Bolton Wanderers Best Buds with Bad Starts

We are currently bottom of the Championship. This is not fake news. Seven games in and we remain winless, drawing twice and losing four games.

It’s the start that some people expected, but even the happy clappers are starting to get restless. It’s a bit early for that, if you ask me (I appreciate you didn’t ask me) but people are entitled to their opinion aren’t they? Probably.

The trouble is, that a terrible start to the season is nothing new. In recent years we’ve made a terrible start our very own early season tradition. Let’s join hands and have a look at some of those:

2013-14

Bolton, under the management of Dougie Freedman, were in their second consecutive Championship season having failed by a hair to make the Play Offs the year before. It was with a sense of great excitement that we headed into the new season hoping to improve on our near-miss.

The signs were there as we failed to win a single pre-season game, losing to Rotherham United, Carlisle United and Real Betis, and only drawing with Shrewsbury Town.

To look at our squad and compare to now, it’s baffling, but we went into the season with things teetering on heading towards oblivion, and we soon went headfirst in that direction.

• 3 August 2013 Burnley 1 – 1 Bolton Wanderers
• 10 August 2013 Bolton Wanderers 1 – 1 Reading
• 17 August 2013 Nottingham Forest 3 – 0 Bolton Wanderers
• 24 August 2013 Bolton Wanderers 0 – 1 QPR
• 31 August 2013 Blackburn Rovers 4 – 1 Bolton Wanderers
• 14 September 2013 Bolton Wanderers 0 – 1 Leeds United
• 17 September 2013 Bolton Wanderers 2 – 2 Derby County
• 21 September 2013 Brighton 3 – 1 Bolton Wanderers
• 28 September 2013 Bolton Wanderers 1 – 1 Yeovil Town
• 1 October 2013 Blackpool 0 – 0 Bolton Wanderers

Games til our first win - 10.

Not good. Our first win came in a 2-1 away win against Birmingham City on 12th October. Wanderers would go on to finish 14th as we slid towards the big Sarlacc pit known as League One.

2014-15

Still in the Championship, Wanderers fans headed into the new campaign with failing trust in manager Dougie Freedman. Things would soon go as we all expected:

• 9 August 2014 Watford 3 – 0 Bolton Wanderers
• 16 August 2014 Bolton Wanderers 2 – 2 Nottingham Forest
• 19 August 2014 Bolton Wanderers 1 – 2 Middlesbrough
• 23 August 2014 Brighton 2 – 1 Bolton Wanderers
• 30 August 2014 Leeds United 1 – 0 Bolton Wanderers
• 13 September 2014 Bolton Wanderers 0 – 0 Sheffield Wednesday

Games til our first win - 6.

Despite earning a win in the 7th game, beating Rotherham United 3-2 at home, we would then lose the next four on the spin. Neil Lennon came in after Freedman was sacked and managed to keep us up - it would be his best achievement at the club.

2015 - 16

With Eddie Davies turning off the tap, Wanderers were operating with one hand behind their back. Things were getting grim off the pitch, and even worse on it:

• 8 August 2015 Bolton Wanderers 0–0 Derby County
• 15 August 2015 Middlesbrough 3–0 Bolton Wanderers
• 18 August 2015 Milton Keynes Dons 1–0 Bolton Wanderers
• 22 August 2015 Bolton Wanderers 1–1 Nottingham Forest
• 28 August 2015 Blackburn Rovers 0–0 Bolton Wanderers
• 12 September 2015 Bolton Wanderers 2–1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
• 15 September 2015 Bolton Wanderers 0–0 Sheffield Wednesday
• 19 September 2015 Huddersfield Town 4–1 Bolton Wanderers
• 26 September 2015 Bolton Wanderers 2–2 Brighton & Hove Albion
• 3 October 2015 Queens Park Rangers 4-3 Bolton Wanderers
• 17 October 2015 Burnley 2–0 Bolton Wanderers
• 20 October 2015 Bolton Wanderers 0–1 Birmingham City
• 24 October 2015 Bolton Wanderers 1–1 Leeds United
• 31 October 2015 Preston North End 0–0 Bolton Wanderers
• 31 October 2015 Ipswich Town 2–0 Bolton Wanderers
• 7 November 2015 Bolton Wanderers 0–0 Bristol City
• 21 November 2015 Reading 2–1 Bolton Wanderers
• 30 November 2015 Bolton Wanderers 1–1 Brentford
• 5 December 2015 Bolton Wanderers 2–3 Cardiff City
• 12 December 2015 Hull City 1–0 Bolton Wanderers
• 19 December 2015 Bolton Wanderers 2–2 Fulham
• 26 December 2015 Rotherham United 4–0 Bolton Wanderers

Games til our first win - 6.

It would take six games to earn our first win. It would take another 18 games to win another one in what was the worst season in living memory.

Neil Lennon lasted until February before he was potted by Dean Holdsworth and Wanderers went down to League One.

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So what does this mean for Phil Parkinson? It means that we’ve crossed the six-game threshold that two of his predecessors managed to overcome. However, we have a much poorer squad on paper than either Freedman or Lennon.

What he has on his side is the fans. Someone that neither Lennon or Dougie could call upon. That is what will save his hide.

Do you think we’ll stay up? Let us know in the comments below.