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Ian Evatt insists his pursuit of sustainability at Wanderers can go hand-in-hand with success.
The Bolton boss admits he has walked away from negotiations with targets this summer after feeling a player’s valuation or demands had become too high.
And Evatt says the decision to do so was on moral grounds, rather than a lack of cash at his disposal.
It was estimated early last season by chairman, Sharon Brittan, that Wanderers’ budget was between “ninth and tenth” highest in the division. And while signings made in January will have pushed that total up, Evatt remains committed to the idea that he can achieve Championship football without being one of the top spenders.
“My vision for this football club is that we want to be sustainable,” he said. “And that is a really difficult thing to do in football.
“The amount of money being spent in every division at the moment is incredible and you get to hear in circles about players who have been offered X, Y and Z from other clubs and we won’t be that club.
“We have a valuation for someone and if we don’t get it then we are happy to walk away. And that isn’t because Sharon and the rest of the board are saying there is no money available – there is money, more than enough – but I don’t want us to be that. I want to be smart and strategic and do things the right way.
“I am really pleased with where we are at. We have lost out on a couple of targets this summer but we haven’t really had that yet as a club.
“It doesn’t mean we will miss out, it just means we have to be patient for the next opportunity and football will always give you one.
“We have to rely on our ability to get the best out of our players and be the best coached team, the fittest team, all these one per cent gains that we can make.”
Evatt celebrates two years in charge at Bolton next week, having inherited a club which had dropped into the fourth tier for only the second time in its history, playing in the midst of a global pandemic.
On arrival from Barrow he brought with him a small backroom including assistant Peter Atherton, analyst Lewis Duckmanton and goalkeeper coach Matt Gilks, who would also prove a crucial member of the first team squad.
Evatt believes by investing in the club’s staff can help him get the ‘marginal gains’ he seeks and the various footballing departments these days are well stocked.
“I have a fantastic team behind me, and not only have we invested in the team, we have invested in the staff too,” he said. “In fact, I was sat at dinner last night wondering ‘where have all these staff come from?’ “Two years ago, me, Peter, Lewis and Matt were doing everything and now all of a sudden we have a team of analysts, S&C (strength and conditioning) guys, physio department, and it is all to get the best out of these players and I think we will see the benefit of that this season.”
Finishing ninth last season was seen as a positive step forward after promotion, and Bolton’s form since the turn of the year has been that of a promotion-worthy side.
But Evatt knows past results now count for nothing as he goes into a third season with what he considers the strongest group of players he had yet had at his disposal.
“It shows how far we have come to be in this position, right now,” he said. “I look at this squad and when everyone is fit and available there is no wastage. There is not one player that I think cannot contribute, which is a massive bonus for me.
“There is continuity. We got together in January and one of the reasons why we did so much work then was to give us a five-month window to embed everybody and ingrain what we are trying to do.
“We have done that now but the thing is in football that at the end of every season your credit runs out and you have to start all over again.”
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