Bolton Wanderers season review part six: Steven Schumacher

Steven Schumacher outlined his intentions out early after being appointed as Ian Evatt’s successor at Wanderers and was not about to write off the remaining 18 games as a learning experience.

In the view of the former Plymouth Argyle and Stoke City boss, the underperforming squad he had inherited was still well capable of getting themselves into the top six, giving themselves a chance of promotion via the play-offs.

Schumacher was appointed on January 30, just 48 hours before an away game at Reading, which gave him little time to acclimatise.

Of more pressing concern to the supporters, however, was the impending transfer window, which closed on the Monday. The sale of Dion Charles to Huddersfield Town was still fresh in the mind and the lack of an obvious replacement left Bolton’s attack looking slightly undercooked.

Sporting director Chris Markham had remained in post during the managerial changes – indeed, his exit would not be formalised until February 21 – and after speaking with Schumacher it was decided that he press ahead with a move for Cardiff City’s Kion Etete on loan.

Wanderers lacked true physicality in their forward ranks, and, on paper, the former Tottenham trainee fit the profile. The glaring issue, however, was his lack of football for his parent club, the striker having come through just 45 minutes for the first team because of injuries.

Nevertheless, with Schumacher’s blessing, the loan deal went through and Etete was named on the bench at Reading in the new manager’s first game.

What had been a patchy, scrappy affair was drawing to a conclusion when the new signing came off the bench to replace Victor Adeboyejo. Not for the first time, Wanderers had missed a few presentable chances to put themselves into the lead but a point against the plucky Royals, who had performed against the backdrop of serious ownership issues all season, was not the worst return.

Kion Etete made a disastrous Wanderers debut against Reading (Image: CameraSport - Lee Parker) Chris Forino scored the winner against Wigan Athletic - a high point in the campaign (Image: CameraSport - Alex Dodd)

With just a couple of minutes to go, Bolton were defending a free kick near halfway. Lobbed in by Travis Bindon, Etete attempted to head clear in front of Jordi Osei-Tutu but mistimed the leap and the ball dropped awkwardly on to his upper arm.

Referee Anthony Backhouse had no doubt it was a penalty, and Harvey Knibbs did the business to give the home fans a finale that they could not have seen coming.

As debuts go, you would have to jobs" target="_blank">work hard to find a more unfortunate one. And Etete’s month would soon get worse, the 23-year-old picking up a thigh injury in training which meant at least four weeks out of action.

At the same time, Wanderers lost the services of Adeboyejo – who had tentatively taken on the challenge of playing as a number nine for most of the season. A serious knee injury meant he would not play again until the end of the year, and so Bolton’s attacking options had been eroded further.

Scott Arfield had been allowed to join Falkirk on deadline day with Randell Williams also heading south to join play-off chasers Leyton Orient. But the lack of incoming players – particularly in the light of Etete’s disastrous start – meant the fans’ ire began to be directed towards Markham and the board.

On the pitch, there was evidence to suggest a new voice was bringing something out of players who had been flagging under Evatt.

Bolton had developed a curious tendency to give opponents at least a goal start, falling behind in six of the first seven games, but were playing with freedom seldom seen this season.

Schumacher shifted his side into different formations, often two or three times a match, illustrating some of the tactical flexibility which many felt had been lacking under his predecessor.

 And though the Vertu Trophy journey ended with a 1-0 defeat at Phil Parkinson’s Wrexham, the points started to stack up. Crawley were beaten in a seven-goal thriller, Bolton got the better of Shrewsbury at the Croud Meadow and Aaron Morley scored the decisive goal from the penalty spot to beat Leyton Orient.

Aaron Collins and John McAtee had forged a workable partnership up front, momentarily quelling the worry that Bolton had no real centre forwards, and Schumacher pushed players like Osei-Tutu and Szabi Schon into more advanced positions, which all seemed to suit.

At the back, Josh Dacres-Cogley was in top form once given more licence to defend and Will Forrester seemed to thrive knowing that he would not be dropped from the side.

The play-offs no longer looked a fanciful target, especially once the big spending Birmingham City were beaten at the Toughsheet in what was Bolton’s most complete performance of the whole season.

A point was ground out at Wrexham and the Burton jinx was finally broken with Josh Sheehan netting a superb winner. On March 12, the Whites were two points clear of Huddersfield in sixth spot, with a key run of fixtures against local rivals on the horizon.

A shabby second-half performance at Bristol Rovers handed Schumacher his first league defeat since Reading and led into defeats against Stockport and Blackpool. Just as the criticism started to rise once again, Chris Forino’s late winner at Wigan Athletic gave the supporters a moment they had craved for a decade. And when that was followed by another slender win at home to Bristol Rovers – sunk by their old boy Aaron Collins – hope started to rise once again.

Etete had returned briefly from the bench at Blackpool but his total contribution to the rest of the season would amount to a little more than an hour of football in total.

Bolton took just two points from their last six matches and though Schumacher stuck up for his players – particularly as injuries started to take hold once again – he was now seeing that the rebuilding job he had taken on was a bigger one that it first appeared.

Missing 13 senior players at Peterborough, Bolton were forced to draft in youngsters from the Under-18s and B Team to fill the team sheet. David Abimbola, Sam Inwood, Harrison Rice and Daeshon Lawrence all got a shot, with Sonny Sharples-Ahmed also returning to the first team fold.

Daeshon Lawrence (left) and David Abimbola were two of the young stars drafted in by Bolton (Image: CameraSport - Andrew Kearns) Steven Schumacher admitted the job of rebuilding Wanderers is bigger than he expected (Image: CameraSport - Andrew Kearns)

Play-off talk had evaporated after a particularly poor display at Barnsley, by which point the summer could not come fast enough.

The disappointment in Schumacher’s voice said everything as he listed off the injured players who had either been ruled out or ruled themselves out of contention at the 11th hour.

A point at Posh and one at home to Stevenage on the final day at least meant the new boss did not sign off on a losing note, but he was not fooled. The post-January run had not turned out the way he had hoped but provided him with ample evidence to know what was missing.

Fergal Harkin was appointed as the new sporting director and will now work alongside Schumacher to overhaul a squad that had been built in someone else’s image. Big decisions have already been made with the release of Nathan Baxter, Gethin Jones and Ricardo Santos – all cornerstones of the Evatt era – and it can be assumed that more will follow.

The giddy excitement with which Schumacher took his first press conference and insisted the play-offs were still possible has now been replaced by a more serious and resolute tone. But the young coach knows that from August, it will be his team that is judged out on the pitch and the high levels of expectation at Bolton have not altered a jot.