Bolton Wanderers had made a confident start to life back in the Premier League for the first time in two decades. A series of solid but unspectacular had the Trotters sitting just outside the European places at the half-way mark.
After nine years in the Championship and 11 years in charge of Bolton Wanderers, we'd led the club back to the Premier League as Champions in 2031. Now we had a huge task on our hands to strengthen the squad for a relegation battle.
A strong start to the 2030/31 campaign had Bolton Wanderers in the midst of a promotion battle at the mid-way point of the season. However, concerning defensive performances and an injury to star man - and, of course, Trotter Talent academy product - Solomon Suraka were causes for concern heading into 2031.
A second loss at the final hurdle of the Playoff Final condemned Bolton Wanderers to a ninth season in the SkyBet Championship in the 2030/31 season. This was my 11th season in charge of Bolton and I'm relatively confident we've slowly but surely built our strongest squad so far.
The new era at Bolton Wanderers had seen the club remain unbeaten at their new Eddie Davies Arena home through the first half of the 2029/30 campaign. And they were right up in the mix for the promotion and playoff places despite selling off some of their most exciting Trotter Talents at the start of the season.
An exciting new era was afoot with Bolton Wanderers all set to move into brand new stadium, the Eddie Davies Arena, as the 2029/30 season began. But our 10th season in charge of Bolton began with a flurry of big money bids for our academy product talents.
Heading into 2029, Bolton Wanderers' defensive approach was working nicely as they sat just outside the playoffs and into the fourth round of the FA Cup having knocked out a Premier League side.
The final season at the University of Bolton Stadium - formerly the Reebok Stadium and Macron Stadium - saw Bolton Wanderers competing in the SkyBet Championship for the seventh successive season. That's because the club is set to move to the brand new Eddie Davies Arena for the 2029/30 campaign.
Bolton Wanderers' young prospects were starting to respond to the faith we'd shown by throwing them into the first-team, in most cases extremely prematurely when they were still only considered to be playing at National League level.
The key focus of this FM21 save is to focus on homegrown academy products, or Trotters Talents. So with that in mind, it's pleasing to now have 12 academy products in the Bolton Wanderers first-team squad heading into the 2027/28 campsign.
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