Bolton

All you want to know about Bolton

Bolton Wanderers F.C.

Full name

Bolton Wanderers Football Club

Nickname(s)

The Trotters

Founded

1874 (as Christ Church FC)

Ground

Reebok Stadium
Burnden Way
Horwich
Bolton
England
(Capacity: 28,723^[1])

Owner

Eddie Davies

Chairman

Manager

League

Premier League, 16th




Home colours




Away colours

Current season

Bolton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional football club based in Horwich, in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. They are currently in the Premier League.

Founder members of the Football League, Bolton were a successful cup side in the 1920s, winning the FA Cup three times. The club won the cup a fourth time in 1958 thanks to two Nat Lofthouse goals. A leaner spell followed, reaching a nadir in 1987 when the club spent a season in the Fourth Division. The club regained top-flight status in 1995 after a 15 year absence; their current spell in the top division started in 2001. In 2005–06 they participated in European competition for the first time, reaching the last 32 of the UEFA Cup. Bolton qualified for the 2007–08 tournament by finishing 7th in the 2006–07 Premier League season and this time they managed to reach the last 16 of the competition. Bolton Wanderers moved to the Reebok Stadium in 1997. Their former home was Burnden Park.

Bolton have spent the highest number of seasons in the top flight without winning the title (69, as of 2007-08)^[2]

1 History
- 1.1 Early history
- 1.2 Recent history
2 Honours
3 League record
4 Memorable games
5 Colours and badge
6 Players
7 Management
- 7.1 Former players
8 Notable managers
9 Managers
- 9.1 Managerial history
10 Shirt sponsors
11 References
12 External links

History

Early history

The club was founded by the Reverend John Farrall Wright in 1874 as Christ Church FC, but changed its name to Bolton Wanderers in 1877. Bolton were one of the 12 founder members of the Football League, which formed in 1888.^[3] Having remained in the Football League since its formation, Bolton have spent more time in the top flight (Premier League/old First Division) than out of it.

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In 1894 Bolton reached the final of football's oldest competition, the FA Cup, for the first time, but lost 4–1 to Notts County at Goodison Park. A decade later they were runners-up a second time, losing 1–0 to local rivals Manchester City at Crystal Palace on 23 April 1904.^[4] On 28 April, 1923 Bolton won the cup at their third attempt to win their first major trophy, beating West Ham United 2–0 in the first ever Wembley final. The match, famously known as The White Horse Final was played in front of over 127,000 supporters. Bolton's centre-forward, David Jack scored the first ever goal at Wembley Stadium. They became the most successful cup side of the twenties, also winning in 1926 and 1929, beating Manchester City and Portsmouth respectively.

From 1935 to 1964, Bolton enjoyed an uninterrupted stay in the top flight – regarded by fans as a golden era, spearheaded in the 1950s by Nat Lofthouse. They would not return to the top flight until 1978, where they lasted but two seasons before a period of further decline set in. In 1953 Bolton played in one of the most famous FA Cup finals of all time - The Stanley Matthews Final of 1953. Bolton lost the game to Blackpool 4-3 after throwing away a 3-1 lead. Blackpool were victorious thanks to the skills of Matthews and the goals of Stan Mortensen.

Bolton Wanderers have not won a major trophy since 1958, when two Lofthouse goals saw them overcome Manchester United in the FA Cup final in front of a 100,000 crowd at Wembley. The closest they have come to winning a major trophy since then is finishing runners-up in the League Cup, first in 1995 and again in 2004.

At the end of the 1986-87 season, Bolton Wanderers suffered relegation to the Fourth Division for the first time in their history. But the board kept faith in manager Phil Neal and they won promotion back to the Third Division at the first attempt. The deciding goal was scored by Robbie Savage in a thrilling 1-0 win at Wrexham. Wrexham missed a penalty in the opening 30 minutes and both teams squandered a succession of chances. Bolton's Robbie Savage hit the post from a free kick before the ref blew the final whistle. Neal remained in charge until the summer of 1992 when he made way for Bruce Rioch, who a few years earlier had won two successive promotions with Middlesbrough.

In the early part of Rioch's tenure, Bolton gained a giantkilling reputation in cup competitions. In 1993 Bolton beat FA Cup holders Liverpool 2-0 in a third round replay thanks to goals from John McGinlay and Andy Walker. The club also defeated higher division opposition in the form of Wolves (2-1) that year before bowing out to Derby County (4-0). In 1994 Bolton beat FA Cup holders Arsenal 3-1 in a fourth round replay, and went on to reach the Quarter Finals, bowing out 1-0 at home to local rivals (and then Premier League) Oldham Athletic. Bolton also defeated top division opposition in the form of Everton (1-0) and Aston Villa (3-1) that year.

