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While the pre-match playlist remains a matter of debate among Wanderers supporters, Ian Evatt knows exactly what he wants to hear once the music stops on Saturday.
The club has opened to the floor for suggestions on what tunes should stoke up the atmosphere in the build-up to kick-off – an almost unwinnable argument that separates the young and the old, the traditionalists and the experimentalists.
But whether it is The Wanderer, Amarillo, 633 Squadron or Campione 2000 that plays his side on to the pitch, Evatt has asked for a favour from each home fan who comes to the Toughsheet this week, and beyond.
Whereas Bruce Rioch once called for a “cauldron of noise” to help his side over the line in a play-off semi-final against Wolves at Burnden Park, the current incumbent of the Wanderers hot-seat has a longer-term project in mind.
Already a huge admirer of the noise generated by the Whites’ ever-present travelling army of fans, Evatt is keen to bring more of that passion to home games. Indeed, he feels it could make a crucial difference in the promotion battle itself.
“It really is that important,” he told The Bolton News. “Sometimes you hear managers use these words lightly but when you get the right backing it can feel like a 12th man. It lifts the players, it lifts me, and the more the supporters can do, the better.
“When the atmosphere is intense and intimidating it really does create problems for opposing teams.
“I understand sometimes away fans an impact in that – and when our fans travel in numbers there is always that duel with the home crowd voices.
“You get some funny songs, and the Michael van Gerwen one on Sunday at Luton made me chuckle, I must say.
“You are not always going to get that to and fro at the Toughsheet, and probably not against Cheltenham on Saturday, but the more noise we can make, I promise, the more it helps the team.
“I know the team has an influence on the crowd, a big one. The way we play, the way we perform, but we are in this together and sometimes that spark is going to need to come from the supporters no matter what is happening. They can be the catalyst.
“If we can get this place rocking it gives us the best possible chance, no doubt about it.”
Wanderers go into Saturday’s game in confident mood, having drawn at Premier League Luton Town and beaten League Two Accrington Stanley in the previous six days.
That bravado has always been an important ingredient for Evatt, and the brand of football he has carefully nurtured in the last few years, especially on home turf.
A relatively sedate atmosphere in the game against Burton Albion on New Year’s Day prompted a discussion inside the club about what more could be done to boost the mood for the important months ahead. Evatt feels that raising the volume levels could prove to be one of the ‘marginal gains’ that he so covets.
“Everyone knows now, especially at our level, that we are a good team,” he said. “We’re competing at the top end of the league and we carry a reputation for the way that we play.
“If teams come to this stadium and the crowd are intimidating, they are boisterous, they are loud, I can promise it is not a nice place to play.
“That is what we want to create. Everyone has responsibility – me and the players definitely have it, but the fans do too, we are all in it together, so the more we can unite and make it a difficult place for opponents to play, the better.”
Wanderers have got the fans involved with a website poll this week, asking for folk to nominate songs which could get the pulses racing. Additionally, the club is changing a few of the pre-match practices to see if they can make a difference.
Whether there is a magical playlist which can unlock a few more decibels we shall wait and see – but Evatt can speak from experience when he says that the pre-match mood can have a knock-on effect to what happens once the referee blows his whistle.
“I can only say from my point of view, when I was a player, and you’d go to places like Bramall Lane with the Greasy Chip Butty song (Fill Up My Senses), or Wolves and Sheffield Wednesday with Hi Ho Silver Lining, or Liverpool and You’ll Never Walk Alone, and those songs raise the hairs on the back of your neck and gets you in the zone and motivated,” he said.
“I don’t know what the answer is there and people are more qualified than me to make that call. But it has to be the fans’ call, I think the club is right to ask the supporters what they think because we need them to be inspired and motivated prior to the game, not just while it is being played. It needs to start from minute one.
“I was fortunate enough to go to Sheffield Wednesday and Peterborough United second leg of the play-offs last season, doing the due diligence in case we got through, and it never happened. But even prior to the game, I have never heard an atmosphere like it.
“I was fortunate enough to play in the Premier League, played in some big games, and they were at it from minute one and you could literally see Peterborough crumble in front of my eyes.
“For me, Sheffield Wednesday played very well on the day but the result was just as much about the fans. If we can try and get this place ramped up, let’s see where it takes us.”
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