Bolton Wanderers pushed Chelsea all the way in Trebor Mahtal’s third season at the club, only missing out on their maiden English title on goal difference. And Mahtal was convinced that, with the right signings and a little more attacking intent, he could push beyond England’s big boys.
The club was also heading in the right direction off the pitch with plans for a new stadium and £215m in the bank. Mahtal wasn’t planning a massive summer, but one was forced upon him by some huge sales. That began with Chelsea making a ludicrous £60m offer for winger Ricardo Vaz Té, which they couldn’t turn down. Joining him through the exit door were centre back Gerard Piqué, for whom Milan met his £40m minimum fee clause, then midfielder Marek Suchy to Betis for £39m and winger Kevin Mirallas to Lyon for £33.5m. While talisman Kevin Davies departed the club and joined Luton on a free.
That gave Mahtal £200m to work with and he spent £155m. The big deals of the summer strengthened Bolton’s core as world-class midfielder Javi Martínez signed for £51m from Bilbao and was joined by centre backs Vincent Kompany and David Luiz for £36m and £46m from Hamburg and Benfica. Mahtal added three hot prospects in Eden Hazard for £15m from Palermo, Mario Balotelli for £10m from Inter and midfielder Max Noble (I have no idea what happened to him in real life) for £15m from Fulham. But arguably the most exciting deal was unpredictable playmaker Jorge Valdivia for £15m from Palmeiras.
Mahtal tuck with the 4-2-3-1 he utilised last season with a few tweaks to gain a more offensive edge. Valdivia comes into the playmaker role with Jonathan de Guzmán shifting to the right, Pablo Piatti will play as a regista with Martínez as the roaming playmaker, and the defence looks even more solid.
Taking The Fight To Chelsea
The transfer business enhanced the bookies’ expectations, predicting a 6th-place finish with title odds of 33/1. Holders Chelsea are 13/8 favourites followed by Liverpool (7/2), Man UFC (4/1), Arsenal (7/1) and Newcastle (25/1).
The new signings eased into life at Bolton as an Anelka brace and Piatti and Gareth Bale strikes earned a 4-0 win over Derby on the opening day. Anelka scored again as they eased past West Ham 2-0 and Blackburn 3-0 before Luiz and Kompany both scored their first goals and stopped Sheff U getting a shot on target. The season had started in the same solid manner and, just like last season, Bolton played out a pretty dire 0-0 with fellow 100% side Chelsea before losing 1-0 at Arsenal. As seemingly always, all the tough games arrived in one big block and Bolton drew 0-0 at home to Liverpool before beating City, Newcastle and Spurs then a brace by improving wonderkid Antoine Griezmann downed 4th-place Everton 3-0 and a rare Armand Traoré strike nicked a 1-0 at Man UFC.
An easier run of games started with Kevin Nolan scoring twice to down former manager Sam Allardyce’s Portsmouth 3-0. Anelka bagged back-to-back braces in easy wins over Watford and West Brom and, heading into the new year, Bolton enjoyed a 6-point lead over Everton, inspired by 15-goal Yakubu, with Chelsea slipping back down to 5th a further three points back.
The run of tricky games returned in February, starting with Anelka’s late goal earning a 2-2 at Chelsea. Balotelli came off the bench to score the winner at home to Arsenal, Anelka made the difference in a 2-0 success at Liverpool and a late Martínez goal salvaged a point against Spurs. A huge game saw Bolton welcome Man UFC to the Reebok and take the lead just before half-time only for the visitors to equalise straight after the break. They looked to be taking an undeserved point until Mahtal’s tactical switch saw him throw on Andy Carroll, who sent Valdivia through to double his tally and earn a massive three points.
Champions League Progression
Bolton got a relatively favourable set of fixtures that began with Valdívia’s first goal for the club leading a 3-1 win at home to Shakhtar. Defeats to Bayern and Barcelona were forgotten by beating Red Star, Werder Bremen, Schalke and Sochaux to qualify in 6th place. They eased past Lyon 7-2 on aggregate, inspired by Bale and Valdivia braces in the home leg, to reach the last eight. Next up was Dortmund and Wanderers dominated the home leg 3-0 with goals by Anelka, de Guzmán and Valdivia then drew 0-0 in Germany to reach the last four for the first time.
Their semi-final opponent was a very strong Valencia side. Bolton went to Spain with both starting centre backs and holding midfielders missing and unsurprisingly lost 3-0. A spirited effort at the Reebok saw them compete but draw 2-2. Valencia took on Real Madrid in the Final and lost 1-0
Another Title Race
Coming into the final five games, Bolton enjoyed a five-point lead over Everton and Chelsea, who’d played a game more. However, the Whites were facing a huge injury crisis that included Kompany, Balotelli and Martínez suffering season-ending blows and saw nine first-teamers sidelined for a 2-1 loss to Portsmouth. And the title could easily be decided by a trip to Everton in the penultimate game.
Game 1 – Preston (19th, away): Nicky Hunt picked up a knock that forced Mahtal to hand a full debut to 17-year-old academy prospect Leighton Tinnion. The youngster did himself proud as Bolton dominated by 21 shots to six and just about won 2-1 through de Guzmán and Anelka. At the same time, Chelsea won 3-1 at Everton to really put the ball in Bolton’s court.
Game 2 – Reading (12th, home): An exhausted Bolton side entertained Reading between the two Dortmund games. But two homegrown heroes saw them through as late Nolan and Hunt strikes earned a 2-0 victory in which they also Noble and Hazard for the rest of the season. But Chelsea drew 1-1 with Man UFC and the next day Everton lost 1-0 at Arsenal… which meant Bolton were Champions!
Bolton Wanderers won their maiden English title!
Wanderers were given a guard of honour at Watford and put on a show for the Hornets fans as a superb Bale goal, Anelka’s winner and a wonderful performance by Valdivia earned a 2-1 win. They went on nick a 1-0 at Everton, which gave them a chance of getting to 100 points on the final day. And they delivered in emphatic style as de Guzmán’s hat trick and Anelka’s brace led an 8-0 thumping of West Brom.
Bolton wrapped up their first-ever English title with a record-breaking points tally of 100 after a new league record 32 wins plus four draws and two defeats, scoring 87 and conceding just 19, which was 2 more than last season. Anelka was the second top scorer with 21, only bettered by Yakubu’s 24. De Guzmán and Bale led the league with 17 assists each, which was 5 more than anyone else, Valdivia led the way with 28 chances created and Jussi again topped the clean sheets chart with 22.
Anelka again topped the Bolton goalscoring chart with 28 in 52 followed by Valdivia (13), Martínez and de Guzmán (10), Nolan (9) and Noble and Bale (8). De Guzmán led the way with 22 assists followed by Bale (20), Valdivia (14), Piatti (11) and Anelka (9).
This had been a magnificent season and the best in Bolton Wanderers history. Mahtal knew that, with the right additions, he’d have a squad to challenge and that very much proved correct as Luiz, who won Premier League signing of the season, Kompany and Martínez added the world-class talent they needed to move to the next level. As a result, it’s fair to say we have rewritten Bolton’s history but we will keep cracking with at least another season to see how Mahtal gets on.
Could Bolton build on this success to defend their first title? Join us next Wednesday to find out!
Football Manager Addict 
Leave a comment