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Phillips aiming to get one over his old club on live TV

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karlypants

karlypants
Nat Lofthouse
Nat Lofthouse

Freed from the crippling pressures of a relegation battle, Jimmy Phillips wants to see his players put in a much-improved, professional performance tomorrow, and dent his old club's title hopes in the process.

The Whites' inevitable drop into League One was confirmed last weekend with a 4-1 loss at Derby County and local lad Phillips, who rejoined his home-town club from Middlesbrough in 1993, is out to end the season on a high.

That starts for the caretaker manager in tomorrow's televised early kick off as they welcome to the Macron a side that sits at the Championship summit, two points ahead of Burnley and with Brighton and Hove Albion a further two points behind.

Bolton's fate may be sealed but easing into the summer lay-off is not in Phillips' plans – especially against a club at which he made so many fond memories in the north east.

“It's one of my old clubs, I had three great years there from 90 to 93,” he said.

"We staved off relegation in the first year and in the second year we got to the play-offs where, ironically, I played against Chris Short for Notts County, our fitness consultant.

“We got promoted the following year to the first year of the Premier League and then got relegated.

"So it was certainly an interesting time and a time I thoroughly enjoyed as a player.

“But while they're going for promotion, we're professional people and we want to give as good an account of ourselves as we possibly can in front of the Sky cameras.

“We'll see whether the players feel that they've been under pressure – now that the inevitable has happened I'm certainly looking for them to be a more determined, committed team against Middlesbrough than we've seen in the last four games.”

Phillips admits it's heartbreaking to see the club in this situation, which will see them playing in the third tier for the first time in almost a quarter of a century, but he remains convinced Wanderers can stage a recovery next season.

“You can come back from these situations, definitely,” he insisted.

“I rejoined the club in 1993, I think it was the first year back in the Championship as it is now, so we've been through tough times before but there's hope as long as you've got a spirit in the place, and all the off-field staff have had a great spirit about them in the four games I’ve done.

“The spirit is certainly intact behind the scenes and we just hope we can transfer that onto the pitch.

“The situation is very upsetting, I've seen all sides of it – I remember playing in the old Third Division, I left to go to Glasgow Rangers when they actually slipped into the old Fourth Division for a season.

“I have seen all sides and it's how we all react and the spirit that we have with a group of staff can be key to making sure we get the best out of the players.”

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