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Antoni Sarcevic welcomes the promotion pressures that come with wearing a Bolton Wanderers shirt this season.
The bar has been set deliberately high at the UniBol this summer and for the first time in several years there is a palpable sense of expectation among supporters, not for survival, but for success.
Ian Evatt has thus far reached for two players who know exactly what it takes to get out of this division – last season’s top goalscorer, Eoin Doyle, and Plymouth Argyle’s lynchpin, Sarcevic, who can also count a League Two promotion with Fleetwood on his CV.
A move to Bolton is something of a homecoming for the Mancunian midfielder, who had spent the last two years on the Devon coast.
But geography played only part of the decision to leave Ryan Lowe’s upwardly mobile Argyle, and Sarcevic speaks passionately about the idea of being placed front and centre in a team positively expected to lead from the front.
“From afar – and by that, I mean Plymouth – you looked at Bolton and wondered what had gone wrong – how could they be there?” he told The Bolton News. “We came here last season in the FA Cup, the facilities, when you walk into the place, you’re shaking your head. It is quality, top to bottom.
“And that is the challenge, it’s getting the club back up to that level. That’s a pressure on the manager, on me, on everyone and it’s what I am excited about.”
After dropping out of the top-flight in 2012, Wanderers managers and players spent a good few years rallying against the success the club had enjoyed in its Premier League heyday, as if uncomfortable with the constant comparisons. In recent times, those European adventures with world-class stars felt like they were memories stolen from a completely different club.
Having been plunged to rock bottom by neglectful ownership, however, there is a sense that this can be a fresh start. And encouraged by the words of his new boss, Evatt, Sarcevic is eager to make sure his name accompanies this particular chapter in the club’s journey.
“You’ll always have that history, the great players and managers who have been here, and that’s part of what makes you want to play for Bolton. But it’s also wanting to take that next step and building something yourself,” he said.
“I want to put my name down at Bolton Wanderers and make sure people are talking about this team for good reasons in the years to come.
“Every single player who this club signs this summer knows promotion is the aim. We have to embrace that, respect the challenge ahead of us and work hard because if there’s anyone in the dressing room that thinks they can turn up in League Two and teams will roll over, they will be quickly found out.”
Sarcevic draws comparisons with last summer at Plymouth when Lowe’s arrival from Bury lit a fire under a partisan Home Park support and saw them bounce back immediately after relegation.
Evatt’s single-mindedness in how he wants Wanderers to play next season makes this project fascinating viewing and, says Sarcevic, is a good omen for the future.
“You saw how he (Evatt) got promoted from the Conference with Barrow and that’s an unforgiving league, it’s not easy to go up playing that style of football unless you really know what you are doing,” he said.
“You can see he’s a modern manager, he’s fresh out of the game, and says he is not going to change the way he plays for anyone.
“That reminded me of Ryan Lowe at Plymouth last season. It felt fresh, exciting, you couldn’t wait to get the season started. It’s like I have stepped away from one positive situation and into another.
“Ryan Lowe is a great character and you know what you are going to get from him. I need people to be honest, otherwise you are not going to get the best out of me. And I feel like I have that here.
“I like the fact the manager at Bolton has said ‘here’s how I play, this is what I want you to do’. And everybody who comes to this club knows they are expecting promotion, nothing else.”
Though Wanderers’ draw was considerable, Sarcevic admits moving his family – a partner and two young sons – back north was a big decision.
Several sides, including some in League One, had expressed an interest but having kept in touch with Bolton’s head of football operations, Tobias Phoenix, through lockdown, the club was in an ideal position to get the job done.
“Whenever you leave a club it is hard, especially if you have been successful, but with Plymouth it was leaving a whole life behind,” he said. “Both my boys were brought up there, we’d invested everything in moving down there, making friends.
“But I’d talked to my partner, Kate, and we knew the timing was right. It was just a case of finding the right move.
“In fairness, I had been in contact with Tobias Phoenix, and I knew there was interest there. That certainly made it easier.
“The longer time went on, more and more clubs came in, and out of respect I went to speak with some of them and listened to what they had to say.
“In honesty, though, and I’m not just trying to lay it on thick because I am here now, but the idea of playing for Bolton Wanderers is one I was always going to take, it really was.”
