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Ian Evatt doesn’t mind that Wanderers will not be one of the big spenders in League One this season.
The Bolton boss has done the “majority” of his business in the transfer market after making eight new signings and will now be looking to move some fringe players on before considering any additional moves.
He says he has done so with a budget which is way below some of the other clubs in the division – but that will not prevent him from aiming high this season.
“People can pay more money than we do, it’s a fact,” he said. “And I don’t want us to be the biggest spenders.
“I want us to be competitive, of course, but I don’t want us to overspend for two reasons. One, I want the club to be sustainable. I don’t want the owners to have to keep finding and ploughing money into the club with a good business model.
"But, two, if we’re ninth or 10th in the budget league and finishing in the automatic promotion places then it makes me look better. That’s my own ego and selfishness talking.
“We are a big club and we have to use that to our benefit.”
Evatt was particularly perturbed by comments made by Wigan Athletic’s chief executive Mal Brannigan after the Latics failed to land defender George Johnston, which insinuated the player had signed elsewhere for more money.
The Bolton boss claims quite the opposite has been true in a couple of transfer dealings this summer.
“I read an article where the Wigan guy (Mal Brannigan) commented on George Johnston,” he said. “We have been blown out of the water on one or two players that Wigan have offered stupid money to in League One, so I’m not really quite sure what he’s saying with how his move went. “Some of the money I hear being spent around League One is crazy, but we are not going to do that. We are not that football club anymore.
“But we are a big club with great assets like training ground, stadium, fanbase, history, and players want to buy into that. Sometimes it isn’t about finance.
“We have a value as a club with support and facilities, it all adds on. It isn’t financial but the way we play, the coaching they get, players enjoy it. And they will enjoy playing in front of a big home crowd at the UniBol as well, we’ll use that to our advantage.”
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