WE are building towards a final act, and most likely the realisation that barely any football journeys end happily.

Four-and-a-half years into building a team at Bolton Wanderers – one that in terms of transfer fees at least ranks as the most expensive to play for the club at this level of football – Ian Evatt conceded that mental fragility is still the issue letting his players down on occasions like these.

A year on from Pompey, several months from Wigan, Derby or the play-off final, with so much time and money invested, we are still finding the same faults. This is a well-paid Bolton team who, on paper, should be challenging for an automatic promotion place in League One, but as the late great Brian Clough noted, football is unfortunately played on grass.

For the entire second half as his side floundered in their efforts to get back into the contest at 2-0 down, Evatt was subjected to a most savage verbal takedown from the 2,000-plus travelling support. Their mandate is clear and has been for some time.

Inside football it is often said that players, and not the fans, get managers the sack. And in that respect, this group and going the right way about instigating change.

Having played satisfactorily for 20 minutes, Bolton collapsed at the first sign of problems. Loose defending on the edge of the box, a clumsy challenge from Ricardo Santos, and Mallik Wilks rolled home a penalty only awarded after an extraordinarily long conversation between referee Alan Young and his assistant.

Wanderers’ confidence shattered like the shards of ice scraped from the pitch covers and by half time they were two down – George Thomason’s clearance blocked, the ball landing nicely for Reece James to steer in his first goal since signing from Sheffield Wednesday in the summer.

Rotherham’s simple style did not require much explanation and one wonders how much time Steve Evans spent outlining his thinking prior to kick-off. His plan was to keep the ball in areas which put Bolton’s players under pressure because, the chances are, they will make a mistake.

That blueprint has been copied time and time again in League One, as opposition managers surrender any grandiose vision of footballing perfection to simply get the ball into the penalty box and wait for a chance to hoist Wanderers up by their own bombastic footballing petard.

“Sideways and backwards, everywhere we go,” chanted the boisterous supporters in the Mears Stand. It’s 2025, how fitting that a footballing philosophy is now being held up as a figure of fun.

Petrified by the commotion behind them, not a single Bolton player tried to take the game to Rotherham after half time in what amounted to some of the most soulless football you could ever wish to see.

It was difficult to ignore the fact that the away end had effectively been turned into an Evil Karaoke and though Evatt turned his back to the unwanted serenade, he looked desperately to his team to provide something, anything, as a distraction.

The introduction of Dion Charles – long called-for from the away stand – produced a moment of purest schadenfreude just after the hour mark. With the fans barely noticing Szabi Schon’s surge down the left wing, the Hungarian turned in a fine near-post cross somehow bundled wide by the substitute from four yards out. Not missing a beat, the chant continued, Charles still face down on the turf.

Had Rotherham really pushed, the scoreline would have surely been extended. They got a third when Sam Nombe passed the ball into the empty net after Nathan Baxter had made a good save from Wilks, but the pain was barely registering at that stage.

Likewise, John McAtee’s consolation goal four minutes from the end was celebrated sarcastically in the stands rather than in the hope it could trigger an unlikely comeback.

Evatt had given up trying to affect the game from the bench, Charles and Josh Dacres-Cogley the only two changes he made, and the latter for captain George Thomason, who has suffered perhaps the most pronounced loss of form of any Bolton player in the last month.

And then came the verdict. The manager has rarely turned the sights on his own dressing room, at least not to this extent. Back in the Covid days, empty stadia had spared him the fans’ frustrations first hand, and he questioned whether some of his early signings had just been happy to come in and wear the badge. Four years on, he was asking the same thing.

To still be talking about the team’s lack of mental strength is upsetting, particularly as Evatt and his staff have been given ample time and resources to change things, especially since the summer.

The issue of responsibility is not straightforward. It IS always the players who get their manager the sack, as they are the only ones capable of getting results. The backing of the fans can make it easier, and their patronage can help ensure the club runs well as a business, but the whole thing comes down to one person trusting 11 others when they run out on to the pitch, and right now that balance does not look favourable.

Evatt claimed that things would not alter is he were replaced, that his squad would still have the same deficiencies, and he is correct. But he is solely responsible for assembling this team and arranging them in this order. The lowest denominator always loses in this scenario.

Approaching five years and as one of the longest-serving managers in the top four divisions, Evatt cannot win his battle with the terraces. His only hope is that by exposing some home truths in such public fashion after the Rotherham defeat that the penny drops for enough players in his dressing room to elicit a positive response.

A Hail Mary, perhaps. But this situation is building towards a conclusion and one wonders how many more body blows this manager can take?