
Next Bolton Manager Odds: Five replacements for Ian Evatt

Bolton are on the hunt for a new manager for the first time since 2020 after the League One club sacked Ian Evatt following an underwhelming run of results.
Gab Sutton has analysed the next Bolton manager odds and picked out five suitors for the job.
Ian Evatt built a fantastic legacy at Bolton, winning promotion from League Two in his first season, securing a 9th-place finish in League One and achieving an EFL Trophy victory, before attaining successive top six finishes.
In that time, the former centre-back brought attractive football to the club for the first time in decades, and laid foundations for what looks like a bright new era for the Whites under Sharon Brittan’s leadership.
At the same time, it became clear, this season, that the hangover of May’s Play-Off Final no-show against Oxford, in which they had just five shots and failed to hit the target, was not going to be removed easily.
The football became stale, performances continued to drop off the level even further, as they’d shown signs of doing in the last third of the previous campaign, while relations between Evatt and the fanbase grew strained.
It reflects well on Brittan that she, and Football Ventures, were prepared to support their manager in difficult moments, that the preceding four years of linear progress counted for something, and it was the correct decision to give him a fair amount of time to turn performances around.
Increasingly, though, it felt as though the pressure was getting to Evatt, and that he needed the parting of company almost as much as the club did, while things were said to fans that would have been difficult to come back from.
As such, this highly successful era was coming to an end.
There are some great foundations, though, for a fresh face to come in and lift things again - but who?

1. Steven Schumacher
Steven Schumacher is the early favourite for the Bolton job, and it’s hard to argue with the Liverpudlian being the stand-out candidate.
The 40-year-old has overseen a similar rise to the one Wanderers have enjoyed, with Plymouth Argyle, going from a post-relegation campaign in League Two to a League One promotion race within three years.
In “Schuey’s” case, initially he was assistant to Ryan Lowe, who left for Preston North End in November 2021, before leading them as number one to an 80-point haul that season, albeit not enough somehow for the Play-Offs, then a 101-point title-winning campaign the following season.
Plus, Schumacher kept Argyle competitive in the Championship before he left for Stoke, whereas the likes of Ian Foster and Wayne Rooney got nowhere near that kind of form.
So, this is undoubtedly somebody who can get results, demonstrating the ability to coach clear patterns of play and good football, whilst also showing a level of adaptability to make his side effective.
For instance, Argyle enjoyed their journey up the leagues playing a back-three, yet for the Championship, Schumacher flipped to a back-four.
This wasn’t even a case of adapting to problems, as fans have often wanted the predecessor to do more of, but anticipating and pre-empting them with solutions.
Logistically a smooth fit, too, given Schumacher’s roots in the north-west, the former midfielder is very much the stand-out candidate.
2. Des Buckingham
Des Buckingham has the biggest coaching profile of all the potential candidates, having enjoyed success at Melbourne City, Mumbai City, and Oxford United, across a 22-year career.
As Bolton fans found out to their cost in May’s Play-Off Final, the 39-year-old has the adaptability to tailor his game plans to combat the opposition, something not always associated with people whose primary background is in developing players.
So, perhaps with Buckingham, Wanderers could have the best of both worlds.
The former New Zealand caretaker boss lost his job at the Kassam Stadium this season, over a run of one win in 17, after a bright start of three victories in five, and probably made a mistake in not giving himself a holiday in the summer to rest and reset ahead of the challenge of working in the Championship for the first time.
Now he has had the chance to recuperate, he could be ready to bring an even better, even more wizened version of himself to the Trotters.
3. Dean Holden
Dean Holden has enjoyed a respectable first decade of his coaching career, having been assistant in the Championship to Lee Johnson at Bristol City for four years and, more briefly, Michael O’Neill at Stoke, before working alongside Steven Gerrard at Al-Ettifaq.
The 45-year-old is yet to find quite the right fit as a number one, but arguably deserved more time at Ashton Gate, where his win ratio was as high as 49% with an injury crisis that once extended to 15 absentees, and at Charlton, where he delivered top half form with a side that had been languishing in 18th.
In both those jobs, Holden has shown he can deliver competitive results, without really getting the time to build on the platform he built in either case with more of a settled team.
The Swinton-born boss has his stylistic north star, but is also realistic enough to know the challenges right in front of him and what’s required to be effective in the here-and-now.
Plus, Holden creates a great environment everywhere he works, and fosters a willingness in people to learn and improve every day.
4. Richie Wellens
Speaking about Bolton’s resources in 2023, Richie Wellens said he would win the league with that squad - he may get the chance to deliver on those words.
The Mancunian’s teams play good football, but they also have an efficiency about them, and aren’t afraid to play longer when circumstances dictate.
A charismatic, outspoken character with a feisty side, Wellens is an easy crowd-pleaser. Still, he also has a great track record, especially in League Two, where he’s won titles with Swindon and Leyton Orient. He’s also now demonstrating his abilities in League One with the O’s, having previously struggled at the level with scant resources, at Doncaster, and Oldham to a lesser degree.
The East Londoners managed a top half finish in their first season up in 2023-24, and now find themselves just outside the top six thanks to an excellent run of form.
5. Jon Brady
Jon Brady’s impact as caretaker manager at Northampton, in the second half of the 2020-21 campaign might not have been enough to avert relegation, but it had been positive - and set the tone for what was achieved in the following seasons.
The Aussie led the Cobblers to successive promotion challenges, initially missing out on the final day due to a goal difference quirk through Bristol Rovers thrashing already-relegated Scunthorpe 7-0 – before missing out in a Play-Off Semi-Final defeat to Mansfield - but going one better the following season.
In 2022-23, Teyn suffered a spate of injuries in the second half of the campaign, typically without 10-15 players at a time, which really stretched Brady’s adaptability and problem-solving qualities, and they found a way.
Plus, whereas the nearly-men of 2021-22 were a solid, set piece side that won 1-0 or 2-0 in 12 of their 46 games, the 2022-23 promotion-winning side were more of a footballing outfit, with classy playmaker Marc Leonard loving his time at Sixfields on loan from Brighton - to the point that he pushed to return for League One.
As such, the Cobblers achieved a safe, midtable finish - they already had 40 of the required 50 points for survival by this exact stage of last season, and ended up as high as 14th on one of the lowest budgets.
So, this is a manager who’s consistently outperformed expectations throughout his career to date and has proven himself able to overcome any obstacles in order to deliver results, and many other managers in the industry greatly admire his out-of-possession work.
If Brady could find a specialist in-possession coach to add to his team in his next job, ideally somebody with an elite background in individual player development, then he could be part of an extremely successful management team at this level.
League One Promotion Odds

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