"Prolonging the inevitable" - Bolton Wanderers: Ian Evatt tipped for Trotters sack as Tony Mowbray namechecked | OneFootball

FLW's Bolton Wanderers fan pundit has had his say on Ian Evatt's future and hopes the club line up Tony Mowbray as his successor.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Wigan Athletic's derby dominance over Bolton Wanderers continued with a 2-0 win at the Toughsheet Community Stadium on Saturday, with Ian Evatt's side dropping to eighth in the table as a result.

The Latics had got the better of Bolton in their last two visits prior to Saturday, with the away side running out victorious in two 4-0 victories during their previous trips.

The latest win came thanks to goals from Dale Taylor and Thelo Aasgaard, and victory extended Latics' unbeaten run against Wanderers to nine games over nine years.

Despite the gap in league positions, Wigan deserved their first win in five matches. Taylor slotted home after 18 minutes, putting the visitors ahead.

Bolton, sitting seventh in the table at the time, were booed off at half-time and could have been further behind. Taylor was denied a second by Nathan Baxter, and although the hosts improved somewhat after the break, with Sam Tickle saving from Jordi Osei-Tutu, Wigan remained dangerous.

Aasgaard sealed the win in the 68th minute after being denied earlier by Baxter, with a stunning control, turn and finish into the bottom corner. Following the defeat, Bolton are 13 points off Wycombe Wanderers and 12 off Birmingham City inside the top two.

Bolton Wanderers tipped to sack Ian Evatt in the near future

The likes of Jon Brady, Ruben Selles, and Matt Taylor have all left jobs in the third tier over the last couple of weeks, with some Bolton fans growing increasingly frustrated with Evatt and his side's inconsistencies.

Evatt hit out at what he described as a "pile on" and "disrespectful" after the defeat against Wigan, and he issued a passionate defence of his record at the Toughsheet Community Stadium.

We asked our Bolton fan pundit, Liam O'Meara, for his thoughts on those comments, whether Sharon Brittan should stick with Evatt, and who Bolton should look at if Evatt were to leave.

Liam told FLW: "Bolton should have got rid of Ian Evatt in May when we lost the play-off final; that was the time for him to go.

"We had failed on both the final day to gain automatic promotion, and also in quite a devastating defeat in the final at Wembley. It was time for a new direction then.

"He's been manager for some time now and that was the time. The problem with it, is that there are so many people hurting from that day back in May, that every time we have a defeat, it opens it up again.

"A big trend of Evatt's reign is the failure to turn up in big games, particularly in derbies, but any top teams.

"The problem we've got and the big issue with Evatt tactically, is that his football doesn't work under any kind of pressure. We tend to face two different types of opposition.

"Firstly, ones who sit back, and then our football is fantastic and our defenders can pick passes into midfield, and we can get on top of teams and generally break them down.

"The problem, though, is that if we are pressured, then our players aren't all good enough to deal with that and to play out of a press. I can't really ever remember us being able to play out of a press. For such a possession-based team, that is quite startling.

"There's absolutely no cause to stick with him, in my view. I'm not a reactionary type, and not somebody who thinks you should just get rid of a manager. But I don't see this going any other way.

"Anything we do now is just prolonging the inevitable, so he should go.

"In terms of who we could bring in, there is so much selection out there.

"You've got Des Buckingham, who has just been sacked with Oxford, and that's an outstanding candidate. You've also got Steven Schumacher who got Plymouth out of this level.

"Personally, I think Tony Mowbray - he said he was looking for a new job in January, and he did amazing work with our neighbours at Blackburn, and I am a big fan of his.

"In terms of the type of football that he plays, I think he could get a lot out of our team, so he would be my number one priority."

In many ways, Bolton fans can be thankful to Evatt for what he has done in recent years. They have been relegated four times in the last 11 years but had been hoping that the difficult times are behind them at last under his management.

There comes a time to accept when a manager may have taken a job as far as he can. The ship has been steadied after administration and financial difficulties have been the main reasons behind many of the problems, but failure to get out of League One now would mean the team is going backwards.

Evatt has impressed since taking over the role in 2020, helping to develop the squad year-on-year, but difficult decisions need to be made. If Bolton and Evatt have designs on automatic promotion, then they need to put a winning run together to close the gap on the likes of Birmingham, Wrexham, and Wycombe.

It's that or a new manager with fresh ideas, but he is running out of time, and fans are clearly lacking in patience at this stage but with good reason to as well.

Mowbray however may just be out of reach for Bolton, with his stock still high in the Championship following his stint with Sunderland.

Of course, the Trotters are a big club and a sleeping giant at League One level, and that could entice him to the Toughsheet, but Wanderers may have to lower their sights if they do decide to axe Evatt.