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Project Championship is already well underway at Wanderers – and Ian Evatt knows he is expected to deliver.
After an encouraging first year back in League One, the Bolton boss appreciates the bar will be set higher when his team return to competitive action at the end of July.
Behind the scenes, Evatt is confident that owners, Football Ventures, are putting in place a business structure which could cope with football in the second tier.
But on the pitch, he knows there will be less margin for error as Wanderers look to climb another step up the league ladder.
“We are never again going to be a club that spends more than anyone else but I think we can be smart and strategic with the way we do things,” he told The Bolton News.
“I understand the size of the club, I understand the history, I’m very respectful of that and there’s always going to be an expectancy here, there’s no doubt about it.
“But I’m pleased with where we’re heading and how we’re getting there. I understand that my job is to get to this club back to where it belongs and there’s only so much leeway that the supporters will give me.
“We wanted to get there right away but next season I think everyone is going to be looking at us and expect us to be in that top six, myself included, so bring it on. I enjoy pressure, I think I work best under pressure so let’s do it.”
Evatt has said repeatedly that he is under no pressure to sell his best players this summer but speculation continues to circulate over winger Dapo Afolayan – reportedly a target for Scottish side Rangers, among others.
He has also set out an ambitious shortlist of players to give his squad the boost he feels is required to improve upon last season’s ninth-place finish.
Evatt knows he will not have the biggest budget in the division. But the Bolton boss trusts the promises which have been given by Football Ventures.
“They don’t need to provide me with any evidence apart from their word, because anything I’ve ever asked for, they’ve given me,” he ssaid. “I’m never going to be the manager that asks for the highest budget, I’m never going to be the manager that gets dictated to or dominated by budgets, because you can recruit to any budget.
“It is just about me doing the best job that I can do for Bolton Wanderers and it makes it look a lot smarter as a football club if we’re spending seventh, eighth, ninth in the division and end up getting promoted because it means what we’ve done is better than people that have spent more money than us.
“If football was a world where you spend the most money, you win, then it would be a different conversation, but fortunately it’s not that.
“I think the position the board and Sharon have got this club in a short space of time is miraculous and outside of Bolton, not in Bolton, is underappreciated, I really do.
“Everything that I’ve ever asked for, they’ve given me and I can’t ever see things being any different.
“Sharon (Brittan) is amazing as an owner, the board of directors have done nothing but support me and as I know, everyone is highly ambitious and wants to get this club back to where it belongs.
“That’s the legacy that we want to leave so we’ll do everything we can within our means to make sure that happens.”
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