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“Whatever division we are in next season we will be looking for promotion.”
Keith Hill had barely recharged his phone from the previous transfer window but there was a sense from that ambitious statement that he knew the next phase of his managerial reign at Wanderers could be his most important.
For while a certain amount of grace has been afforded the Boltonian since he walked through the doors in August to gather together a team in less than 48 hours, he knows the summer is where his efforts can be more accurately, and perhaps more rigorously judged.
It remains to be seen whether Hill and his staff will be building for life in League One or League Two, although logic and sensibility suggests it will be the latter.
No team has ever come from this far back and with MK Dons – who currently occupy the final position of safety – heading for 44 points at their present rate, it would leave Wanderers needing another 11 wins from their remaining 18.
Putting that into some perspective, the Whites have taken 69 games to chalk up their previous 11 victories.
But whether the survival effort is a foregone conclusion or not, the club can ill-afford to let the remaining months of the season pass without putting in place some plans for the future.
Peter Kenyon will continue to liaise with Hill over transfer targets to be pursued in the summer but the more pressing concern for Wanderers will surely be to sort out what players they will carry with them into next season.
Only six - Muhammadu Faal, Harry Brockbank, Dennis Politic, Liam Edwards, Ryan Delaney, George Thomason – are contracted beyond 2020, with 20-plus first team and scholars who could leave for nothing at the end of June.
Moves have already been made towards securing Ronan Darcy’s services, following in the footsteps of Politic’s contract extension announced earlier this month.
After such wholesale changes in the first team squad over the last couple of years, Hill may well look for some consistency. He will be saddled with the same embargo restrictions on squad size for another year, along with more stringent salary caps, but owners Football Ventures have indicated that they intend to fund the maximum level possible.
That may allow Hill to keep together the framework of a squad which has performed reasonably well under difficult circumstances since August.
Wanderers have taken 22 points from 22 games since the manager’s appointment – the same as MK Dons during the same timeframe, and more than both Southend United and Tranmere Rovers. In the same spell they have also lost fewer games than Rochdale or Lincoln City.
In that sense there may be a good argument for continuity and Chris O’Grady, who is one of the players whose deal expires in the summer, believes there is plenty for the current dressing room to prove over the next few months.
“This hasn’t been an easy season by any stretch,” he told The Bolton News. “The way the team was assembled quickly and had to gel quickly to try and get out of the position we are in.
“But we have all been through the struggle together and I think we will do that to the very end of the season. If we can reproduce that type of performance we did against Tranmere then who knows what will happen?
“For the manager it might be a case of looking at what players are right for next season or what formations work because there is the bigger picture here for Bolton Wanderers. Football can be a very small picture at times. The fans will know that more than the players, manager and owners.
“But as professionals we have to give everything we can every game. Nobody can ask any more of us than that.”
The victory against Tranmere boosted confidence and O’Grady is keen to see if Wanderers can build on the result.
“Momentum is everything now for us. You can do all that, beat Tranmere, but then play badly again next weekend at Coventry and it’s gone again,” he said.
“We need to start a run and get the points that we think the effort and the performances have warranted. Hopefully that starts now and we can take it into the next game.”
Source
Keith Hill had barely recharged his phone from the previous transfer window but there was a sense from that ambitious statement that he knew the next phase of his managerial reign at Wanderers could be his most important.
For while a certain amount of grace has been afforded the Boltonian since he walked through the doors in August to gather together a team in less than 48 hours, he knows the summer is where his efforts can be more accurately, and perhaps more rigorously judged.
It remains to be seen whether Hill and his staff will be building for life in League One or League Two, although logic and sensibility suggests it will be the latter.
No team has ever come from this far back and with MK Dons – who currently occupy the final position of safety – heading for 44 points at their present rate, it would leave Wanderers needing another 11 wins from their remaining 18.
Putting that into some perspective, the Whites have taken 69 games to chalk up their previous 11 victories.
But whether the survival effort is a foregone conclusion or not, the club can ill-afford to let the remaining months of the season pass without putting in place some plans for the future.
Peter Kenyon will continue to liaise with Hill over transfer targets to be pursued in the summer but the more pressing concern for Wanderers will surely be to sort out what players they will carry with them into next season.
Only six - Muhammadu Faal, Harry Brockbank, Dennis Politic, Liam Edwards, Ryan Delaney, George Thomason – are contracted beyond 2020, with 20-plus first team and scholars who could leave for nothing at the end of June.
Moves have already been made towards securing Ronan Darcy’s services, following in the footsteps of Politic’s contract extension announced earlier this month.
After such wholesale changes in the first team squad over the last couple of years, Hill may well look for some consistency. He will be saddled with the same embargo restrictions on squad size for another year, along with more stringent salary caps, but owners Football Ventures have indicated that they intend to fund the maximum level possible.
That may allow Hill to keep together the framework of a squad which has performed reasonably well under difficult circumstances since August.
Wanderers have taken 22 points from 22 games since the manager’s appointment – the same as MK Dons during the same timeframe, and more than both Southend United and Tranmere Rovers. In the same spell they have also lost fewer games than Rochdale or Lincoln City.
In that sense there may be a good argument for continuity and Chris O’Grady, who is one of the players whose deal expires in the summer, believes there is plenty for the current dressing room to prove over the next few months.
“This hasn’t been an easy season by any stretch,” he told The Bolton News. “The way the team was assembled quickly and had to gel quickly to try and get out of the position we are in.
“But we have all been through the struggle together and I think we will do that to the very end of the season. If we can reproduce that type of performance we did against Tranmere then who knows what will happen?
“For the manager it might be a case of looking at what players are right for next season or what formations work because there is the bigger picture here for Bolton Wanderers. Football can be a very small picture at times. The fans will know that more than the players, manager and owners.
“But as professionals we have to give everything we can every game. Nobody can ask any more of us than that.”
The victory against Tranmere boosted confidence and O’Grady is keen to see if Wanderers can build on the result.
“Momentum is everything now for us. You can do all that, beat Tranmere, but then play badly again next weekend at Coventry and it’s gone again,” he said.
“We need to start a run and get the points that we think the effort and the performances have warranted. Hopefully that starts now and we can take it into the next game.”
Source