2008–09 Bolton Wanderers F.C. season

Pre-season

Bolton signed Fabrice Muamba from relegated Birmingham City for £5m and broke the club transfer fee record to sign Johan Elmander from Toulouse FC for £8.2m in a deal which saw Daniel Braaten move the other way as a makeweight. Riga Mustapha and Danny Shittu were also signed for undisclosed figures. Both Iván Campo and Stelios Giannakopoulos did not have their contracts renewed, leading Campo to write a public letter to Bolton fans on a website, expressing his regret at not being able to say goodbye to them. He would later join Ipswich Town whilst Stelios joined Hull City. Andranik Teymourian also left on a free, joining Fulham, Abdoulaye Méïté joined recently promoted West Bromwich Albion for £2m and El Hadji Diouf made good his promise that he would leave the club by joining Sunderland for £2.6m.

Bolton kicked off their pre-season programme by drawing 0–0 at local rivals Rochdale. Their next pre-season friendly, away to Tranmere Rovers was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. A convincing 5–0 defeat of Doncaster Rovers by a mostly first team squad was followed the next day by a mostly reserve squad beating local team Chorley 2–0. Pre-season was completed by a mini-tour of Greece, drawing 1–1 against previous UEFA Cup opponents Aris Thessaloniki before losing to AEK Athens 1–0.

Elmander Muamba J.O'Brien

Riga

Premier League

Main article: 2008–09 Premier League

Bolton got off to a winning start in the league opener at the Reebok Stadium against newly promoted Stoke City on 16 August, Gretar Steinsson and Kevin Davies scoring before Johan Elmander scored a debut goal in a 3–1 victory.

A week later Bolton travelled to Newcastle United but left with a 1–0 defeat. This was followed four days later by a home 2–1 Carling Cup defeat to League One side Northampton Town, a result not helped by the sending off of Gary Cahill. Bolton's first goalless draw of the season followed when West Bromwich Albion visited The Reebok.

After an international break, Bolton returned to action by facing Fulham at Craven Cottage but performed poorly in another 2–1 defeat, Kevin Davies scoring late on. Davies scored again a week later when Arsenal visited the Reebok Stadium but it was not enough in a 3–1 defeat. A third consecutive defeat came at Premier League champions Manchester United, a converted penalty, given in controversial circumstances, one of the goals in a 2–0 defeat.

Bolton's second victory of the season came in the live game at West Ham on 4 October, Gary Cahill and a thirty five-yard free kick from Matthew Taylor adding to Kevin Davies' fourth goal of the season. A week later the local derby against Blackburn brought Bolton their second goalless draw.

The first reported murmurings of discontent amongst the fans against the manager followed a 2–0 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur in Harry Redknapp's first game in charge of the home team on 26 October. and the team were jeered off after a last minute goal consigned them to another defeat on 29 October, 1–0 at home to Everton.

The pressure was eased somewhat with a 2–0 derby victory over Manchester City on 2 November, a Richard Dunne own-goal adding to Ricardo Gardner's first league goal in six years. The match marked Jussi Jääskeläinen's 400th game for the club. A second successive win followed the week after, 1–0 away at Hull City and although a 2–0 followed at home to Liverpool, two more victories away at Middlesbrough and Sunderland brought the manager his first manager of the month award in the Premier League.

Winning the award seemed to have a detrimental effect on the team as two successive defeats followed to high flying Chelsea and Aston Villa. The club's only victory of the month, 2–1 at home to Portsmouth was followed by two more defeats, a Boxing Day loss away to Liverpool and two days later at home to local rivals Wigan Athletic.

The New Year commenced with an early FA Cup defeat away to Sunderland. A week later Bolton held out for 84 minutes before losing 1–0 away at Arsenal. Another conceded late goal at home to Manchester United, this time in the 90th minute, made it four losses in a row but the run halted in the next game, a 2–2 draw away at Blackburn Rovers, now managed by former Bolton manager Sam Allardyce, although Bolton had been two goals up with half an hour left. A similar fate almost befell the team in the next home game against Tottenham Hotspur, Darren Bent scoring twice in two minutes to cancel out early goals from Sébastien Puygrenier and Kevin Davies. However, a late Davies goal gave Bolton their first win in more than a month.

The January transfer window saw three new players arrive and one player leave. Kevin Nolan, the team captain for three years, was sold to Newcastle United for £4,000,000. Kevin Davies replaced him as captain. Mark Davies arrived from Wolves for £1,200,000 and two loan signings, Puygrenier and Ariza Makukula arrived from Zenit St. Petersburg and Benfica respectively.

