Bolton Wanderers: Dougie Freedman will have big Rob Hall, Blackpool regret | OneFootball

Rob Hall made his Bolton debut on the final day of the 2012/13 season as Dougie Freedman's experiment backfired and they missed out on the top six.

Over a decade ago, Bolton Wanderers narrowly missed out on a top-six finish and the play-off places in the Championship on the final day of the campaign due to a 2-2 draw against Lancashire rivals Blackpool at the then-still Reebok Stadium.

It was a moment in time when the Trotters could right the wrong of their relegation from the Premier League the previous season. Instead, they embarked upon a decline that would include an administration, a couple of near-liquidation summers, and eventual relegation all the way down to League Two.

The play-off dream had seemingly disappeared mid-way through the campaign but the appointment of Dougie Freedman eventually sparked a mad late-season run that saw Bolton in pole position to claim a top-six spot.

However, with a bizarre selection decision with the inclusion of Rob Hall for his first Bolton start, it was instead a day of regret and another day that provoked the prominent phrase of ‘what if’.

The Rob Hall scenario

Hall had been on loan at Birmingham City for much of the 2012/13 campaign before signing a short-term loan deal in March 2013 at Bolton Wanderers as they continued to push for a top-six spot.

Hall joined and was left out of the squad by Freedman for the first two matches of his stint before then being an unused substitute in the next five matches until the final day of the campaign.

Then, with Bolton sixth and needing just to beat Blackpool to secure a play-off spot, Hall was not only given his first appearance but his first start for the Whites on the final day of the campaign, playing out of position as a centre-forward in a flat 4-4-2 system, edging out the in-form Marvin Sordell.

Wanderers found themselves 2-0 down in the 37th minute and the West Ham United loanee was hooked for the aforementioned Sordell with Bolton then scoring two quick-fire goals in first-half stoppage-time.

However, the damage had been done and Bolton, who had wasted more or less a full half of football in their biggest game of the season on a bizarre experiment, were denied a winner by Blackpool in the second half and eventually succumbed to a seventh-place finish in the Championship.

Being too clever

Freedman was guilty of being too clever in charge of Bolton and they missed out on a play-off finish as a result of one of his experiments going to plan on the biggest of occasions.

The Trotters missed out on their only chance they ever had of returning to the Premier League at the first attempt with financial issues that would ravage the club just around the corner.

The following decade saw the collapse of the club both on and off the field through bad management off the pitch, as well as on it and the idea of Bolton coming close to Premier League promotion again is a distant one.

There are a few sliding doors and ‘what if’ moments for Bolton supporters to long consider but Rob Hall’s debut coming on that day and in that situation simply has to be up there as one of the most frustrating.