Last season: 7th, 56 points; FA Cup fourth round; Carling Cup fourth roundTransfers:
In: Gavin McCann (Aston Villa, £1m); Jlloyd Samuel (Aston Villa, free); Blerim Dzemaili (FC Zurich, free); Zoltan Harsanyi (FC Senec, undisc); Gerald Cid (Bordeaux, free); Heidar Helguson (Fulham, undisc); Adam Bogdan (Vasas, free); Danny Guthrie (Liverpool, loan); Christian Wilhelmsson (Nantes, loan); Daniel Braaten (Rosenborg, £500,000); Mikel Alonso (Real Sociedad, loan)
Out: Tal Ben Haim (Chelsea, free); Quinton Fortune, Henrik Pedersen, David Thompson (all released); Chris Howarth (Carlisle, free)
Official Website: http://www.bwfc.co.uk/
Official Kit:
How important is a manager to a team? When you think in the context of Bolton – EXTREMELY important – might be the answer. Sam Allardyce guided Bolton to four consecutive top 8 finishes and twice into Europe (UEFA Cup). He left near the end of last season to be replaced by his assistant Sammy Lee. Lee definitely has his hands full and faces a very tough act to follow.
Bolton have been renowned for their cheap bargain-basement purchases each season – except for the occasional star in Anelka. Allardyce also had a lot of old players building up the backbone of his squad (Ivan Campo, Stelios Giannakopoulos, Gary Speed). This year has seen the arrival of many young players. Their biggest loss when it comes to players is Israeli, Tal Ben Haim. The fact that he has gone to Chelsea and that Jose Mourinho showed a great amount of persistence to take him to Stamford Bridge shows just what a good piece of scouting he was.
Bolton have been renowned for their cheap bargain-basement purchases each season – except for the occasional star in Anelka. Allardyce also had a lot of old players building up the backbone of his squad (Ivan Campo, Stelios Giannakopoulos, Gary Speed). This year has seen the arrival of many young players. Their biggest loss when it comes to players is Israeli, Tal Ben Haim. The fact that he has gone to Chelsea and that Jose Mourinho showed a great amount of persistence to take him to Stamford Bridge shows just what a good piece of scouting he was.
The Trotters kick off, courtesy of Fate, with a match against Newcastle and the first return of Sam Allardyce and this followed by another 7 winnable games in a row, with the toughest test being a trip to Fratton Park to play Portsmouth.
October is considerably tougher with Chelsea and Aston Villa coming to the Reebok sandwiched around an away game at Arsenal.All three of their games in February are against UEFA Cup spot contenders in Reading (away), Portsmouth (home), and Blackburn (away). A home game with Liverpool comes the week after the match at Ewood Park, followed by a trip to Manchester to take on the defending champions.
3 of the last 4 games of the season are away, including games at Tottenham and Chelsea. Definitely not the end of the season games you want to face when you’re in contention for a European slot.
EPL08.com prediction:
League Position - 13
After four consecutive top 8 finishes under manager Sam Allardyce - the Trotters are going to find the going pretty tough this time around. A lot will depend upon Anelka - who might still leave before the transfer window shuts and even El-Hadji Diouf is keen on a move to Lyon. Kevin Nolan needs to stand up and deliver though I feel a player like him deserves to play in a top 4 squad.
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