'Football needs more like her' - Bolton Wanderers boss praises 'exceptional' chairman Sharon Brittan

Ian Evatt has spoken of the support and backing he has received from the Trotters chairman during difficult spells earlier this season.



Bolton boss Ian Evatt believes the football world in general needs more people like Wanderers chairman Sharon Brittan involved in it and said she not not once wavered in her belief in him.

Evatt was appointed at the University of Bolton Stadium last summer, putting pen to paper on a three-year deal.

His reign as Trotters manager did not get off to the best start in terms of results on the pitch, with Wanderers having to wait a month for their first win of the campaign.

Certain stages of the season have seen Wanderers in the bottom half of the League Two table, far from where the club expects to be.

But the tide has turned for Wanderers of late and eight matches unbeaten and six wins in a row has taken Bolton into the play-off positions and half a dozen points from the summit of the division ahead of this weekend's clash against Bradford City.

How difficult has it been for you to retain your principles and continue even in the periods where it wasn’t quite going as well?

“No for one reason and one person only and that’s Sharon Brittan. Simple as that.

"She hasn’t once put me under pressure. She hasn’t once wavered in her belief in me and what I do and what I can achieve and for many reasons, that’s took the pressure off me to be able to stick to my guns and keep working hard and focus on the football side of things.

"That’s the truth of it. We can all say ‘I’m going to say this, I’m going to say that, because he’s my boss’

"But she’s exceptional woman and unless you meet her personally, you won’t know and understand what I mean, but she has not once wavered in her belief towards me and that in turn has helped me concentrate on getting things right, and also the support that she and the rest of the board gave me in January as well”

Is there a lesson generally that football clubs can learn from that type of support?

“I’m telling you, the football world needs more people like Sharon Brittan in it. Simple as that.

"Football at times can be dark, mysterious, devious, agenda driven - that’s everything she’s not and this club is very fortunate to have her.”

Evatt joined the club last summer and explained that Brittan was the reason he joined Wanderers last year, believing she sold him the 'dream' of managing at Bolton.

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/ian-evatt-bolton-sharon-brittain-19967966

Wanderers must keep their foot on the gas in the promotion race to reward the best chairman in the business, says Ian Evatt.

The in-form Whites go to Bradford City on Saturday on their best run of results since the turn of the millennium and are starting to look like a team capable of bouncing back to League One at the first time of asking.

Evatt believes the Wanderers chief, who helped save the club from going out of business completely 18 months ago, deserves a moment of success.

“I’m telling you, the football world needs more people like Sharon Brittan in it,” he said. “Simple as that.

“Football at times can be dark, mysterious, devious, agenda driven - that’s everything she’s not and this club is very fortunate to have her.

“I just think her nature is different. She is a people-person and the honesty and integrity she works with is a rarity in football. She is a shining light who can walk in a room and make it light up, that’s the kind of positivity she has.”

Evatt went through the mill with his squad earlier this season after winning just one of the first 11 competitive games and suffering some humbling defeats against the likes of Port Vale, Leyton Orient and Tranmere.

Poor spells prompted some sections of the Bolton support to call for change but Evatt remained confident that fortunes would change and credits Brittan for supporting him in the toughest times.

“She hasn’t once put me under pressure,” he said. “She hasn’t once wavered in her belief in me and what I do, what I can achieve. For many reasons, that took the pressure off me and let me keep working hard and focus on the football side of things. That’s the truth of it.

“You can all go ‘well he would say that, she’s my boss’ but she’s an exceptional woman and unless you meet her personally, you won’t know and understand what I mean.

“That in turn has helped me concentrate on getting things right, and also the support that she and the rest of the board gave me in January as well.”

Evatt also revealed that it had been after a call from Brittan in the summer that he decided that Bolton was the right move.

“She is the reason I came here,” he said. “I had a conversation with her over the phone and it sold me the dream, the journey.

"Together we think we can take Bolton back where it belongs but also spreading some goodwill and doing the right things off the pitch. We need the whole community to pull for the club again. She’s a huge part of that.”

Source

Sugar and spice and all things nice, Ian?

I can't help wondering what Keith 'he knows his onions' Hill thought when he and his pals were shown the door.