Ian Evatt can emulate Bolton Wanderers legend after reflecting on Bruce Rioch comments: View | OneFootball

With just a couple of weeks left of the 2023/24 League One season, Bolton Wanderers’ fate remains up in the air with automatic promotion still a possibility but the likelihood now being having to settle for the play-off places.

Even if it is to be the play-offs, though, the Trotters will surely head into the end of season ‘lottery’ as the favourites to come out on top at Wembley Stadium next month.

That will mean Ian Evatt will have overseen Bolton rising from the fourth tier of English football back to the second tier in four seasons in charge and will preserve a legacy for the former Barrow boss with the Lancastrian club.

The last person to guide Bolton up from two different divisions was a man that Evatt touched upon in his pre-match press conference ahead of Bolton’s 1-1 draw with Portsmouth last week, Bruce Rioch.

Ian Evatt is emulating a Bolton legend

If Bolton gained promotion to the Championship this season, then the cold hard facts would be that Ian Evatt has joined a group of currently just one to lead the Whites through two divisions.

In May 1992, Rioch was appointed manager of a Wanderers side languishing in the third tier of English football having just finished 13th under the management of Phil Neal.

Neal had created a squad full of talent and young players that just needed nurturing into the next step and Rioch did just that. In his first season in charge, Bolton finished second and were automatically promoted to the second tier, then known as the First Division.

After steadying Wanderers in mid-table in 1993/94, Rioch then oversaw an excellent campaign in which Bolton finished third and gained promotion to the Premiership as well as reaching the Coca-Cola Cup final where Liverpool beat them at the old Wembley Stadium. Rioch departed at the end of that season to go and manage north London giants Arsenal.

In three seasons, Rioch had taken an underperforming but promising side from the bottom half of the third tier to the top flight. If Wanderers achieve promotion this season, then Evatt will have taken over a club in far worse circumstances than Rioch inherited down in the fourth tier with no squad due to recent major financial issues and lifted them to the second tier, with an EFL Trophy as well, in just four seasons.

Ian Evatt is much more Bruce Rioch than Phil Neal

Some Bolton fans, who are more critical or at least sceptical of Evatt and his methods, have suggested that his reign is more akin to Rioch’s predecessor, Neal, rather than the former Scotsman.

One glaring similarity between Neal and Evatt would be that they are the two managers that were in charge of winning Bolton’s two EFL Trophy’s; one in 1989 at the old Wembley with a 4-1 hammering of Torquay United and then one in 2023 with a 4-0 hammering of Plymouth Argyle at the new Wembley.

Neal was in charge of Bolton for seven years between 1985 and 1992. Unlike Evatt, the former Liverpool and England international defender oversaw Bolton falling into the fourth tier for the first time ever in 1988 but did, like Evatt, have them promoted after just one season back to the third level on the pyramid.

After establishing themselves in mid-table in the third tier, Bolton then missed out on promotion in the play-offs in successive seasons before eventually drifting back into the bottom half ahead of Neal’s departure. If Evatt was to miss out in the play-offs this time around then the similarities would certainly grow bigger.

For the time being, though, the former Blackpool defender can remain on a pedestal just below Rioch but quickly rising with the potential of being close to joining him on a perch should he and his side gain promotion to the Championship this season.

The style of football that Rioch implemented, which was arguably taken on further and improved under the management of his successor, Colin Todd, also shares its similarities with Evatt with a focus on an attacking and progressive style.

Surpassing expectation and reputation

In his pre-match press conference ahead of the visit of Portsmouth to the Toughsheet Community Stadium at the weekend, Evatt discussed the fact he had seen quotes from Rioch ahead of Bolton’s play-off with Wolves back in 1995.

Rioch’s quotes were a rallying call to Wanderers supporters to create a ‘cauldron of passion’ at Burnden Park for that semi-final and Evatt has said he wanted Bolton fans to do the same at the weekend.

He told the Bolton News: “Everyone has a part to play. I’ve seen some of the Bruce Rioch quotes from the Wolves game and the atmosphere that was created that day. All I can do is re-emphasise those words."

Evatt discussed the poignancy and motivation that Rioch’s comments gave to his own side nearly 30 years on and delving into and drawing parallels the Rioch era is something that Evatt will hope to do in the next few weeks.

The thing is, though, Evatt isn’t going to get a move to Arsenal if Wanderers are promoted this season.

If he was to stay on and continue Bolton’s rise back to where they believe they belong – having claimed himself a few years ago he would be a Premier League manager and Bolton would one day be a Premier League club again – by achieving top flight promotion with the Whites then he has the possibility of surpassing the legacy left by Rioch and putting himself alongside Sam Allardyce in Boltonian folklore.

The next few weeks are enormous for Bolton as a town and a club, as Evatt has said himself, but they could also propel him into the upper echelons of Bolton’s managerial greats.