Recent history

Bolton reached the Premiership in 1995 under the management of Rioch, thanks to a victory over Reading in the Division One playoff final. Rioch left to take charge at Arsenal after the promotion success and was replaced by Roy McFarland, who was joined by his former assistant Colin Todd. Bolton were bottom for virtually all of the 1995–96 Premiership campaign and Bolton dismissed McFarland on New Year's Day 1996 and appointed Todd in his place. Todd was unable to save Bolton from relegation as they lost their penultimate game 4-1 to Manchester United, but the Bolton board kept faith in him. The Bolton board's loyalty in Todd was rewarded when they won promotion back to the Premiership at the first attempt thanks to a season in which they achieved 98 league points and 100 goals in the process of securing the Division One Championship.

Bolton were relegated on goal difference at the end of the 1997–98 Premiership campaign. Bolton reached the 1999 Division One playoff final but lost 2-0 to Watford. Todd resigned as manager soon after and was replaced by Sam Allardyce. Bolton reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup, Worthington Cup and play-offs but lost to Aston Villa, Tranmere Rovers and Ipswich Town respectively. In 2000–01 Bolton were promoted back to the Premier League after beating Preston North End in the play-off final.

Bolton struggled in the following two seasons, but survived in the Premier League. The 2001/02 season began with a shock as they destroyed Leicester 5-0 at Filbert Street to go top of the table. They won their next two games, including a narrow victory over Liverpool, and were suddenly the Premiership's pace setters. Despite a memorable 2-1 win away at Manchester United, they went into an awful slump during the middle of the season and needed a Fredi Bobic hattrick against Ipswich Town to survive. 16th place was secured despite losing the final three games. The arrivals of experienced international players Bobic and Youri Djorkaeff proved vital, as did the emergence of Kevin Nolan and Michael Ricketts.

In the 2002-03 season Bolton made a poor start and, despite another win away at Manchester United, they were bottom until a vital and spectacular 4-2 win against Leeds at Elland Road. Despite suffering from a lack of consistency, Bolton ground out the results needed and secured survival in a final day 2-1 victory over Middlesbrough. The star of the season, Jay Jay Okocha, was another high profile signing and would go on to be a legend at the Reebok Stadium.

Bolton reached the League Cup final in 2004, but lost to Middlesbrough. Nevertheless, Bolton finished eighth in the league, at the time their highest finish in their Premiership history. In 2005 Bolton finished sixth in the league, thus earning qualification for the UEFA Cup for the first time in their history. The following season, they reached the last 32 but were eliminated by French team Marseille as they lost 2-1 on aggragate. In April 2007, towards the end of 2006–07 season, manager Allardyce resigned.^[5] In his final four seasons at Bolton, Allardyce had recorded consecutive top ten finishes, a record of consistency bettered only by the big four of Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal. However, the style that Bolton are, somewhat erroneously, believed to have played during this time led them to be voted the seventh most-hated club in English football in a 2008 poll. ^[6]

Allardyce was replaced by his assistant Sammy Lee,^[7] who secured Bolton's qualification for the 2007–08 UEFA Cup. After gaining only one league win in eleven matches, Lee left Bolton in October 2007^[8] and was replaced by Gary Megson.

Megson guided Bolton to survival with a 16th place finish, their safety being confirmed on the final day of the season, as they went on an unbeaten run for their final five games, and broke Bolton's record transfer fee with the signing of Johan Elmander from Toulouse for 11 million pounds on the 27th of June 2008.^[9]

Honours

Main article: Bolton Wanderers F.C. statistics and records

Major Honours:
FA Cup Winners (4) - 1923, 1926, 1929, 1958
FA Cup Runners up (3) - 1894, 1904, 1953
League Cup Runners up (2) - 1995, 2004
FA Charity Shield (1) - 1958
Second Tier:
Football League First Division Champions (1) - 1997
Football League Second Division Champions (2) - 1909, 1978
Football League First Division Play-Off Winners (2) - 1995, 2001
Third Tier:
Football League Third Division Champions (1) - 1973
Football League Trophy Winners (1) - 1989
Football League Trophy Runners up (1) - 1986
Others:
Football League War Cup Winners (1) - 1945
Football League War Cup North Winners (1) - 1945
FA Premier League Asia Trophy Winners (1) - 2005
Peace Cup Runners up (1) - 2007
Lancashire Cup Winners (11) - 1886, 1891, 1912, 1922, 1925, 1927, 1932, 1934, 1948, 1988, 1990
Reserves:
Central League Champions - 1955, 1995
Premier Reserve League North Champions - 2007

League record

For a record of league seasons since the inception of the Premier League see Bolton Wanderers F.C seasons

