Picking up the pieces after Big Sam Allardyce’s Bolton Wanderers departure was never going to be easy. But Trebor Mahtal had made a pretty decent stab at it, leading The Trotters into the top half of the Premier League after five months in charge.
But their strong form, having lost just twice so far, was tested by playing seven league games in a brutal December. The month started well through a surprising source as midfielder Gary Speed scored twice to inspire a 3-0 victory at Derby. But they soon came crashing back to earth at a ludicrously strong Chelsea, who won 3-0 even with John Terry, Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole and Michael Essien all sidelined. Kevin Davies and winger Ricardo Vaz Té’s first of the season downed Sunderland 2-0 before the rarity of a Nicky Hunt goal earned a 1-1 at Spurs.
Bolton won 3-1 at home to Man City before a busy Christmas period saw a 2-1 loss at Villa on Boxing Day, Davies and Speed earned a 2-2 at home to Arsenal three days later, then lost 2-0 to a Michael Owen-inspired Newcastle on New Year’s Day.
January Transfer Window Budget Boost
Given Big Sam left Bolton due to a lack of financial backing, it was a slight concern that Mahtal only had £2.5m available despite the bank balance rising steadily to £36m. But that changed as, on 1 January, the board announced they had “raised the current transfer budget to help further consolidate our ambitions in the league,” handing Mahtal a £41m transfer kitty. That was boosted further by dickhead El-Hadji Diouf, fresh from 4 months out with a broken ankle and having played terribly, announcing he was leaving at the end of his contract. So Mahtal wasted no time in flogging him to Inter for an impressive £15m.
That allowed him to start pursuing some promising youngsters he’d been tracking, including striker Kerlon for £2m from Cruzeiro and goalkeeper Marcelo Grohe for £1.5m from Grêmio. Joining them were Pablo Piatti, who’ll retrain as a deeper midfielder, for £1.5m from Estudiantes, 17-year-old centre back Mathias Jørgensen for £500k from København, and the rapid Kevin Mirallas for up to £13.5m from Lille.
Building On A Solid Start
Any positivity from recent performances was forgotten as Bolton got battered 5-0 at leaders Man UFC in mid-January, with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring a hat trick. They recovered by defeating 6th-place Everton with goals by Speed and Heidar Helguson, got hammered at Liverpool but only lost 2-0, then bounced back to defeat local rivals Blackburn 4-0 on Piatti’s debut. And a 2-0 win over Middlesbrough moved them just one point behind the European places going into the final 10 games.
An Anelka double took the striker past 30 goals for the season and downed Wigan 2-0 before dominating Birmingham 4-0 and bottom-side Fulham 3-0, inspired by a brace from the improving Vaz Té. That saw Bolton climb above Middlesbrough into the top six and they stayed there as an Anelka double downed Derby 4-1. An unlucky defeat followed as Joe Cole scored the only goal in a visit from Chelsea, who were embroiled in an exciting title race.
Anelka was at it again with two goals inspiring a 4-2 win at struggling Sunderland, taking Bolton three points clear of Boro. An exhausted side lost 2-1 at home to Spurs and drew 2-2 at Man City to lead Reading by two points on the final day. Bolton made a great start at home to Villa as a nice short corner routine saw Kevin Nolan tee up Piatti’s first goal for the club. A smart move saw Anelka put Vaz Té through to double the lead and Villa grew into it after the break but Davies put Anelka in to kill it off.
That impressive final-day win saw Bolton wrap up 6th place to bag £29m in prize money. Elsewhere, Man UFC hilariously conceded an injury-time winner at Birmingham to hand the title to Liverpool, who thrashed Derby 6-1. Bolton finished on 67 points after winning 19, drawing 10 and losing 9, scoring 70 and conceding just 42, which was fewer than champions Liverpool! Only Ronaldo (21) scored more than Anelka, who finished on 20 level with Robin van Persie and Ryan Babel.
Big European Nights
Mahtal had achieved the board’s objective by reaching the UEFA Cup knockouts. And that was probably lucky as they faced a tough test against Francesco Totti and Daniele De Rossi’s AS Roma in the last 16. A trip to Stadio Olimpico was up first, the hosts dominated from the off and deservedly led on 25 minutes. However, three minutes later, winger Christian Wilhelmsson’s deflected shot got Bolton level with their first attack. They offered nothing else and Jussi Jääskeläinen kept them in it until the referee awarded a scandalous 88th-minute penalty.
The second leg began in a similar manner, but Vaz Té intercepted a clearance for Anelka to slam home the opener. Roma offered very little after that and a substitution and change in shape inspired a winner, as Andranik collected the ball in midfield and ran around the Roma defence to score his first goal of the season. While Bolton knocked out Roma 3-2, Nürnberg defeated Real Madrid by the same scoreline.
Up next was Ajax, which began with a trip to the Amsterdam Arena. Centre back Abdoulaye Meïte hit the post then a sustained attack ended with Anelka tapping home and the striker doubled his tally by heading home centre back Lubomir Michalik’s chipped cross. The European refs seemed intent on dodgy decisions as Hunt was sent off for an innocuous incident just before half time. Ajax got back into it from a corner, Jussi got injured, the hosts missed a penalty and Huntelaar got them level before they scored a 30-yard free kick in injury time. A 3-2 loss felt tough to take and Mahtal’s outspoken reaction saw him issued a UEFA warning.
Bolton were already down to the bare bones but the first leg left them without Jussi and both full backs. But the team seemingly took the injustice of the first game as inspiration with 11 shots in the first half and made one count as Davies headed home a Nolan corner. They completely dominated the game and this time got some luck as Anelka won and converted a penalty to send his side into the semis.
Another tough test followed against Porto, who’d been European champions four seasons ago. But Bolton came out flying in the home leg as Wilhelmsson went down the line and crossed for Davies to tap home after 14 seconds. They maintained the pressure but were yet again wasteful and Porto equalised with their first shot. But they kept going and Anelka fired them back in front then crashed one off the bar before Porto piled the pressure on in the final few minutes, and they just held on for a 2-1 win. Porto dominated the second leg, gifted a chance to Anelka to level the tie but, yet again, Bolton were punished by a shocking refereeing decision to give Porto a penalty in the 88th minute.
Assessing A Strong First Season At Bolton
Mahtal was very happy with his first season stepping into the shoes of Big Sam. In real life, Bolton avoided relegation by one point in 16th on 37 points, but Mahtal got 30 more points. Their success was heavily reliant on the form of Anelka, who bagged 41 goals and 12 assists in 52 matches and won the UEFA Cup Player of the Season and Golden Boot after 14 goals in 11 games. Davies chipped in with 14 goals in 44 games followed by Helguson (10), Speed (8) and Nolan (7) while Wilhelmsson led the way with 14 assists followed by Speed and Daniel Braaten (9) and Ricardo Gardner (8).
There would definitely be big changes at the club as Mahtal looked to move on a few players and potentially freshen up a slightly aging squad. But could Bolton step things up a notch going into season two? Join us next Wednesday to find out!
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