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Considering the way Dougie Freedman’s fortunes have gone just recently, you could easily forget his Wanderers side were once a goal away from making the Championship play-offs.
Back in his first season in charge it was cheers not jeers that rained down on the Scot as he lapped the pitch after the fateful draw against Blackpool that wasn’t quite enough to seal a top-six spot.
Fast forward 16 months and many believe the cloud currently hanging over Freedman will never clear, and will cost him his job.
While last season’s underachievement could be passed off as a rebuilding phase, at least by some, there is precious little sympathy around now that the expected upturn in results has not materialised.
Freedman shrugged off the suggestion that tonight’s game against Fulham could be his last stand.
Recalling the pillorying he got just prior to Wanderers’ fine late run towards the top six in 2013, the manager is confident he can prove his doubters wrong as he did back then.
“Three months before that Blackpool game you guys were talking about relegation and I told you I didn’t feel like we were that team,” he told The Bolton News.
“I felt back then we were one or two players away from being a successful team and getting up the league.
“I felt that last season, and I’m still feeling it now.
“I want to be realistic...we go to Wolves, we go to Leeds we play Nottingham Forest at home. There is not a lot in it.
“Yes, we are coming out the wrong side but I believe we are just a couple of players from making these draws or close defeats into victories.
“That gives me hope. There is a good bunch in the dressing room and they work very hard. There are times when we need a bit of inspiration with the final pass and unfortunately that has had to come along with the loan market.
“That's not helped us when those players have had to go back. We have got to find a way to get results.”
Back then, the arrival of Craig Dawson helped revive the club’s fortunes, and last season it was the January signing of Lukas Jutkiewicz on loan that did the trick.
Building his side around loan players – much like Kevin McNaughton, Joe Mason, Chris Herd and Owen Garvan – has, in Freedman’s estimation, made the job of creating a winning side more difficult.
The absence of target man Jutkiewicz, for example, has forced him to change the style of play that helped the side finish fairly strongly at the end of last season.
Freedman is confident that by fostering the right environment around the club that the rest will take care of itself.
He argues that his work behind the scenes – which it is fair to say has yet to bear fruit – will be the catalyst for improvement.
“I have found this job a lot more challenging than I first thought,” he said. “I also think the Board and the fans have found it a lot more challenging coming down to the Championship. That realism of where we are is now sinking in.
“Do you just throw money at it? I have seen clubs do that and it doesn't work. I have seen teams throw nothing at it and it works.
“The secret in my eyes in you have got to have the right culture, the right environment. The seed has got to be ready to grow before you climb the table. We still have a hangover of where we should be and where we are entitled to be.
“We need to recruit younger players, get Academy players in the team, get lower league players in the team. Once we do that then we can start growing and that's what we are working very hard behind the scenes to do.
“The longer term plan is getting put in place but we need to get through these short term disappointments.”
Source
Back in his first season in charge it was cheers not jeers that rained down on the Scot as he lapped the pitch after the fateful draw against Blackpool that wasn’t quite enough to seal a top-six spot.
Fast forward 16 months and many believe the cloud currently hanging over Freedman will never clear, and will cost him his job.
While last season’s underachievement could be passed off as a rebuilding phase, at least by some, there is precious little sympathy around now that the expected upturn in results has not materialised.
Freedman shrugged off the suggestion that tonight’s game against Fulham could be his last stand.
Recalling the pillorying he got just prior to Wanderers’ fine late run towards the top six in 2013, the manager is confident he can prove his doubters wrong as he did back then.
“Three months before that Blackpool game you guys were talking about relegation and I told you I didn’t feel like we were that team,” he told The Bolton News.
“I felt back then we were one or two players away from being a successful team and getting up the league.
“I felt that last season, and I’m still feeling it now.
“I want to be realistic...we go to Wolves, we go to Leeds we play Nottingham Forest at home. There is not a lot in it.
“Yes, we are coming out the wrong side but I believe we are just a couple of players from making these draws or close defeats into victories.
“That gives me hope. There is a good bunch in the dressing room and they work very hard. There are times when we need a bit of inspiration with the final pass and unfortunately that has had to come along with the loan market.
“That's not helped us when those players have had to go back. We have got to find a way to get results.”
Back then, the arrival of Craig Dawson helped revive the club’s fortunes, and last season it was the January signing of Lukas Jutkiewicz on loan that did the trick.
Building his side around loan players – much like Kevin McNaughton, Joe Mason, Chris Herd and Owen Garvan – has, in Freedman’s estimation, made the job of creating a winning side more difficult.
The absence of target man Jutkiewicz, for example, has forced him to change the style of play that helped the side finish fairly strongly at the end of last season.
Freedman is confident that by fostering the right environment around the club that the rest will take care of itself.
He argues that his work behind the scenes – which it is fair to say has yet to bear fruit – will be the catalyst for improvement.
“I have found this job a lot more challenging than I first thought,” he said. “I also think the Board and the fans have found it a lot more challenging coming down to the Championship. That realism of where we are is now sinking in.
“Do you just throw money at it? I have seen clubs do that and it doesn't work. I have seen teams throw nothing at it and it works.
“The secret in my eyes in you have got to have the right culture, the right environment. The seed has got to be ready to grow before you climb the table. We still have a hangover of where we should be and where we are entitled to be.
“We need to recruit younger players, get Academy players in the team, get lower league players in the team. Once we do that then we can start growing and that's what we are working very hard behind the scenes to do.
“The longer term plan is getting put in place but we need to get through these short term disappointments.”
Source
