Bolton Wanderers 2028: Part Two – 10 year Anniversary

With the conclusion of this season it will be 10 years since I took over Bolton. Lets have a look and see if we survived another season in the Premier League.

February

Bang! 3 games, 3 1-0 wins! Protti dominated all 3 games!

March

4 points from a possible 9. A big two months towards survival.

April

4 points from a possible 15 but we are safe! Bolton will play Premier League football again next year.

May

I wrote these two games off an rotated players. 2 losses from 2 as expected.

Table

14th and 10 points clear of relegation another great season for us. Next year my target is 50 points!

Awards

Keita was a star and with a £34m release clause he won’t be here long!

Transfers

Out

McCarthy struggled to get games following the two signings in the winter so a £14m profit made sense to sell him, Keita was off once Burnley met his release clause a 1 year wonder for us. Boon the legend finally leaves after 10 years to Millwall for £4m. Marchel moves to Fulham for £5m profit after struggling for games this season. Salah retired and Pearce left for Brentford for a £14m profit. Conn our keeper who we signed for £12,000 leaves after playing 275 games and for £8m. Busumbru wasn’t up to the standard so we let him go. Big blockbuster move Essomba to Dortmund for £40m! All profit after signing him on a free, after 147 appearances he becomes our biggest ever sale. Frenz leaves for £7m after refusing to sign a new deal.

In

Lewis

The right midfielder I’ve been looking for, English too so that helps with quotas. Salah and Pearce won’t be missed hopefully.

Arthurzinho

After 6 years I’ve upgraded the goalkeeper at 25 he could hopefully serve the next 6!

Cesar

Keita was leaving there was no doubt, his value was £34m his release was £34m so I went and found someone better. Cesar has to score at least 20 this season!

Palacios

This player has been lined up for over a year he finally joins a good back up to Cesar.

Robles

At 18 he’s one for the future he’s gone out on loan to Inter Miami.

Rosenthal

Rosenthal will be Lewis’s back up but he has potential to improve too.

Marin

£30m, Transfer record broken! Have I paid over the odds? maybe? But a wonderkid and he will be a starter day one. Keep an eye on this one!

Tuanzebe

Axel joins as a backup. He can play all along the backline and offers experience for a young side!

Balance

Money worries? we have none! We’re going to start being more aggressive on and off the pitch now as we push towards Europe.

10 years at Bolton

Where are they now
Click the link to the first season introduction post.

I’ve picked out a few main players from the save.

Goalkeepers

Remi Matthews – Aged 35, he’s just retired this summer after 212 games for Bolton, he’s had stints at Leeds, Blackpool and Rotherham. A legend of this save.
Luke Hutchinson – Just 15 at the start hes still here! He’s my cup goalkeeper and he’s averaging about 7 games a season.

Defenders

Josh Emmanuel – Aged 31 now after 112 games for Bolton and a £2.5m move to Huddersfield which didn’t work out for him he’s now at Coventry where hes made 141 appearances.
Nathan Whalley – Youth product who is now 26 made 147 appearances for me before a £600k move to Hull, since then he’s played for Rotherham and Chesterfield.
Harry Brockbank – 30 year old free agent, whow made 167 appearances for us before a £2.8m move to Derby and then Blackpool who have just released him.
Jack Hobbs – Retired aged 33 after 114 appearances for us.
Jordan Boon – I shed a tear this summer after Jordan finally left us, 311 appearances, club captain, leader, legend! Left back or Center back he could do both but aged 29 now the clubs outgrown him and he wants first team football but Bolton will never forget!

Midfielders

Dennis Politic – 217 appearances, player of the year 3 years in a row before a move to Gillingham. Aged 30 he’s just retired after injuries. A star in our early seasons.
Ali Crawford – After 123 appearances for us he retired aged 33 after not finding another club to take this Scottish magician.
Markus Assarsson – After 167 appearances he left for £6m to join Derby this past winter.

Strikers

Eddie Brown – After 120 appearances for us he left for the Premier League with Preston for £4.4m after 3 years with them he moved to the MLS to join Colorado Rapids where hes gone on to play 133 games for them.

Conclusion

We’ve come a long way in 10 years, Administration in League One starting on -12 points and now we’re a Premier League club with a balance of £137 million with a £123m transfer budget. The aim now i to push for Europe and I also want to bring our focus back to developing more of our own players, We have bought a lot of players, developed them and sold them on for bigger fees. The aim now has to build a side to grow and compete. We’re finally in a position where we don’t need to sell to survive now we have to buy to succeed. I’m investing heavily off the pitch and we’re going to strive to become the best in England now.

Thanks for following the save so far, here’s to the next 10!