Bolton Wanderers boss Ian Evatt wants to forget about past achievements

WANDERERS boss Ian Evatt wants his players to forget about last season’s promotion as they prepare for life back in League One.

The Whites clinched automatic promotion following a superb run of form in the second half of the campaign.

And while Evatt is proud of his players’ efforts last term, he insists it all counts for nothing once the new season gets underway.

Speaking after last night’s win over Preston, he said: “For me, I’m pleased about Saturday (the draw at FC United) because it just reminds the players that we’re not going to let them get away with it.

“They can have all the credit in the world from last season, but last season has gone and when we kick a ball in League One, all the credit that they’ve achieved with the support and the fanbase, with me, and with everybody else is going to disappear pretty quickly because you get judged on the here and now and this season.

“Well done for last season, great, but no patting on the back - we’ve achieved that now and it’s time to achieve something different and if we play like that, we won’t achieve anything so we can’t accept that.

“We have to move forwards, be better, like we were tonight.”

The Whites ran out 1-0 winners over North End thanks to Gethin Jones’ second-half strike, and Evatt was delighted with his side’s performance.

“There isn’t any such thing as a friendly in my book, anyway. I want to win every game and so should they,” he added.

“When we don’t win, they get told and that’s what happened on Saturday. We can say what we want about pre-season friendlies, but they’re still games of football and when you’re on the pitch, you want to win.

“I thought the way we moved the ball, the way we caused them incredible amounts of problems with our full-backs going inside and making the extra midfield player, it kind of leaves their wing-backs isolated with no job really.

“We followed the instructions perfectly and the only disappointing thing is that we probably could have scored two or three in the first half.”

Now attention turns to Saturday as Wanderers continue their pre-season with a trip to Evatt’s former club Barrow.

The Bolton boss has fond memories from his time at Holker Street but isn’t losing sight of the job at hand.

“I’m looking forward to that,” said Evatt. “Obviously I had a fantastic time there. I think it’s a fantastic football club with a great fanbase, but I’m Bolton’s manager now and it’s another stage of our preparation and we want to go there and get the right result.”

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