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If Wanderers can negotiate an early visit with the Crazy Gang, Jamie Proctor feels life in League One could turn out just fine.
As the club found out after relegation to the Championship from the Premier League just four short years ago, acclimatising to a lower level of football is no cakewalk.
Back then, Owen Coyle’s Whites found themselves 18th after just 10 games despite still boasting several multi-million pound players in their ranks.
The drop to the third tier may be less pronounced but Proctor feels a culture shock is inevitable. So where better for the first away game to be staged than Wimbledon?
Another newly-promoted side in Bristol Rovers are next up away from home, after which Proctor feels the squad will have ample experience of what competing at this level of football will be all about.
“Naturally I think that some players will find it uncomfortable,” he told The Bolton News. “I think the lads like me who have played at this level have to do their best to try and steady the ship and pass our experience on.
“The manager and his staff know this level well and they will do everything they can to get that across.
“There are players here who have been in the Premier League, played with some top team-mates but just because you have done that doesn’t guarantee you success. Big sides have come down to League One and then gone down further. It’s a culture shock and a completely different way of playing football.
“You have away games on Tuesday nights at places some lads will never have played before. Our first two are AFC Wimbledon and Bristol Rovers – those two thrown in right away, which will come as a big culture shock to some.
“But knowing the gaffer he will be getting the lads properly prepared, physically and mentally, so the performances are right this season.”
Proctor knows all about culture shocks, having dropped from the glamour of top flight football with Swansea City to the unglamorous surroundings of Crawley Town earlier in his career.
But after rebuilding his confidence at Fleetwood Town and Bradford City, the Lancastrian striker – still only 24 – had no qualms about following Phil Parkinson over the Pennines to the Macron Stadium this summer.
Last season’s hellish financial problems have, hopefully, been consigned to the past. Proctor insists the negative headlines that have circled Wanderers in the past 12 months did not come into the equation when he decided to sign at Bolton.
“Coming from Preston I’ve always known the situation at Bolton and looked at it as a massive club,” he said. “I don’t think when a club like that comes along you can really question it too much.
“It’s none of my business what happened before, or even what goes on off the pitch, I just want to concentrate on my job.
“If the manager and his staff want me here to be part of the team, that’s the only real decision I have to make.”
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As the club found out after relegation to the Championship from the Premier League just four short years ago, acclimatising to a lower level of football is no cakewalk.
Back then, Owen Coyle’s Whites found themselves 18th after just 10 games despite still boasting several multi-million pound players in their ranks.
The drop to the third tier may be less pronounced but Proctor feels a culture shock is inevitable. So where better for the first away game to be staged than Wimbledon?
Another newly-promoted side in Bristol Rovers are next up away from home, after which Proctor feels the squad will have ample experience of what competing at this level of football will be all about.
“Naturally I think that some players will find it uncomfortable,” he told The Bolton News. “I think the lads like me who have played at this level have to do their best to try and steady the ship and pass our experience on.
“The manager and his staff know this level well and they will do everything they can to get that across.
“There are players here who have been in the Premier League, played with some top team-mates but just because you have done that doesn’t guarantee you success. Big sides have come down to League One and then gone down further. It’s a culture shock and a completely different way of playing football.
“You have away games on Tuesday nights at places some lads will never have played before. Our first two are AFC Wimbledon and Bristol Rovers – those two thrown in right away, which will come as a big culture shock to some.
“But knowing the gaffer he will be getting the lads properly prepared, physically and mentally, so the performances are right this season.”
Proctor knows all about culture shocks, having dropped from the glamour of top flight football with Swansea City to the unglamorous surroundings of Crawley Town earlier in his career.
But after rebuilding his confidence at Fleetwood Town and Bradford City, the Lancastrian striker – still only 24 – had no qualms about following Phil Parkinson over the Pennines to the Macron Stadium this summer.
Last season’s hellish financial problems have, hopefully, been consigned to the past. Proctor insists the negative headlines that have circled Wanderers in the past 12 months did not come into the equation when he decided to sign at Bolton.
“Coming from Preston I’ve always known the situation at Bolton and looked at it as a massive club,” he said. “I don’t think when a club like that comes along you can really question it too much.
“It’s none of my business what happened before, or even what goes on off the pitch, I just want to concentrate on my job.
“If the manager and his staff want me here to be part of the team, that’s the only real decision I have to make.”
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