During the course of his career, Sarcevic has often found himself in the situation of having to take one step back to make two forward.
As a 15-year-old he was released at Manchester City but fought his way back into league football at Crewe Alexandra via a spell with Woodley Sports.
Still in his teens, he dropped out of the league again with Chester in the Northern Premier League before catching the attention of Fleetwood and pushing on again.
Dropping back down into League Two just months after escaping the division with Plymouth may seem a risky strategy to some – but going with the gut has proved a successful policy so far for Sarcevic.
“Looking back at my career if I wasn’t happy at a club, or it didn’t feel right, I acted upon it,” he said. “It didn’t matter to me going back and playing non-league, I was playing somewhere I enjoyed.
“I got great support from friends and family when I needed it, and it’s taken me this far. Now, I am representing Bolton Wanderers, and I can’t tell you how proud that makes me.”
It was while on the books at Chester that Sarcevic was called up to play for his country, joining an England C delegation bound for a summer game in Bermuda, no less.
“It was the maddest couple of weeks you could imagine,” he said. “We’d just won the league with Chester and I got a call from England saying we were going out there for a couple of days. It was a great trip.
“You look around that team and there were some top players. Andre Gray has earned millions now but back then you knew you could drop him into a Premier League team and he wouldn’t look out of place. His physicality and enthusiasm for the game was just amazing.
“Unfortunately I only won one cap because by the time I came back, Fleetwood wanted me and I was playing in the league again.”
In 2014, Sarcevic scored a free-kick to send Fleetwood up in the play-offs, and last season he once again hit double figures in Plymouth’s promotion, decided unfortunately on points per game.
The chance of a hat-trick of medals, says the midfielder, will rest entirely on the respect they show some of the unfamiliar faces they are about to encounter.
“Just like the Conference, it’s unforgiving,” he said. “If you don’t have that mentality and knowhow to get you through all those midweek games or the long trips, you’ll get torn to shreds.
“It’s about getting that unity, lads who are on the same page and know what is required to win a game of football. You can’t afford anyone who thinks they are better than this level, honestly, that is just not going to be accepted.”
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The bar has been set deliberately high at the UniBol this summer and for the first time in several years there is a palpable sense of expectation among supporters, not for survival, but for success.
Ian Evatt has thus far reached for two players who know exactly what it takes to get out of this division – last season’s top goalscorer, Eoin Doyle, and Plymouth Argyle’s lynchpin, Sarcevic, who can also count a League Two promotion with Fleetwood on his CV.
A move to Bolton is something of a homecoming for the Mancunian midfielder, who had spent the last two years on the Devon coast.
But geography played only part of the decision to leave Ryan Lowe’s upwardly mobile Argyle, and Sarcevic speaks passionately about the idea of being placed front and centre in a team positively expected to lead from the front.
“From afar – and by that, I mean Plymouth – you looked at Bolton and wondered what had gone wrong – how could they be there?” he told The Bolton News. “We came here last season in the FA Cup, the facilities, when you walk into the place, you’re shaking your head. It is quality, top to bottom.
“And that is the challenge, it’s getting the club back up to that level. That’s a pressure on the manager, on me, on everyone and it’s what I am excited about.”
After dropping out of the top-flight in 2012, Wanderers managers and players spent a good few years rallying against the success the club had enjoyed in its Premier League heyday, as if uncomfortable with the constant comparisons. In recent times, those European adventures with world-class stars felt like they were memories stolen from a completely different club.
Having been plunged to rock bottom by neglectful ownership, however, there is a sense that this can be a fresh start. And encouraged by the words of his new boss, Evatt, Sarcevic is eager to make sure his name accompanies this particular chapter in the club’s journey.
“You’ll always have that history, the great players and managers who have been here, and that’s part of what makes you want to play for Bolton. But it’s also wanting to take that next step and building something yourself,” he said.
“I want to put my name down at Bolton Wanderers and make sure people are talking about this team for good reasons in the years to come.
“Every single player who this club signs this summer knows promotion is the aim. We have to embrace that, respect the challenge ahead of us and work hard because if there’s anyone in the dressing room that thinks they can turn up in League Two and teams will roll over, they will be quickly found out.”
