A few months back in England with West Ham United had seen Trebor Mahtal lift the club's first silverware in 19 years and take them back into European football. But the Zambian manager had significant challenges ahead if he was to help the Hammers compete with England's best.
Interest came from Europe as Braga and West Ham United offered Trebor Mahtal interviews, and the wages on offer left him with an easy decision to move back to England.
Mahtal was now just over one-quarter of the way through his Alphabet Challenge, having added A to the previous success at clubs beginning with E, L, P, S and U. He was also approached by Inter Milan and, intriguingly, Neuchatel Xamax but chose to head to England.
In the last two versions of Football Manager, we've run experiments with Big Sam Allardyce stepping in to try and rescue teams sitting bottom of their leagues at Christmas time. We weren't planning to run it on FM24 but, with the delay to FM25, this Christmas period seemed like a good time to revive the series.
With EURO 2024 ongoing and England just about scraping into the last eight, it got me wondering how good this current set of players are and how they'd fare as a club side. To put that to test, what better way than to put the current England squad into the Premier League?
The Trebor Mahtal dynasty at Bolton Wanderers was in full flow as the Zambian manager led Bolton Wanderers to three consecutive Premier League titles. But all eyes were on another African legend ahead of the manager's seventh season in charge.
Trebor Mahtal had well and truly rewritten Bolton Wanderers history as, four years on from the departure of Big Sam Allardyce, he led the Trotters to their maiden English title. But he wasn't content with that, as he eyed up defending the title and improving their European form.
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.
A historic season at Reebok Stadium saw Bolton Wanderers tie their all-time record league finish and reach a first European Final. So things were on the up for Trebor Mahtal as he usurped Big Sam Allardyce's achievements within two seasons.
Trebor Mahtal had successfully stepped into the shoes of Big Sam as he led Bolton Wanderers to European qualification and a UEFA Cup semi-final run. But a big summer lay ahead as he looked to refresh his playing squad.
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