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Ian Evatt is looking up at football’s serial winners and taking notes as he tries to keep Wanderers on the automatic promotion road.
Whether it be Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola, Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp or Brighton’s Roberto De Zerbi, the Bolton boss has never been shy to admit he borrows ideas from the leading lights in the game.
With the Whites now leading from the front in League One, in the midst of the club’s best run of results for 33 years, he is looking for inspiration on how to keep his players in the winning groove.
“Their ability to consistently drive forwards with hunger, to consistently win trophies and games, is fantastic,” he said of managers like Guardiola, who has kept City at the top of the game for several years.
“I spoke to the players about it - we all want good careers, I want to be a good manager, they want good playing careers, life itself is short, material things come and go – money, fame, whatever – and you can’t take any of it with you.
“But what you can leave behind it is a legacy. The records we are hoping to get towards, they are the things that have to motivate us. I think at the moment we’re one of four teams in the club’s history to win eight games consecutively, and that will stay there forever.
“Imprinting your name on history is what should drive you. It shouldn’t be material stuff, that’s wrong, this club has a huge, rich history, and if we can somehow make sure our names get associated with that and mentioned long after we’re gone, then why wouldn’t we want to do that?
“Certainly that is the message the players are told, and the message I get back is that they want it. They want to be remembered.”
Wanderers are three wins off the club record 11 in a row, set between November 1904 and January 1905, but can equal a 123-year benchmark for consecutive clean sheets if they shut out Oxford United tonight.
Evatt feels the psychology of his squad has changed from previous seasons, and they are now in their best position ever to secure Championship football.
“I have said for a while that this group is the most together I’ve ever experienced, they are completely bought in with each other,” he said.
“I don’t see disappointment when lads don’t play, it is enjoyment when results come good and performances are good. They celebrate it together.
“That makes a huge difference and culturally the environment is one of the most important things in football, alongside the technical and tactical ability, but it is really under-valued and we have managed to create it here, top to bottom. It starts with Sharon (Brittan) and the board, filters down to Neil (Hart) and his team, then to me and my team and the players. You can feel with the fans and within the community, there is a sense that this is different. And that’s great.
“In terms of our evolution as a team I think we have improved. I have been talking about the magic word ‘progression’ and felt that, even in the low times this season. It was just about getting consistency and in this spell we have achieved it.”
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