Bolton Wanderer under Sam Allardyce was high-flying, competing in Europe, and was a Premier League mainstay; attractive football wasn’t the trotter’s niche but the team became renowned as a side that was hard to beat.
From that, it turned into dreadful mismanagement and financial nightmare that followed with a lot of questions being asked about their decline.
The Wanderers weren’t exactly a club with a swell bank account when Sam Allardyce took them to the pinnacle of English football via the playoff triumph against Preston North End in 2001.
As great as that sounds, muddling thinking, poor signings, and extravagant wages to players brought them into the unpleasant situation they’ve found themselves.
However, during those rosy and sweet periods, Allardyce was able to cast his net into the transfer pool to bring on board Fernando Hierro, Ivan Campo, World Cup winner Youri Djorkaeff, former Nigeria midfield maestro Okocha, amongst other top players that ran top teams in England and Europe ragged with their direct style of football.
Bolton’s Journey
Since the 1987-88 season, the club’s single season in the fourth tier, the trotter has never slipped lower than 16th on the table, before they secured instant promotion back to Division Three.
When Bolton Wanderers went down as low as playing in the lower division it comes as a huge surprise to many of their fans.
Bolton in 2008 was officially one of the best 50 teams in Europe, after two seasons in the UEFA competitions reaching the last 32 surprisingly in 2005, then the last 16 two years later.
They were ranked 47th in the world according to UEFA’s ranking, while Atletico Madrid one of the finest teams in Europe right now were ranked 67th, Borussia Dortmund 109th, and PSG 66th in the world.
13 years ago, they stunned a Bayern Munich side that housed superstars such Miroslav Klose, Franck Ribery & Lucas Podolski by holding the Bavarian to a 2-2 draw in the UEFA Cup at the Allianz Arena.
Today, with Bolton Wanderers now playing in League Two, a once dreaded team is not close to being what they used to be under Sam Allardyce when they locked horns with some of the best teams in England and Europe.
With their football season now in League Two, their sweet Cinderella stories of old when they walked in between the tunnel sharing the same pitch with Bundesliga giant Bayern Munich, to now playing teams like Barrow is a testament to how severe Bolton’s decline has nosedived due to financial mismanagement.
Between 2003-04 and 2006-07, Bolton enjoyed a consecutive top-flight finish, a record of consistency only the big four of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, and Liverpool could boost off.
That said, Bolton looming troubles started when long-serving manager Allardyce departed, stating that he was going on sabbatical leave.
Surprisingly, shortly after departing Bolton, he was employed as Newcastle’s manager, when asked about dumping Bolton for the Tyneside club he cited a lack of ambition on the part of Bolton’s board for his departure.
Having sought financial backing in 2007 to make the team more competitive and also push the club towards Champions League qualifications which they failed to bankroll.
The trend of teams who at some point once enjoyed a glorious moment in the topflight, that are now in the lower division won’t be the first and also won’t be the last.
Deportivo La Corona once a Spanish Champions touched the whole of Europe with their swashbuckling style before they went down in a way similar to Bolton, same with Portsmouth time FA Cup winner, and other teams who had gone through a downward spiral.
On the final day of the 2011-12 season, Bolton’s ordeal began properly, first with the relegation that left many predicted torrid situations ahead of them in the lower division.
As predicted, Bolton couldn’t pull the chestnut out of the fire as swiftly as they would have loved to and they further ran into more problems.
As life in the Championship gets tougher, the Wanderer’s long-standing owner Eddie Davies invested over £180m to rescue the team, but by late 2015 it was evident their troubles just started with the club debt closing up to £179.9m while in the bottom of the league.
Bolton’s former striker Dean Holdsworth and his Sports Shield Company came to the club’s rescue, with a complete makeover in March, backed by a £4m high-interest loan, having been petitioned by HMRC for their unpaid taxes worth £600,000.
The Trotters got relegated to League One, but somehow surprisingly claw their way back despite their transfer embargo under Phil Parkinson.
When life with Bolton seems looking somewhat fair, Ken Anderson the new Chairman who later became the fan’s enemy, bought the club from Holdsworth.
Following Anderson’s takeover, the 2018-19 season turned into yet another nightmare for the Trotters as they went back to League One. On the back of their time in the lower division, they were served with yet another petition.
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In the process of the search for another new owner due to Anderson’s roughness, Bolton’s players went on strike due to unpaid wages ahead of their clash with Brentford.
As the side from Burnden Way, further, experience an unpleasant time in the lower division their training ground was closed due to a lack of electricity.
As Bolton’s situation got worse day by day, the fans were left with nothing other than to clamor for ‘Anderson Out,’ with the fan banners displaying their frustrations.
It got worse in their clash against West Brom when the match was interrupted due to the tennis ball being thrown into the pitch.
They slipped into administration for yet another unpaid tax that cumulated into £1.2m, which got them faced with 12 point penalty to begin a new life in the third tier with their players being owed for 20 weeks.
In their first match of the season in the third tier, Bolton could only boast of three outfield players plus their youth team to execute their matches, which ended up in disgraceful results against their opponents. During those periods, Bolton got a new owner despite the opposition from the despised Anderson.
Apparently, with unimpressive performances week in and week out, the club’s supporters slumped further, it was evident that the Trotters faithful ain’t happy with the way the team is heading.
With the situation at hand, the new owner knew they’ve got a lot of work to do in their quest to revive the club and also bring back the fans.
Bolton is now in League Two, apparently doing relatively well with the caliber of players they’ve got in the team, with new owner ‘Football Ventures White Ltd’, Chairman Sharon Brittan, and relatively a decent manager for their level in Ian Evatt.
They’re painstakingly ticking all boxes to return to the big stage once again.
For now bringing back the fans might be a bit difficult, not even with the Covid-19 pandemic still very much around.
Change is constant, they only need to keep up the fight and rebuild. Hopefully, the years of the painful decline that was simply unimaginable can finally come to an end.
