Home
Nobody in the Wanderers dressing room will be safe from the axe this summer if standards are allowed to drop in the final four games of the season.
That is the unequivocal message coming from Ian Evatt this week as his team seek to finish their League One campaign on a high.
Bolton will be active in the summer transfer market – though the vast majority of their recruitment work will be geared towards building a new B Team, which will compete in the Central League and friendly games from August.
Since bringing in several new recruits in mid-January the Whites have exhibited promotion form, and Evatt has high expectations for next term as he looks to add a few more quality signings to his squad.
But the Bolton boss has warned that he will be ruthless in trimming players whose standards slip.
“There is always something to play for,” he said, looking ahead to this weekend’s Easter games against Doncaster Rovers and Accrington Stanley. “Regardless of whether you can’t go up or down, as a player you still have something to motivate you because there is another transfer window coming up. And this is a club which is going places.
“I said to the players this morning, I want them to make sure they are on this journey with us. They must go out there and prove they deserve to be – and that means them all.
“They have had opportunities, they will be given opportunities, but if you don’t taken them then you are not protected by your contract any more, you are just not.
“You have to earn the right to be a part of a big club, especially one that is progressing all the time.
“With a transfer window just around the corner and more recruits coming in they have to back themselves to get into this team, and it starts now.
“They have to make sure we finish strongly, keep that momentum high, and that they are performing as I expect them to perform.”
Evatt’s workload has increased with the club deciding to construct a B Team next season.
While a handful of players will be progressed from the current Under-18s and a few younger players retained to create the core of the side, the club ideally want a squad of around 18 for the new coach to work with daily.
Evatt feels he is in a good position with first team recruitment and hinted that he has again been given scope to spend from the club’s owners.
“Those conversations are happening all the time,” he said. “Again, the board have been absolutely incredible with the support.
“The conversations between myself and Sharon (Brittan) and everybody else, we all want the same thing. But we want to do it in a smart way, a sustainable way and a strategic way.
“We are having those conversations and plans are being drawn up. Obviously, we have an awful lot of work to do because of the introduction of the B team - I have to oversee all of that as well. Lots to be done but exciting times."
