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Tim Ream believes Wanderers’ new manager will benefit from the groundwork done by his predecessor Dougie Freedman.
While Freedman’s reign in the Whites hot-seat came to a rather ignominious end on Friday, the American defender spoke up for his former boss, admitting that the squad “let him down.”
But while two years ago the club searched for a manager capable of undertaking a massive restructure of staff and facilities, Ream believes the next man in charge needs only to correct the results that ended up costing Freedman his job.
“I feel for him, I really do,” he told The Bolton News.
“He has worked hard and unfortunately it’s a results-driven business.
“I think me and the guys in the dressing room have let him and the staff down. It’s on us to a certain extent.
“He did a lot behind the scenes, especially at the training ground, that people don’t get to see. But there is a structure in place now. The only thing that needs to be worked on is results and what happens on the pitch.
“I’ll be the first to tell you there were a lot of issues behind the scenes when he came in. He smoothed those out.
“Whoever they bring in just needs to focus on what goes on between the lines.
“There were a lot of issues after relegation. There were a lot of guys who thought they didn’t belong in this league.
“They thought ‘hey, we’ll get out of it’ and not really put the work in.
“There were guys who just weren’t dedicating themselves and that was a big issue we had to overcome last year and when Dougie came in from October to Christmas.
“He got guys on the right track off the field but unfortunately he didn’t get the results on it.”
While Freedman argued that his side never lacked effort, only quality, Ream believes there was room for improvement on all fronts in the manager’s final games.
“A lot of us will feel we’ve been giving the best, and maybe they have, but from a professional standpoint you can always do better,” he said. “There’s always something you can improve on.
“I don’t think we’ve all done that consistently enough. We have let them down.
“A lot of guys have become complacent, myself included earlier in the year, and it was a matter of turning our mindset around. We didn’t do it quick enough and it came at a cost.”
Ream revealed that the players were told about Freedman’s departure mid-way through a training game on Friday but that it had been business as usual in the build up to the game.
“We came in with a clear mind, everything else on the back burner,” he said.
“Obviously the guys rallied round for each other. We did a little lap before the match to show the fans that we really do care.
“That’s probably the best atmosphere I have felt in the stadium in a long time, so it’s a matter of getting our heads down and getting ourselves out of this situation.”
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While Freedman’s reign in the Whites hot-seat came to a rather ignominious end on Friday, the American defender spoke up for his former boss, admitting that the squad “let him down.”
But while two years ago the club searched for a manager capable of undertaking a massive restructure of staff and facilities, Ream believes the next man in charge needs only to correct the results that ended up costing Freedman his job.
“I feel for him, I really do,” he told The Bolton News.
“He has worked hard and unfortunately it’s a results-driven business.
“I think me and the guys in the dressing room have let him and the staff down. It’s on us to a certain extent.
“He did a lot behind the scenes, especially at the training ground, that people don’t get to see. But there is a structure in place now. The only thing that needs to be worked on is results and what happens on the pitch.
“I’ll be the first to tell you there were a lot of issues behind the scenes when he came in. He smoothed those out.
“Whoever they bring in just needs to focus on what goes on between the lines.
“There were a lot of issues after relegation. There were a lot of guys who thought they didn’t belong in this league.
“They thought ‘hey, we’ll get out of it’ and not really put the work in.
“There were guys who just weren’t dedicating themselves and that was a big issue we had to overcome last year and when Dougie came in from October to Christmas.
“He got guys on the right track off the field but unfortunately he didn’t get the results on it.”
While Freedman argued that his side never lacked effort, only quality, Ream believes there was room for improvement on all fronts in the manager’s final games.
“A lot of us will feel we’ve been giving the best, and maybe they have, but from a professional standpoint you can always do better,” he said. “There’s always something you can improve on.
“I don’t think we’ve all done that consistently enough. We have let them down.
“A lot of guys have become complacent, myself included earlier in the year, and it was a matter of turning our mindset around. We didn’t do it quick enough and it came at a cost.”
Ream revealed that the players were told about Freedman’s departure mid-way through a training game on Friday but that it had been business as usual in the build up to the game.
“We came in with a clear mind, everything else on the back burner,” he said.
“Obviously the guys rallied round for each other. We did a little lap before the match to show the fans that we really do care.
“That’s probably the best atmosphere I have felt in the stadium in a long time, so it’s a matter of getting our heads down and getting ourselves out of this situation.”
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