Owen Coyle must point out these factors to any Bolton Wanderers critics: View | OneFootball

In 2012, Bolton Wanderers ended their 11-year stay in the top-flight with relegation confirmed after a 2-2 draw at the then Britannia Stadium against Stoke City.

Tim Ream’s last gasp header in second-half stoppage-time, saved by Thomas Sorensen, almost brought salvation for the Whites, but it was not to be. It is less commonly discussed or known, for obvious reasons, but Sergio Aguero’s famous title-winning goal for Manchester City against Queens Park Rangers that day meant a Bolton win would have been enough to keep them up and relegate QPR.

Since that day, Bolton have been all the way down to League Two with enormous financial issues, very nearly going out of business on more than one occasion, but do now appear to steadily be bringing themselves up to where they would believe they belong.

Wanderers supporters, perhaps naturally, were and are always very critical of former striker Owen Coyle, who was in charge of the club at that time, but many forget the genuinely very decent job he had done prior to the 2011/12 campaign and the mitigating factors that also led to Wanderers’ relegation.

Coyle's Bolton played attractive, entertaining football

Coyle controversially departed Lancashire rivals Burnley and replaced Gary Megson at the Reebok Stadium in January 2010, with Bolton very much involved in the relegation battle. His first two matches saw them lose twice to Arsenal, despite going 2-0 up in the game at the Emirates Stadium. They eventually survived the drop and settled themselves in the summer of 2010.

The following season was a fun ride for all Bolton supporters. Suffering just one defeat in their opening 15 matches of the campaign, Bolton were in the top four heading into December after a remarkable November in which they hammered Tottenham, who had just lost 4-3 to Inter with Gareth Bale starring in midweek, by four goals to two as well as Newcastle United by five goals to one.

At the turn of the year, Bolton remained in the top six and were in the top eight with a real chance of European qualification until as late as May. They played at the new Wembley Stadium for the first time in April after reaching the FA Cup semi-final but a 5-0 hammering at the hands of Stoke began a terrible end to the league campaign in which five successive losses saw them end up finishing 14th.

All the hope and promise of what could have been a cup final appearance and a top seven finish evaporated in just a few weeks, leaving a bit of a sour taste as they aimed to rebuild for the following campaign. The season, though, remained a positive one with some wonderful football played; especially in that aforementioned game against Spurs, but also with some now famous goals, such as Mark Davies’ strike against Blackpool that season.

Bolton, a team that had often been lambasted or criticised, usually unfairly, for their style of football, were now a free-flowing and exciting side to watch, with 52 goals scored and 56 conceded throughout the campaign.

However, a few weeks before that aforementioned semi-final with Stoke, key central midfielder Stuart Holden had suffered a serious knee injury as a result of a reckless Jonny Evans tackle and that really was a sign of things to come for Coyle and his Bolton team.

Injuries a major problem for Bolton and Coyle

Holden’s knee injury was the beginning of the end for the United States international, with the former Houston Dynamo midfielder only able to ever make a further six appearances in his football career after that, forced into an early retirement from the professional game.

Then, that summer, South Korean international winger Lee Chung-yong suffered a leg break in a pre-season friendly against Newport County at Rodney Parade due to a challenge from Newport defender Tom Miller.

Both Sam Ricketts and Zat Knight sustained serious injuries and the Trotters finished the season with David Wheater then suffering a major knee injury in the penultimate game of the campaign.

Johan Elmander departed on a free transfer, whilst Matty Taylor was sold from under Coyle during the summer to Championship side West Ham, with defender Gary Cahill would follow him out of the door in the January transfer window, joining Chelsea.

The biggest, most serious and traumatic incident, though, came when key defensive midfielder Fabrice Muamba suffered a cardiac arrest in an FA Cup quarter-final against Tottenham in March.

All of those issues meant that Bolton’s line-up on the final day of the season against Stoke had seven differences from the Bolton team that played the Potters at Wembley in an FA Cup semi-final, sitting seventh in the Premier League at the time.

The post-Coyle era at Bolton

Coyle was eventually sacked in October 2012 with Bolton, one of the heavy favourites for the Championship title, struggling in the bottom-half of the second-tier.

However, although the Whites had got off to a slow start, there was still major disappointment when they finished seventh on the final day of the season and that would be the best it got in the post-Coyle era.

There is therefore a debate to be had that his management and what some would describe as tactical naivety led to Bolton’s ultimate on-the-pitch decline and began the slide through the EFL.

The fact that the Glasgow-born former Ireland international went on to have either failed or underwhelming stints at Blackburn Rovers, Blackpool and Wigan Athletic, as well as Ross County before becoming a success in the Indian Super League, would perhaps support that theory.

However, the side that should perhaps be more spoken about is the idea that he was let go too early. After providing Bolton fans with some genuinely great days in the 2010/11 campaign, he was enormously undermined by injuries and players being sold or unavailable to him.

The former striker, who played 54 times for Bolton between 1993 and 1995, is generally viewed negatively by many Wanderers supporters, so much so that jumping to his defence is actually a controversial stance. Yes, the fact is that Bolton were relegated from the top-flight under his stewardship and his managerial career has hardly gone from strength-to-strength, but there is a lack of nuance.

For many, some of the football played under Coyle was among the best of watching Bolton. Haphazard and ultimately eventually ineffective without his strongest personnel, but for a season at least, he gave Bolton fans some great memories – and the bad memories of Wembley and relegation have majorly but, perhaps unfairly, damaged his legacy.