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Wanderers will not be a “yo-yo club” when and if they make the step up to Championship football, says Ian Evatt.
The Bolton boss is confident club owners, Football Ventures, will have the right financial infrastructure in place to cope with a notoriously difficult jump between the divisions.
Evatt won’t write off his team’s chances of making the play-offs this season, and they currently sit nine points off the top six with eight games to go – a gap which could grow depending on Sheffield Wednesday’s result against Cheltenham Town on Saturday.
But concerns have been raised as to whether Wanderers are ready to make the jump up to the Championship, particularly regarding the level of funding which could be offered by the current board.
Rotherham and Wycombe both dropped out of the second tier last season immediately following promotion, with Wigan following suit after a myriad of financial problems.
Evatt has faith that Bolton will be able to cope in a completely different economy if and when they eventually go up.
“We are never going to turn it (the Championship) down, none of us would,” he said. “But when we get there, we want to stay there.
“I think what you have seen from newly promoted teams from League One, there are teams in this level right now who are a good example. We don’t want to be that yo-yo team that come up and go back down.
“We want to go up and stay up. And we have to be ready for that because it’s huge. Massive amounts of money is being spent at Championship level.
“But the structure and foundation of the club is improving all the time and I know that Sharon (Brittan) And the board are getting this club into the right position to enable us to get up and stay up.
“If it is this year, or whether it is too early or not I don’t know. But certainly, if it is, next year we will be ready, there is no doubt about that.”
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