With supporters being left in the dark following their League One play-off final defeat to Oxford United, Bolton Wanderers fans now know that manager Ian Evatt is sticking around for the foreseeable future.
Evatt first took over the Trotters in the summer of 2020, and guided the club to promotion from League Two to League One in his first season in charge in 2020/21.
Getting the club out of the third tier and into the Championship has however, been more of a challenge for the 42-year-old.
After a ninth-placed finish in their first season back in League One, Bolton were beaten by Barnsley in the play-off semi-finals during the 2022/23 campaign.
Last season, the Trotters finished third in the regular season standings, missing out on automatic promotion on the final day.
2023/24 League One final regular season standings | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Position | Club | Played | Goal Difference | Points |
1st | Portsmouth | 46 | +37 | 97 |
2nd | Derby County | 46 | +41 | 92 |
3rd | Bolton Wanderers | 46 | +35 | 87 |
This time they would overcome Barnsley in the play-off semi-finals, only to then lose 2-0 to Oxford United in the final at Wembley, meaning they will again be a League One club next season.
Despite that, Evatt is once again set to be backed by Bolton this summer, ahead of the coming campaign.
Mixed reaction given as Bolton Wanderers back Ian Evatt
With the dust having settled on the disappointment of that play-off final defeat, attention has now turned to next season for the Trotters.
That includes a decision over the future of Evatt for the coming campaign, and it seems that has indeed now been made.
Speaking in an interview with The Bolton News, Bolton chairwoman Sharon Brittan confirmed that the 42-year-old will be the club’s manager next season.
Not only that, but Evatt will also be giving an even bigger budget with which to invest in the playing squad this season.
It now seems however, as though that may generate some mixed sentiment among the club’s fanbase, according to FLW’s Trotters fan pundit Oliver Jaques.
Jaques admits that he is still not entirely convinced by Evatt based on the events of last season, but trusts and will back decisions made by Brittan, due to what she has done for the Trotters in recent years.
“I’m still torn on Evatt,” Oliver told Football League World.
“I think he’s got to show that he can be flexible and he’s got to show that he’s willing to change and reflect on his mistakes from the season.
“There are little things, comments that he’s made, stubbornness with his on the pitch decisions, things like that where you look at him and you can think ‘can we get more out of you?’
“I think purely because the one person that I trust out of everybody at the club is Sharon Brittan, for a number of reasons with how she put us back on an upwards trajectory, she’s honest, she’s passionate, she’s got a football-head and a business-head.
“If that’s her decision, if she thinks the right thing is to back Ian Evatt then I think that the right thing is to back Ian Evatt.
“But until she came out and said that, I was still 50/50. Part of me was thinking ‘is is time for a fresh start, a fresh set of eyes?’
“Not so much that I’d be desperate to sack him, but it was maybe one of them where it had come to its natural end but I think we’ll see depending on how this season goes.
“I think he’ll get this season, and if we get promoted he’ll stay, and if we don’t get promoted I think that at that point both parties need to try something different.
“Not just us as a team but Evatt perhaps needs to try another club because I do think he’s a good manager and I think he’ll succeed somewhere. Whether that’s us or not will remain to be seen.”
Bolton Wanderers may have made right decision over Ian Evatt
It does feel as though Brittan and the club may have made the correct call by keeping Evatt and backing him for the coming campaign.
The Trotters have improved in every League One season have had under the 42-year-old.
Given how close they were in 2023/24, if that happens again in the coming campaign, they will have to be promoted to the Championship.
As a result it makes sense to back Evatt while he clearly knows this side, and with a bigger budget, there should be a confidence he can finally get them back to the second-tier next time around.
However, after so many near misses, and with these comments suggesting that he has still not fully won over the fanbase, it could be time for a parting of the ways at the end of next season, if promotion has not been secured.
With that in mind, it seems as though this next year will be a big one both for Bolton Wanderers, and Evatt himself.