Game two of the season sees our first away trip as we head to the University of Bolton Stadium to kick off the EFL Trophy group stage that also contains games against Newcastle United’s Under-21 side and our fellow League 1 team Shrewsbury Town.
Last Season:
Last season saw Bolton start the season with their financial problems which saw an exodus of their senior players, which saw a limited amount of senior players remain at the club with the Under-18s filling up the squad for the opening month of games. They would get the takeover they needed that saw the Sky Sports News countdown that lacked taste with 9 players arriving on the final day of the summer window. Unfortunately, that saw them start the season with a 12 point deduction and a number of heavy defeats (aside from a 0-0 draw with Coventry City) before winning their first league game in the 12th round of fixtures, finishing bottom of the 23-team league as the league was finished in March – more on that in the Opposition View later.
Transfers:
Bolton have made 17 signings in total with goalkeepers Matt Gilks and Billy Crellin (on loan) both joining from Fleetwood Town, defenders George Taft (Cambridge United), Liam Gordon (Dag & Red), Ricardo Santos (Barnet), Reiss Greenidge (Arendal, Norway), Gethin Jones (Carlisle United), Jak Hickman (Coventry City), Alex Baptiste (Doncaster Rovers) and Jamie Mascoll (Wycombe Wanderers) have all joined on permanent deals. Midfielders Antoni Sarcevic (their new captain), Brandon Comley, Andrew Tutte and Tom White (on loan) with Eoin Doyle, Nathan Delfouneso and Shaun Miller who add experience to their forward line.
They have let 19 players leave permanently, including Luke Murphy who rejoined the Alex on Friday, while two youngsters have joined non-league clubs on loan.
Head-to-Head:
Alex Wins: 4
Bolton Wins: 12
Draws: 6
Biggest Alex Win: 3-1 at the University of Bolton Stadium in February 1999
Biggest Bolton Win: 4-1 at the University of Bolton Stadium in December 2000
Last Meeting:
Crewe Alexandra 1-2 Bolton Wanderers, 9th August 2017
In the first round of that season’s League Cup, Chris Porter gave the Alex the lead 3 minutes before the break with Adam Armstrong (70) and Derik Osede (81) scoring to send the visitors through to the second round.
Alex: Garratt; Ng, Raynes, Walker (Bowery 87), Nolan; Ainley (Pickering 84), Lowery, Wintle, Cooper; Dagnall (c), Porter
Bolton: Alnwick; Darby, Little (Morais 66), Osede, Robinson; Buckley, Burke, Pratley (Karacan 67), Earing; Armstrong, Wilbraham (Madine 66)
Played for Both:
The following players have been contracted to both teams:
Goalkeepers: Adam Bogdan, David Felgate, Will Jaaskelainen, Paul Rachubka, Ben Williams
Defenders: Sagi Burton, Neil Cox, Mark Ellis, Nicky Hunt, Fred Halliday, Jon Ostemobor, Warwick Rimmer, Eric Snookes, Chris Stokes
Midfielders: William Galley, Geoff Gay, Frank Marsh, Danny Murphy, Luke Murphy, Antoni Sarcevic, Sammy Sharp
Forwards: Max Clayton, Wyn Davies, Clayton Donaldson, Wayne Entwistle, John Manning, Frank Roberts, Steve Saunders, Joe Smith, Jonathan Walters
Officials:
The officials for this game have been announced here with Anthony Backhouse the referee, Richard Wigglesworth and Joe Simpson are his assistants with Anthony Moore the fourth official. Here are the Crewe games that have been refereed by Backhouse in the previous 5 years:
- Crewe Alexandra 1-0 Barnet (19th August 2017) – Porter
- Crewe Alexandra 0-2 Accrington Stanley (21st October 2017)
- Crewe Alexandra 0-1 Blackburn Rovers (13th December 2017, FA Cup)
- Crewe Alexandra 3-1 Forest Green Rovers (20th March 2018) – Bowery (2), Kirk
- Crewe Alexandra 1-0 Stevenage (29th December 2018) – Porter
- Crewe Alexandra 1-3 Burton Albion (3rd September 2019) – Green
Opposition View:
I asked Chris Mann from Bolton Wanderers fanzine The Burnden Aces for his thoughts going into the game and looking at the season ahead.
How would you describe last season for the Trotters?
2019/20 was a complete write-off for Bolton before a ball had even been kicked.
Dragged into the mud under previous ownership, the decision to put the club into administration meant practically every senior player was allowed to leave. We began the campaign on minus 12 points, only had youth players available for selection and then our manager – Phil Parkinson – resigned so it was an impossible task from day one.
Things briefly looked up following the appointment of Keith Hill and a sudden influx of free signings and loans, but the new-found momentum quickly burned out and we went down without ever putting up so much of a fight.
The team that started against Bradford on Saturday may not quite be our strongest, but won’t be too far off with everybody fit.
We have no fresh injury worries but are without highly-rated midfielder Dennis Politic for the entire season after he damaged knee ligaments in a pre-season friendly at Loughborough University over the summer.
He impressed in League One last season and would have had a real opportunity to kick on in League Two this year, so to have him taken out of the equation for the next few months is a real blow.
What is the position that you think needs strengthening before the transfer window shuts?
In an almost identical situation to the one we found ourselves in last year, a very small handful of players were at the club when Ian Evatt was appointed manager in July.
17 new players have arrived – plus a number of teenagers on scholarship deals – but contrary to opposition fans on Twitter who claim we’re buying the league, they’ve all come in on free transfers and loans as we’re still working within the restrictions of an embargo – effectively banning us from paying for players until next summer.
Evatt appears to have a set way of playing, so he has tried to recruit two players for every position. Saying that, should either Eoin Doyle or Nathan Delfouneso pick up injuries, we would suddenly look very light in attack so I would imagine that is the position we’d be looking to boost.
What would be the team that you would pick for the game if you were in charge?
We had 10 debutants starting against Bradford at the weekend. In a way, it was an entire new 11 but Alex Baptiste had represented us during a previous spell several years earlier.
Evatt has made no secret that he intends to make a changes to give a few of our younger players an opportunity, so I would perhaps go for something along these lines: 3-5-2/5-3-2 (wing backs):
GK – Crellin
LWB – Hickman
CB – Taft
CB – Delaney
CB – Brockbank
RWB – Jones
CM – Darcy
CM – Crawford
CM – Tutte
FW – Miller
FW – Delfouneso
I would personally hope to see Sarcevic and/or Doyle in there to add an extra ounce of quality but with one eye on Saturday and not really knowing how a new manager will treat this competition, it’s tough to judge.
Who is the danger man for yourselves?
Again, this largely depends on how we set up and who is out on the pitch.
Eoin Doyle is the obvious threat after winning the League Two Golden Boot award last season, but I do expect him to be rested for this one.
If the team looks similar to the one I picked, a fit-again Ali Crawford should be a class above the rest of our team.
What would be a successful season for Bolton this term?
Another difficult one. In reality, we shouldn’t be a League Two club and wouldn’t be but for the off-field antics of former ownership.
The reality is very much different, though. We’ve been on a rapid decline in recent years and until a winning mentality is established once again, we’ll go nowhere.
With the players Evatt has brought in, especially in attack, we should be looking to get promotion. How quickly this new team can gel and start picking up those wins will determine how successful we will be.
There will always be a pragmatic portion of the fanbase who will be happy for us to simply stop the rot, but we need to aim high this season. It is a fresh start on and off the field, so why not go for it?
