WANDERERS’ recent determined dart for survival has convinced Ken Anderson he was right to stick by Phil Parkinson when the going was tough.

The Bolton chairman backed his manager at the end of September when the club had taken just two points from its first 11 games, and was rewarded with a seven-game unbeaten run.

Since beating Sheffield Wednesday on October 14 the Whites have registered 23 points from 15 games - a total bettered by only six other clubs in the whole division.

Despite that upturn in form, pressured appeared to build again before Christmas following back-to-back defeats against Nottingham Forest and Burton Albion but Anderson remained convinced Parkinson and his staff would steer the ship to calmer waters.

Now, he is confident Wanderers and his manager can continue to prove the doubters wrong.

“My view at the moment is that there is no-one else who can do the job better,” Anderson told The Bolton News.

“I stood by him when most owners would not have done. I believe in him and think he is a good manager.

“I would never sack someone on a whim, or for the sake of it.

“Phil supported me when my back was up against the wall and I was being criticised, so I do feel like I owe him that faith when things were a little tougher.”

Support from the dressing room has also strengthened Anderson’s resolve to stand by the man he appointed in June 2016, having dispensed with the services of Neil Lennon nearly three months earlier.

“If I was sat watching the team and thought the players were not playing for the manager, maybe I would think differently,” he said.

“We came to that decision with Neil Lennon. It was a joint decision between myself and Dean (Holdsworth) at the time, although the responsibility to actually do it was primarily my own.

“I don’t think Neil was a bad manager and he’s gone on and done very well. But at the time we felt the players were not entirely behind him.”