signalled a charge up the table and success for Evatt in his first season in charge.
Though Covid rules meant fans were denied the opportunity to see the stirring comeback in person, Arthur Gnahoua’s 88th minute winner launched a memorable run of results. This team, though much changed from that rainy night, has retained its ability to switch quickly from mediocrity to magnificence with little warning, albeit there hasn’t been quite as much of the latter in 2024/25.
Nigel Clough stands behind Evatt as the sixth longest-serving manager in the top four divisions at present, and after guiding the Stags to promotion last season has used every ounce of his experience to ensure a strong start to the current campaign.
Although their initial residence in the top six has faded of late, they remain in touch, and a hard-fought win against Stevenage in the FA Cup second round on Saturday should buoy confidence, even though leading scorer Lee Gregory is unlikely to feature after picking up a knee injury.
Mansfield’s only league win in Bolton happened on January 3, 1987, and was one of 10 home defeats that season at Burnden Park, then a club record, beaten in 2018/19 (15).
Phil Neal’s team dropped into the Fourth Division five months later via a play-off with Aldershot Town – and those among the 5,000-or-so on the gate might be able to recall a time when fellow fans really did have something to complain about.
Evatt and his players may well be skating on thin ice this December but the battle to win back hearts and minds continues.
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