Due to international fixtures and the club's early departure from the FA Cup, only two games were played in February, a 3–0 away defeat to Everton and a 2–1 victory over West Ham, Bolton completing a double over the London side. Kevin Davies' goal in this game gave him his best ever goal haul for the season in league games in the top flight. He would go on to score twice more and finished the season as the club's leading marksman.

March saw four points collected, through a 1–0 victory over Newcastle United and a 1–1 draw at West Bromwich. These results bookended two successive defeats, a 2–0 away defeat to Stoke City and a 3–1 reverse to Fulham.

In April, a 4–1 win over Middlesbrough at the Reebok Stadium at the very beginning of the month would prove to be Bolton's last victory of the season. The week after, a visit to Chelsea saw Bolton recover from four goals down to almost snatch a draw, an injury time shot by Gary Cahill being cleared off the Chelsea line. A 1–0 result at Portsmouth was then followed by four successive draws stretching into May, Aston Villa, Sunderland and Hull City taking points at the Reebok whilst a local derby at Wigan Athletic. The season finished with a 1–0 derby defeat at Manchester City

Matches

Results by matchday

K.Davies Elmander

Zamora

Bendtner Denílson

Rooney

Cahill Taylor

Bent

Dunne

Gerrard

Taylor Elmander

Cahill Elmander

Deco

K.Davies Young K.Davies

Gardner

Keane

McCarthy K.Davies

K.Davies

Jô

K.Davies

Fuller

S.Davies Kamara

Cahill Taylor Gardner

Drogba Lampard Basham Taylor

Table

FA Cup

Cissé

League Cup

Squad statistics

Statistics accurate as of match played 24 May 2009

Transfers

In

Out

Loan in

Loan out

Kit Profile

|{{Football kit |{{Football kit |}

References

References

1. [http://guillembalague.com/guestwriter_desp.php?id=5 An Open Letter To The Fans Of Bolton Wanderers by Ivan Campo]
2. (3 May 2008). "I am definitely leaving Bolton – Diouf". BBC Sport.
3. (29 September 2008). "Ref Styles admits penalty mistake". BBC Sport.
4. (26 October 2008}} {{Dead link). "The dream fixture that turned into a nightmare". The Bolton News.
5. Smith, Mason. (30 October 2008). "'Criminal' Bolton allow Fellaini to steal the spoils". Guardian Online.
6. (12 December 2008). "Megson Lands First Monthly Award". www.bwfc.co.uk.
7. (16 June 2008). "Bolton splash out £5m on Muamba". [[BBC Sport]].
8. (27 June 2008). "Elmander wanders to Bolton in reported £10m deal". The Guardian.
9. (28 July 2008). "Trotters strike Riga deal". [[Sky Sports]].
10. (6 August 2008). "Trotters complete Shittu deal". [[Sky Sports]].
11. (26 January 2009). "Davies joins Bolton from Wolves". [[BBC Sport]].
12. (15 August 2008). "Toronto FC Signs Young Striker Smith". [[The Sports Network]].
13. (17 May 2008). "Campo goes as Bolton release trio". [[BBC Sport]].
14. (17 May 2008). "Campo goes as Bolton release trio". [[BBC Sport]].
15. (17 May 2008). "Campo goes as Bolton release trio". [[BBC Sport]].
16. (27 June 2008). "Bolton sign £10m-rated Elmander". [[BBC Sport]].
17. (28 July 2008). "Diouf completes Sunderland switch". [[BBC Sport]].
18. (10 August 2008). "West Brom take Meite from Bolton". [[BBC Sport]].
19. (11 December 2008). "Keeper leaves Bolton". [[Sky Sports]].
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22. (12 February 2009). "Fojut heading home". [[Sky Sports]].
23. (29 August 2008). "Bolton seal Smolarek deal". SkySports.
24. (9 January 2009). "Defender Puygrenier joins Bolton". BBC Sport.
25. (16 January 2009). "Makukula secures Bolton loan move". BBC Sport.
26. (1 September 2008). "Dzemaili leaves Bolton for Torino". [[BBC Sport]].
27. (3 November 2008). "Birmingham sign Hunt in loan deal". [[BBC Sport]].
28. (30 December 2008). "Bolton end Hunt's Birmingham loan". [[BBC Sport]].
29. (13 November 2008). "Midfield duo tie up Wrexham loan". [[BBC Sport]].
30. (28 November 2008). "Helguson seals QPR move". [[Sky Sports]].