Charting the rise and fall of Brand Evatt at Bolton Wanderers
IAN Evatt looked to the skies in disbelief as a deflected shot put Charlton Athletic ahead four minutes before the end of what would be his last game in charge of Bolton Wanderers.
In isolation, it was a cruel way to go. This had been by far his side’s most convincing performance in months.
But the devil was in the detail. Undone once again by opposition who were stronger, more street smart, and a fellow manager who affected change with his substitutions and tactical decisions, the 20-minute collapse at the Toughsheet was actually a microcosm of a miserable last 12 months for all involved.
Furthermore, a half-full stadium smacked of apathy. A fanbase which was once fully bought into Brand Evatt had long been calling for a redesign. Most who turned out did so out of duty rather than hope, others out of a need to vent their frustration.
That things deteriorated to such an extent, and so quickly, was a sad note on which to end a four-and-a-half-year tenure that brought some genuinely exciting times.
From the white-knuckle ride to promotion in the last few months of 2020/21 to the Wembley triumph against Plymouth a couple of years later, the ‘golden’ age of Evatt offered a lot, and helped bring back a lost group of supporters to the fold.
Brand Evatt had once been worn as a badge of pride by most, if not all. Glossy Tifo videos on his transformation of Barrow-celona hyped things up early on, and once he had brought in Chris Markham to rectify some truly terrible early recruitment, the upward trajectory began.
Fans flooded back into the stadium after Covid and ate up the fact their club was regenerating. Crowds soared, commercial revenues did the same, and the football felt modern, even if it didn’t sit well with absolutely everyone.
The fact that Evatt never got a universal buy-in from the fans was always a point of contention. Never before had a Bolton manager defended his football philosophies so stoutly and the battle seemed to extend beyond the pitch, the stands and into the wilds of social media.
Criticism would be stored for future mention, receipts were kept, and even in the best runs – of Conor Bradley’s youthful energy, James Trafford’s eccentric brilliance or Dion Charles’s longest goal bursts, there would in the background lie some sense that he wanted to be proven right for sticking with his beliefs.
And for a long time the results backed up the argument, until they didn’t. Somewhere between the two play-off disappointments of Oakwell and Wembley, something altered in the team that was never rediscovered. Evatt regularly referenced whether his team looked like themselves but the longer the bouts of inconsistency continued, the tougher it was to differentiate who Bolton really were and what they stood for.
Things came to a head with the defeat against Oxford United. It had been suggested for some time that an increasing number of League One teams were ‘figuring out’ Wanderers’ expansive game and fewer teams were willing to take them on toe-to-toe. Des Buckingham’s team got their tactical approach spot on, aided by a team in white freezing on the occasion.
Evatt found it difficult to fathom. His players had performed spotlessly against Plymouth the year before and Wembley held no ghosts. For virtually his whole squad to wilt 90 minutes away from the Championship was a very hard pill for him to swallow given his investment in the people he brought to the club.
And so a summer of reconsideration began. Fans demanded change, though the clamour to see the manager gone was not as vociferous as it went on to become. Most demanded a more pragmatic tactical approach, one for all weathers and occasions. It was deemed by many that the football Bolton were attempting to play was too complicated, and beyond the quality of player at their disposal.
Evatt thought hard about his next move and did consider ending his time in charge right there but he was convinced to go again by the promise that he would get his biggest playing budget yet, and that he would have the scope to bring in players to offer him a wider tactical scope.
Unfortunately, the summer’s recruitment also proved haphazard and coupled with the ongoing injury issues that had eaten away at the squad since the turn of 2024, attempts to try out a new 3-4-3 system were bitty and largely unsuccessful.
New signings arrived late. Some, like Karamoko Dembele or Liam Cooper, didn’t arrive at all. Evatt had spent months looking for “solutions” to the issues his side had faced in the second half of the previous season but ended up with a lot more problems than he expected.
The shift towards a front three ended spectacularly with a 4-0 defeat at home to Huddersfield Town, after which sources close to the club claim Evatt did offer a resignation, only to have it turned down by the board.
Backing for the manager was based on cold logic – that the team remained within reach of the top six and had games in hand – but the loyalty was not blind. Well placed sources also claim Alex Neil was a name discussed as a potential successor, but he secured a move to Championship club Millwall.
Evatt abandoned the summer changes to shift back to 3-5-2 and improved results to the point where Wanderers bobbed briefly into the top six after a 4-1 win at Stevenage at the end of October. But when injuries came again, so did the same old questions about flexibility and mentality.
As the tensions rose, the ability to play the confidence-led style he preached became tougher with each passing game. Just as at Wembley, few put their hand up under pressure. And Evatt – who was ironically exactly the sort of combative soul in his playing days as he needed out on the pitch – had nowhere to turn.
He doubled down on the passing game knowing full well that the knives were out and that every mistake would be magnified beyond belief. It was too late to turn back.
So how ironic that on the night he lost his job, several players showed up and did what had been asked of them in possession. They looked, to coin Evatt’s phrase, more like themselves again.
Wanderers have lost their way defensively. Having leaned on Ricardo Santos for four-and-a-half years the big defender began to show cracks, both in his physical fitness and in the pressures of leading the team. Whilst the captaincy could be handed on to George Thomason, nobody could replicate the responsibilities given to him in this system, and the timing of injuries to Eoin Toal and Chris Forino left the manager asking too much.
Brand Evatt is not the only reason Bolton have failed this season. As with everything in football, the truth is more nuanced. But it is right to say that the novelty wore off.