Rewriting Bolton History | Part 1 | Stepping Into Big Sam’s Shoes

Picking Up Where Big Sam Left Off

Three months on from Big Sam Allardyce’s shock departure as manager of Bolton Wanderers, Garth Crooks’ words are ringing true as there’s a new face in the dugout at the Reebok Stadium. The timely release of The Mad Scientist’s 2007/08 database for Football Manager 2024 has seen any talk of assistant manager Sammy Lee taking control laughed off as the fish-and-chip paper it always should have been. Instead, Phil Gartside has turned to former Zambian international Trebor Mahtal to pick up where Big Sam left off.

A quick glance at the Bolton Wanderers squad offers a timely reminder of the talent Mahtal has at his disposal – a team that came close to clinching Champions League football just two months ago. The star player at the club is elite striker Nicolas Anelka, along with legends like captain Kevin Davies, midfielder Kevin Nolan, wingers Stelios Giannakopoulos and the much-maligned El-Hadji Diouf, full backs Ricardo Gardner and Nicky Hunt, and goalkeeper Jussi Jääskeläinen.

The squad also includes the likes of veteran midfielder Gary Speed, Iranian midfielder Andranik Teymourian, injury-ridden full back/midfielder Joey O’Brien, midfielder Iván Campo, goal-shy striker Ricardo Vaz Té and powerful centre-back Abdoulaye Meïté. Mahtal also inherited a few players he didn’t particularly fancy in striker Heidar Helguson, wingers Daniel Braaten and loanee Christian Wilhelmsson, defenders Jlloyd Samuel, Andy O’Brien, Lubomir Michalik and Gérald Cid, goalkeeper Adám Bogdán and midfielder Mikel Alonso, who’s perhaps only notable for being Liverpool midfielder Xabi’s brother.

The club’s finances aren’t spectacular, with £7m in the bank, a transfer budget of £2.6m and £30k spare in a weekly wage budget of £505k. But the Eddie Davies Arena offers 19 training facilities, 14 youth facilities and 13 youth recruitment and junior coaching alongside the iconic Reebok Stadium.

Mahtal opted not to do any transfer business in the first summer – other than allowing Stelios to join Olympiacos for £1.1m – largely because he couldn’t afford anyone. But he initially opted to set the team up in a 4-2-4 meets 4-3-3 approach that looked to build around target forward Kevin Davies. His big concern was at centre back, where he had to rely on either Michalik or Cid and centre midfield, where there were big question marks over the aging Campo and Speed.

Mahtal’s Bolton Reign Begins

The bookies had Bolton down to finish 12 in the Premier League with title odds of 150/1. Chelsea are 2/1 favourites alongside a stacked Man UFC side (3/1) followed by Liverpool (7/2), Arsenal (9/1) and Spurs, Newcastle and Everton (50/1).

Ironically, Mahtal’s reign began at home to his predecessor as Big Sam brought Newcastle to the Reebok. Bolton created little, got stung by a shocking penalty decision that Jussi saved, then gifted a late winner to Damien Duff. A tricky start to the season continued with a 3-1 loss at Arsenal before they looked to be heading to an unlucky defeat at home to Man UFC. But Anelka stood up with a superb brace, only for Carlos Tevez to nick a 95th-minute equaliser, before Davies earned a 1-1 at Everton. Mahtal’s first win finally arrived as Davies scored both in a 2-0 success at home to Reading, before another challenging game as leaders Liverpool came to town. Christian Panucci scored their first shot and they looked to be earning an undeserved win, only for Anelka to save the day with the last kick. So after playing 5 of the suspected top 7, Bolton had done well to sit in 11th place.

Bolton’s draw king status continued as they got a 1-1 at Portsmouth and 2-2 at Blackburn, which saw them draw five of the first eight games. But Nolan’s goal-of-the-month winner earned a second victory of the campaign at home to West Ham before Helguson, in for the injured Davies, nicked a point at high-flying Middlesbrough. Helguson delivered again next time out, scoring twice in the first 10 minutes to lead a 4-0 thumping of Birmingham, in which Braaten got two assists – making Mahtal reconsider his first impression of both attackers.

Their good form continued in a Super Sunday trip to local rivals Wigan. It looked like being the worst live game of all time until Speed’s outswinging corner found Anelka unmarked at the back post and he sent a looping header into the far corner. That was backed up by Davies, Nolan and Anelka goals earning a 3-1 win over struggling Fulham, which contributed to Anelka winning November player of the month and Mahtal winning manager of the month.

Heading into December, Wanderers found themselves sitting pretty in the top half of the Premier League. They only trailed the continental places by two points and they looked well clear of any relegation concerns. While Anelka was the joint second top scorer with 8 goals, alongside John Carew, Didier Drogba, Emmanuel Adebayor and Robert Earnshaw in trailing Time Cahill’s 10.

Bolton in the UEFA Cup

Mahtal’s first taste of European football saw Bolton given a UEFA Cup group alongside AEK, SK Rapid and PSV. They started at AEK and got a flyer as Wilhelmsson whipped in a low cross for Anelka to tap home then Gardner got forward to float the ball into Davies, who powered a header into the far corner. And it was all over by half time as Michalik collected the ball from a corner and teed up Nolan to curl home a tidy finish. Davies sent Anelka through to power home his second just after the break then complete his hat trick either side of a consolation by Rivaldo… THE Rivaldo!

Anelka nicked a 1-0 for a heavily rotated side at home to Rapid then bagged a brace to down PSV 3-1 and take control of the group. However, they also lost Diouf to a broken ankle in that PSV win. But they didn’t let up as Michalik scored the only goal at PSV to win the group with two games remaining. Mahtal fully rotated for the final two group games and they lost to AEK then thrashed Rapid 4-1.

Mahtal was very pleased with his first few months picking up the pieces from Big Sam’s departure. And things were definitely faring better than Bolton’s real-life performance in 2007/08, in which they lost five of their opening six league games and only won one of their first 14 games up to the end of November (which ended with Anelka scoring the only goal at home to Man UFC, in a game that I went to with my Dad).

Could they continue that good form through the remainder of Mahtal’s first campaign and potentially push for a return to European football? Join us next Wednesday to find out!