Bolton Wanderers club stats
Wednesday, 23, May 2007 08:26
Facts
Formed: 1874
Home Ground: Reebok Stadium, capacity 28,723
Nickname: The Trotters.
People
Owner: Eddie Davies
Chairman: Phil Gartside
Chief executive: Allan Duckworth
Head coach: Sammy Lee
Assistant coach: Ricky Sbragia
Team captain: Kevin Nolan
History
Bolton were one of the twelve founding members of the Football League having been formed in 1874 by the Vicar of Christ Church Sunday School. If that unnamed man of the cloth had realised that his creation would one day turn out to be a stage for El-Hadji Diouf's antics he may have stuck to conventional religious indoctrination.
As it was, with the addition of Wanderers to their name in 1877, the team went on to prove one of the powerhouses of early FA Cups. Final appearances in 1894 and 1904 were followed by the first set of winners' medals in 1923. The old bus adage played out as two more Cups arrived in quick succession at Burnden Park in 1926 and 1929.
Nat Lofthouse played his first game for the club in 1941 and, after a brief wait while the evil of fascism was defeated, set about the much more important task of amassing 285 goals in 452 appearances. Two of those goals secured the Trotters their last major trophy and fourth FA Cup at the expense of Manchester United in 1958.
Then followed a gradual decline which reached its nadir with relegation to the Football League's bottom division in 1987. But if football flooded back into fashion in the aftermath of Italia 90, Bolton, like your dad's dodgy old flairs, bounced back as the unlikely symbol of its resurgence.
This storied, traditional outfit got a snazzy new sponsored stadium in the shape of the Reebok in 1997 and, after flitting back and forth between the top two tiers, have made the Premiership their home for the past six seasons.
Honours
Division One champions: 1 - 1997
FA Cup winners: 4 - 1923, 1926, 1929, 1958
Community Shield winners: 1 - 1958
Last Season
Premiership: 7th - P 38 W 16 D 8 L 14 GF 47 GA 52 GD -5 PTS 56
FA Cup: Fourth round - lost 3-1 (replay) to Arsenal
League Cup: Third round - lost 1-0 to Charlton Athletic
A fan's view of the 2006/07 season
Return to club news