IAN Evatt wants Wanderers to finish the season on a winning note this weekend to reward fans for their support this season.
Around 16,000 are currently expected for the Saturday lunchtime game, which will bring down the curtain on a campaign of highs and lows for the Whites.
Evatt is frustrated that his side did not achieve their top six target but takes some consolation from the fact 73 points – which is what they would achieve with a win against Fleetwood – would have been enough for a play-off spot in three of the last four completed seasons.
And he wants to make sure that the lap of appreciation planned for after the game is one that also celebrates how far the club has come since promotion from League Two.
“I want to say a massive thank you for an unbelievable support this season, one more to go and we hope we can finish on a high, but I think we’re really proud of the connection that we’ve rebuilt with our supporters and fanbase,” he said.
“I think they are really proud of their team and we are really proud of them.
“Three or four years ago it was the complete opposite to that so we must remember how far we’ve come.
“The lap after the game will be so much better with a win and I think that’s the message to the players, really, for the player of the year do, the lap of honour after the game, the entire summer, I don’t want to go away with a bitter taste in my mouth."
Fleetwood know they will stay in League One if they can match Gillingham's result against Rotherham United.
Evatt's ex-Blackpool team-mate Stephen Crainey will be in the opposite dugout but the Bolton boss has left his players in no doubt as to their obligations.
“I certainly do not want to watch another team celebrating on my football pitch. It’s as simple as that and I just don’t want to see it.
“We have to make sure that doesn’t happen on Saturday and if it happens because Gillingham haven’t done their job but we’ve done ours then that’s different to if we don’t do our job and win the game.
“The last thing that I want to see is anybody celebrating in our stadium this weekend, the only people that should be celebrating in our stadium is us and hopefully that’s the same next season.”
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