Memorable games

This notes memorable games other than major cup finals, for these see Category:Bolton Wanderers F.C. matches

1979 Division 1 vs. Manchester United - two goals from Bolton legend Frank Worthington sealed a win over arch rivals United at Old Trafford, completing the double after Bolton won at home 3-0 earlier in the season.
1983 - Division 3 vs. Walsall - an 8-1 win over Walsall saw Bolton's biggest win of modern times. Striker Tony Caldwell scored 5 goals in the victory to equal the club record for number of goals scored in a game. Other goalscorers were Ray Deakin, Simon Rudge and Peter Valentine.
1988 Division 4 vs. Wrexham - a 1-0 away win at Wrexham courtesy of a Robbie Savage goal sealed Bolton's promotion back to Division 3 at the first attempt. The win signalled the start of the long road back to achieving the club's past glories.
1989 Sherpa Van Trophy Final vs. Torquay United - a 4-1 win over Torquay enabled Phil Brown to lift the cup at Wembley. Goalscorers that day were Julian Darby, Dean Crombie, Trevor Morgan and Jeff Chandler.
1993 FA Cup 3rd round replay vs. Liverpool - this game really kicked off Bolton's resurgence under Bruce Rioch. Having drawn at home, Bolton went to Anfield to beat the holders of the FA Cup, with goals from Andy Walker and John McGinlay. The match is now commonly known to Bolton fans as "White Hot One", in reference to the headline in the local newspaper the following day.
1993 Division 3 vs. Preston NE - a tense game was settled by a penalty from John McGinlay which sent Bolton back to Division 2 (now the Championship/Division 1) for the first time since their fall from grace in the early 1980s.
1995 League Cup semi final (2nd Leg) vs. Swindon Town - Having lost the away leg, Bolton fell further behind in the second half of the Burnden leg before Jason McAteer and Mixu Paatelainen levelled the game. John McGinlay poached the winner with five minutes remaining.
1995 Division 1 Play Off Final vs. Reading - a true epic. Having gone 2-0 down in the first 15 minutes, Bolton's keeper Keith Branagan saved a penalty before half time, before the Whites levelled the game in the second half with goals from Owen Coyle and Fabian De Freitas. Mixu Paatelainen and De Freitas with a second put Bolton 4-2 ahead in extra time before Reading gained a late consolation. This game earned Bolton promotion back to the top flight for the first time since 1979.
2001 Bolton beat Preston North End F.C. 3-0 at the Millennium Stadium in the Division 1 Play off final, thus gaining promotion back to the Premiership. Michael Ricketts, Gareth Farrelly and Ricardo Gardner were the goalscorers.
2001 Bolton won 2-1 away to Manchester United after falling behind, thus becoming the first team since the formation of the Premiership to come from behind and win a league game at Old Trafford. Bolton's goalscorers that day were Michael Ricketts and Kevin Nolan.
2004 Bolton lose 2-0 at Villa Park in the Carling Cup Semi-Final 2nd Leg but win 5-4 on aggregate to reach their first major cup final in 9 years.
2005 Bolton drew 1-1 with Portsmouth at Fratton Park in their penultimate game of the season to qualify for Europe for the first time. As the result also guaranteed that Portsmouth would not be relegated from the Premiership that season, both sets of fans invaded the pitch at the end of the match.
2005 Bolton overcome a two leg tie against Bulgarian side Lokomotiv Plovdiv to qualify fully for the UEFA cup group stage. Winning 2-1 in both games sees them through, the goals coming from El-Hadji Diouf, Jared Borgetti, Kevin Nolan, and a Tunchev own goal.
2007 Bolton drew 2-2 with Aston Villa at home in their final game of the season to finish 7th in the table and secure qualification for Europe for the second time in their history.
2007 Bolton drew 2-2 with Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena in Munich in a UEFA Cup group stage game, Ricardo Gardner and Kevin Davies got the goals.
2007 Bolton beat Manchester United 1-0 at The Reebok Stadium through a Nicolas Anelka goal. This was the first time Bolton had beaten United at home in 29 years.
2007 Bolton were the first British team to beat Red Star Belgrade in Belgrade. A Gavin McCann first half goal sealed a 1-0 win in the UEFA Cup.
2008 Bolton beat Atletico Madrid 1-0 in the home leg of the last 32 of the UEFA Cup with El-Hadji Diouf scoring the winner. A scoreless draw in the return leg saw Bolton advance further in European competition than ever before.
2008 Bolton beat Sunderland 2-0 on 3 May, this victory more or less gained them safety. El-Hadji Diouf scored the first goal for Bolton.

