Bolton Wanderers' Ian Evatt makes promotion claim involving Ipswich Town and Sunderland | OneFootball

Highlights

Bolton Wanderers boss Ian Evatt believes his side can seal promotion to the Championship without spending lots of money.

The Trotters have made their target for the season very public this year, with the automatic places being the aim after finishing in the play-offs last season.

At the start of the 2023/24 campaign, Bolton were seen as one of the strongest sides in the division, and that is why their target is an automatic place.

How have Bolton Wanderers performed so far this season?

We are now 11 games into the League One season, and Bolton find themselves in the play-off places.

They are in sixth place heading into this afternoon’s game against Northampton Town, but given the recent international break, they have played one or two games less than some of their promotion rivals.

Overall, it has been a good start to the campaign for Evatt’s men, but their three defeats this season will be a concern.

They have lost to Wigan Athletic, Reading FC, and most recently Carlisle United. All three sides are in the bottom five of the table, so these are games that the Trotters should be winning if they have ambitions for a top two spot.

Portsmouth and Oxford have set the benchmark early into this season, and it is now down to Bolton to show if they can keep up with the leading pack.

Can Bolton Wanderers win promotion to the Championship?

Heading into this season, Bolton were one of the early-season favourites for promotion. They have so far lived up to those expectations with their start to the season, but the club has come under pressure from their own fans about their squad not being strong enough for promotion.

However, Ian Evatt believes his side is good enough to win promotion, and they will continue to do it their way and not gamble on bigger budgets like Ipswich Town, Sheffield Wednesday, and Sunderland have done in the past.

Evatt told The Bolton News: “This is our third season in League One, I think it took Sunderland seven years to get out, spending a whole lot more money than we did. Ipswich even longer, I believe.

“Everyone knows I am extremely ambitious, and I don’t want to be in League One very long, and that’s no disrespect to this level, I just want to do the best I can.

“The best I can is aligned with the best that Bolton can. We are honest enough to say that we are not going to spend the money that those clubs have, we’re just not. “We are spending less than half of what they (Sunderland and Ipswich) did. But the expectation is the same, so it has its own challenges. It is our choice to have that challenge, to do it in what we deem is a sustainable way for this football club. “We will do the best we can but we haven’t taken the risks and the gambles those other clubs have done, spending a hell of a lot of money trying to get out of this level. “We are confident we can do it in the model we have right now. Obviously, when we get to the Championship, whether that is next year or in the future, the word sustainable goes out of the window. It is impossible to compete and be sustainable in that division. “Right now we can look at it, and maybe do it.

“I know the full picture. You guys know the full picture. It is important we try and stick together and be confident we can achieve what we want without risking the club.”

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Should Bolton Wanderers be winning promotion to the Championship this season?

When you consider how strong League One has been in recent seasons, this campaign seems to be a perfect chance for the Trotters to seal promotion to the second tier.

There are no big sides like Ipswich, Sheffield Wednesday, and Sunderland, but that doesn’t mean it is just a given to Bolton.

They will have to earn the right, and with teams like Portsmouth and Oxford United starting well, it seems the Trotters have still got a tough task on their hands to earn promotion this season.