Sarcevic draws comparisons with last summer at Plymouth when Lowe’s arrival from Bury lit a fire under a partisan Home Park support and saw them bounce back immediately after relegation.
Evatt’s single-mindedness in how he wants Wanderers to play next season makes this project fascinating viewing and, says Sarcevic, is a good omen for the future.
“You saw how he (Evatt) got promoted from the Conference with Barrow and that’s an unforgiving league, it’s not easy to go up playing that style of football unless you really know what you are doing,” he said.
“You can see he’s a modern manager, he’s fresh out of the game, and says he is not going to change the way he plays for anyone.
“That reminded me of Ryan Lowe at Plymouth last season. It felt fresh, exciting, you couldn’t wait to get the season started. It’s like I have stepped away from one positive situation and into another.
“Ryan Lowe is a great character and you know what you are going to get from him. I need people to be honest, otherwise you are not going to get the best out of me. And I feel like I have that here.
“I like the fact the manager at Bolton has said ‘here’s how I play, this is what I want you to do’. And everybody who comes to this club knows they are expecting promotion, nothing else.”
Though Wanderers’ draw was considerable, Sarcevic admits moving his family – a partner and two young sons – back north was a big decision.
Several sides, including some in League One, had expressed an interest but having kept in touch with Bolton’s head of football operations, Tobias Phoenix, through lockdown, the club was in an ideal position to get the job done.
“Whenever you leave a club it is hard, especially if you have been successful, but with Plymouth it was leaving a whole life behind,” he said. “Both my boys were brought up there, we’d invested everything in moving down there, making friends.
“But I’d talked to my partner, Kate, and we knew the timing was right. It was just a case of finding the right move.
“In fairness, I had been in contact with Tobias Phoenix, and I knew there was interest there. That certainly made it easier.
“The longer time went on, more and more clubs came in, and out of respect I went to speak with some of them and listened to what they had to say.
“In honesty, though, and I’m not just trying to lay it on thick because I am here now, but the idea of playing for Bolton Wanderers is one I was always going to take, it really was.”
During the course of his career, Sarcevic has often found himself in the situation of having to take one step back to make two forward.
As a 15-year-old he was released at Manchester City but fought his way back into league football at Crewe Alexandra via a spell with Woodley Sports.
Still in his teens, he dropped out of the league again with Chester in the Northern Premier League before catching the attention of Fleetwood and pushing on again.
Dropping back down into League Two just months after escaping the division with Plymouth may seem a risky strategy to some – but going with the gut has proved a successful policy so far for Sarcevic.
“Looking back at my career if I wasn’t happy at a club, or it didn’t feel right, I acted upon it,” he said. “It didn’t matter to me going back and playing non-league, I was playing somewhere I enjoyed.
“I got great support from friends and family when I needed it, and it’s taken me this far. Now, I am representing Bolton Wanderers, and I can’t tell you how proud that makes me.”
It was while on the books at Chester that Sarcevic was called up to play for his country, joining an England C delegation bound for a summer game in Bermuda, no less.
“It was the maddest couple of weeks you could imagine,” he said. “We’d just won the league with Chester and I got a call from England saying we were going out there for a couple of days. It was a great trip.
“You look around that team and there were some top players. Andre Gray has earned millions now but back then you knew you could drop him into a Premier League team and he wouldn’t look out of place. His physicality and enthusiasm for the game was just amazing.
“Unfortunately I only won one cap because by the time I came back, Fleetwood wanted me and I was playing in the league again.”
In 2014, Sarcevic scored a free-kick to send Fleetwood up in the play-offs, and last season he once again hit double figures in Plymouth’s promotion, decided unfortunately on points per game.
The chance of a hat-trick of medals, says the midfielder, will rest entirely on the respect they show some of the unfamiliar faces they are about to encounter.
“Just like the Conference, it’s unforgiving,” he said. “If you don’t have that mentality and knowhow to get you through all those midweek games or the long trips, you’ll get torn to shreds.
“It’s about getting that unity, lads who are on the same page and know what is required to win a game of football. You can’t afford anyone who thinks they are better than this level, honestly, that is just not going to be accepted.”
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