Colours and badge

Bolton Wanderers' home colours are white shirts with navy trim, worn with navy shorts and socks. Their current away kit colours are black with turquoise trim, however for 2008/09 season they will be sporting a mustard/orange coloured top with a grey trim following the same template as the white and grey trimmed home shirt they will be wearing. Bolton did not always wear the white kit they do today, in 1884 they wore white with red spots. Bolton's traditional colours are white shirts with navy blue shorts. The navy blue shorts were dispensed with in 2003. The club had tried an earlier experiment with an all white kit in the 1970s.

The Bolton Wanderers club badge consists of the initials of the club in the shape of a ball, with red and blue ribbons beneath. The ribbons controversially replaced the red rose of Lancashire following the club's move to the Reebok Stadium. The club's original badge was the town crest of Bolton.

Players

Current squad

As of 2 September 2008.^[10]

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Ádám Bogdán
2	DF	Nicky Hunt
3	DF	Jlloyd Samuel
4	MF	Kevin Nolan (captain)
5	DF	Gary Cahill
6	MF	Fabrice Muamba
7	MF	Matthew Taylor
8	MF	Joey O'Brien
9	FW	Johan Elmander
10	FW	Ebi Smolarek (on loan from Racing de Santander)
11	DF	Ricardo Gardner
12	GK	Ian Walker
14	FW	Kevin Davies (vice captain)

No.	Position	Player
15	DF	Grétar Steinsson
17	FW	Riga Mustapha
18	FW	Heiðar Helguson
19	MF	Gavin McCann
20	FW	Ricardo Vaz Té
22	GK	Jussi Jääskeläinen
24	DF	Danny Shittu
25	MF	Tamir Cohen
26	GK	Ali Al Habsi
27	DF	James Sinclair
28	DF	Jarosław Fojut
29	FW	Zoltán Harsányi
31	DF	Andy O'Brien

Reserves and Academy squad

Main article: Bolton Wanderers F.C. Reserves and Academy squad

Out on Loan

No.		Position	Player
23		MF	Blerim Džemaili (on loan to Torino FC)

Management

Position	Name	Nation
Team Manager	Gary Megson
Assistant Manager / Performance Director	Chris Evans
Head Coach	Steve Wigley
Reserve Team Coach	Alan Cork
Goalkeeping Coach	Fred Barber
Assistant Goalkeeping Coach	Neil Edwards
Academy Director	Jimmy Phillips
Academy Coach	Peter Farrell
Fitness Coach	Adie Stovell
Head Physiotherapist	Nick Worth
Assistant Physiotherapist	Paul Lake
Chief Scout	Colin Harvey
European Scout	Clive Richards
European Scout	Terry Darracott
European Scout	Alan Harper

Former players

For details on former players, see List of Bolton Wanderers F.C. players and Category:Bolton Wanderers F.C. players.

Notable managers

Charles Foweraker - 3 times FA Cup winning manager during the 1920s. Manager from 1919–44.
Bill Ridding built an FA Cup winning team in 1958 at a cost of just £110. Manager from 1951–68.
Bruce Rioch took the club into the Premiership for the first time in their history following two promotions in three years. During that time the club enjoyed a number of good cup runs in which higher placed teams, often from the Premiership, were defeated. Manager from 1992–95.
Colin Todd secured promotion to the Premiership in 1997 with a club record 98 point tally. Manager from 1996–99.
Sam Allardyce took Bolton to the Carling Cup Final in 2004 and brought European football to the club for the first time in its history when qualifying for the UEFA Cup in 2005. He was nicknamed Big Sam by the media and fans of the club. Manager from 1999-2007

Managers

Managerial history

Dates	Name	Notes
1874–1885	Tom Rawthorne	As secretary
1885–1886	J.J. Bentley	As secretary
1886–1887	William Struthers	As secretary
1887	Fitzroy Norris	As secretary
1887–1895	J.J. Bentley	As secretary
1895	Harry Downs	As secretary
1896-1898	Frank Brettell	As secretary
1898-1910	John Somerville
1910-1915	Will Settle
1915-1919	Tom Mather
1919-1944	Charles Foweraker	Longest serving manager in club's history
1945–1950	Walter Crickmer
1951–1968	Bill Ridding
1968-1970	Nat Lofthouse
1970	Jimmy McIlroy	First manager from outside England
1970	Jimmy Meadows
1971	Nat Lofthouse
1971–1974	Jimmy Armfield
1974-1980	Ian Greaves
1980-1981	Stan Anderson
1981-1982	George Mulhall
1982-1985	John McGovern
1985	Charlie Wright
1985-1992	Phil Neal
1992-1995	Bruce Rioch
1995-1996	Roy McFarland/ Colin Todd	First co-managers in club's history
1996-1999	Colin Todd
1999-2007	Sam Allardyce
2007	Sammy Lee
2007-current	Gary Megson