Opinion: It's Good to be a Bolton Wanderers Fan Again

Bolton fan: "It'll be fine going down. Trust me. We'll win more matches and we'll have some brilliant away days. Plus the players will be up against some right duffers".

A typical conversation, held as I left the Britannia Stadium back just after Owen Coyle’s Bolton Wanderers side had been relegated from the Premier League following a dour game against Stoke City.

Fast forward to 2016, and I think that my once-misplaced belief in the talents of our team has finally, at long last, come to sort of fruition. Granted, it's only October, but it's starting to feel really good to be a Bolton Wanderers fan again.

Since the arrival of Phil Parkinson and, to an extent, the Sports Shield regime, things have been on the up. We need to get rid of the vlogs, but that aside, it's been pretty much forward with every passing day.

Despite the insistence of nagging doubters, and despite the lull experienced in September, Wanderers find themselves riding high in the table, despite never scoring more than two goals per game since who knows when.

The Phil Parkinson approach, which was meant to favour pragmatism over style has seen its share of dullery, but at the same time I'm sure we'd all be content to sacrifice flair for victories especially after the strife of the last five years.

Signings have been coming thick and fast, and despite the disappointment of missing out on the likes of Leon Osman and Peter Odemwingie recently, to see the board backing their man with the possibility of bringing in such names it warms the heart and makes us think that the future is brighter together.

The development of Josh Vela and the continued progress of Zach Clough has meant that the progress of our younguns has continued apace, and I don't know about you but I would much rather see them drip-fed into the squad than dropped in from a great height as we saw with Neil Lennon.

Our upcoming winter period is busy but offers us, with recent form in mind, a real chance to get ourselves up that table even further and solidify our challenge for automatic promotion - and who wouldn't like to see a League One trophy raised at the Reebok by the end of the season?

So whilst this campaign still has plenty of time to run, we should all enjoy the moment.