SIXTY years on since Wanderers’ last and only league win at Rotherham United, is this weekend that the clock resets to zero?
There is no opposition in English football Bolton have visited more frequently in the league without bringing back three points.
Between the Millers’ old stomping ground at Millmoor and their new premises, the AESSEAL New York Stadium, Wanderers have played 18 consecutive times without recording a win, stretching back to August 30, 1966.
Asked what he made of the statistic after scoring his winning goal against Wycombe at the weekend, Corey Blackett-Taylor shrugged off the significance, adding: “We’ll just have to change that!”
And Steven Schumacher’s in-form side look ideally placed to put to bed the unwanted statistic, 11 unbeaten and coming up against a Rotherham outfit who have been entrenched in the League One relegation zone since the end of December.
Relegated from the Championship in 2024, the Millers managed only a 13th placed finish last season yet were still ranked as the eighth favourites for promotion last summer by the bookmakers.
They have spent just a solitary week in the top 10, however, and at time of writing sit 22nd in the table, three points from safety.
Many of the near 2,000 already signed up to make the early trip on Saturday will do so knowing the dismal record that Bolton have had in South Yorkshire. Including two League Cup visits in September 1969, the Whites have not beaten Rotherham in 20 games overall.
The last time Wanderers beat Rotherham at the old Millmoor, England had only just lifted the Jules Rimet Trophy and The Beatles were at number one with Yellow Submarine/Eleanor Rigby.
The Fab Four had just arrived back in the country after a US tour which had hit the headlines for the wrong reasons after comments made by John Lennon about the band being “bigger than Jesus” went down badly across the pond.
A BEN report of the time noted that more than 100 fans had spent the night at London Airport, with one cheeky banner confiscated which read: “Thank Christ you are home safely!”
The gig at Candlestick Park on August 29 proved to be the last ticketed concert the band would ever play together, with their work thereafter confined to the studio.
Elsewhere in football there was a Goodison Park debut for Farnworth-born World Cup winner Alan Ball, who had just become the most expensive player in English football when he moved from Blackpool to Everton for £100,000, forming the final piece of the ‘Holy Trinity’ midfield, alongside Howard Kendall and Colin Harvey.
Wanderers, who had dropped out of the top division in 1964, had made a positive start to the season with the win at Rotherham their third from the opening four games.
Placed second behind Birmingham City after Gordon Taylor’s winner, manager Bill Ridding had praised his players for the start they had made.
“Everyone is giving of his best and playing as a team and we can’t go far wrong if we continue to do that,” he said.
“We shan’t meet many teams better than Rotherham, who are a good all-round side. Our lads showed they had the ability to fight it out.”
Financial realities were starting to set in at Burnden Park, however, and several weeks later they would be forced to sell key striker Wyn Davies to Newcastle United for a club record £85,000. That landmark would stand until the sale of Frank Worthington in 1979.
Although Wanderers have recorded more consecutive winless games at Rotherham than anywhere else, they have waited longer for a victory at other venues in English football.
The Whites have NEVER won a league game at Barrow or Colchester, although visits in the league have been rare. And there are ex-EFL opponents such as Scarborough and Yeovil who boast the same unbeaten record.
But of those teams in regular rotation, here are the longest waits (by date) for a Bolton victory.
Fulham
Bruce Rioch was in charge the last time Wanderers won a league game at Craven Cottage in November 1992. Andy Walker scored twice, with Alan Stubbs and David Lee also on the scoresheet in a 4-1 victory. Since then, however, there have been 16 fruitless visits to that part of West London, with the only success coming in the FA Cup.
Derby County
George Mulhall picked up his first win at Bolton boss in his fourth match in charge at the Baseball Ground in September 1981.
Chris Thompson and Gerry McElhinney scored the goals that day, and Wanderers would follow that up by beating the Rams at Burnden in both the league and FA Cup.
Their record since then has been poor. Although there was a Worthington Cup win at Derby in 1999, the Whites have not won on their last 16 visits at either the Baseball Ground or Pride Park.
Blackpool
It has become common knowledge among Wanderers fans that Star Wars was on at the cinema when they last won a league game at Bloomfield Road in December 1977.
Frank Worthington and Neil Whatmore provided the goals for Ian Greaves’s promotion-bound side that day but there has been little else to celebrate on the 13 times Bolton have played there since.
Rotherham
Whether it has been Millmoor or the ASSEAL New York Stadium, trips to Rotherham have been tough since August 1966 when Gordon Taylor’s solitary goal capped off a hard-working win for Bill Ridding’s side.
The 18 league games without a win makes Rotherham theoretically the unluckiest opponents away from home for Bolton in English football. Perhaps it is time to change that on Saturday lunchtime?
Arsenal
Though we can remember a glorious FA Cup win at Highbury in the nineties and some titanic tussles in the Premier League, Bolton haven’t beaten the Gunners outright in 64 years with three points at stake.
Dougie Holden and Dennis Stevens were on the mark in January 1962, when Britain was gripped by a mighty Big Freeze.
Since then, Wanderers have been back to Highbury and the Emirates on 17 occasions in the league without success.
Liverpool
Once again, you think Bolton at Liverpool and one victory comes to mind. The wonderful White Hot night in the 1993 FA Cup won’t be forgotten in a hurry but you would need a long memory to recall the last time a Wanderers side won at Anfield in the league.
Willie Moir and Dennis Stevens scored in front of nearly 45,000 on Merseyside in a year where the Whites finished fifth in the table and the Reds were relegated bottom.
Following that 2-1 scoreline, however, there have been 17 league games at Liverpool where Bolton have failed to win.
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