Bolton Wanderers boss Ian Evatt passes 200-game milestone at Plymouth

It began in testing times, his first game in caretaker charge of a Chesterfield team already destined for the National League ending in a 2-1 defeat. It was good news for Wanderers, however, albeit Wycombe, who were promoted to League One as a result.

Despite local support willing him to succeed Jack Lester full-time, he was passed over for the job. And it was only four months later that ‘Brand Evatt’ took its first tentative steps, 150 miles north-west, in Barrow.

Dion Charles’ goal against Aston Villa in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night was the 300th scored by an Evatt team and provided Ricardo Santos wears the captain’s armband at Home Park, he will succeed Joel Dixon as the player who has been picked on the most occasions.

Given he has achieved promotion in two of his three full seasons on the touchline, it is not surprising that his points-per-game record is a healthy 1.6 – but as Evatt freely admits, the harder times have helped him enjoy his current bliss at Bolton all the more.

“I think back and being a caretaker at Chesterfield for those three games was tough,” he told The Bolton News. “The club was already relegated out of the Football League and it wasn’t a nice time, they were really struggling.

“But I do think, looking back, that it helped give me that appetite to carry on.

“I was stood there on the TV last night, speaking to the lads Kev (Nolan) and Emile (Heskey) about my first game in charge of Barrow against Havant and Waterlooville – and I was getting ready to face Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa who have got £260million worth of players on the team-sheet.

“Yeah, it has been a journey of highs and lows, I think you can say that.”

It could be argued that one of the real lows of his two years at Bolton happened on the very stadium he will visit on Saturday.

Last season’s 3-0 defeat in farcically wet October conditions at Home Park was made infamous by the fall-out which followed, as a rumoured bust-up with former captain Antoni Sarcevic led to the midfielder being booted out ahead of schedule to (then) non-league Stockport County on a free transfer.

Details remain sketchy – but Evatt recovered from a night he simply termed “difficult and complicated” to reshape his squad the following January and finish a respectable ninth in League One.

“I think it is easier to think about the highs,” he said. “And for me, that is just being the manager of this football club and working for Sharon [Brittan] and the board, and then connecting and having a great relationship with our fans, the rest of the club and you guys [the media] as well. It is a pleasure every day.

"I used to travel to Blackpool some days and drive past this stadium and it always caught my eye. Even now driving to Lostock every day, when I drive past it, I get goosebumps. I still get that feeling, immense pride of being the manager of this football club, and hopefully I can get this club back to where we believe it belongs.”

Regardless of his success at Bolton, or the praise often lavished on his style of football, Evatt is acutely aware that universal popularity – even within his own fanbase – is almost unobtainable.

For some, his fallibility is part of the charm. For others, his forthrightness is an issue.

Even if he were to manage another 2,000 games it seems unlikely he would shed completely the dogmatic streak which so often rubs opposing fans up the wrong way.

He has managed to pick his battles more wisely in recent months, however, and would offer some sage advice to the younger man who first took charge at Chesterfield.

“I think I have developed, evolved, even in my time here at Bolton,” he said. “Sometimes I have to be careful of what I say, I have learned that.

“As I have said before, I don’t mean to offend anyone. I am speaking to you guys and our fans – nobody else. But, really, it is a case of tempering some enthusiasm, sometimes.

“I just think I am a better manager than when I was when I first took over here and definitely when I started. I am always learning.

“I even learned last night [against Villa] about the levels required and what we can do to counteract these teams.

“Speaking to some of their staff after the game, they were very complementary about what we are trying to do and the balls it takes to play this way, even against teams like that.

“That is great when you hear those things and it kind of says to us that we are on the right tracks.

“I do believe that I work so hard, the rest of my staff do as well. I think in life in general, you get out of anything what you put into it.”

The sense of occasion on Tuesday night was undeniable, from the omnipresent Sky Sports cameras, personal security guards and pre-match interviews, to the welcome appearance of feta and olives in the press room.

Though the Premier League has itself evolved since Bolton were last at that level, many fans can still recall the fireworks, glitz and glamour associated with membership to the richest league in the world.

Evatt has made no secret of his desire to lead Wanderers back to the top table. And the Carabao Cup game made him hungry for more nights where the nation’s attention is lavished on the Whites, for the right reasons.

“It is completely different,” he said of the atmosphere against Villa. “It is almost like every game is an event. And it was great.

“I am not going to deny it or hide the fact that is where I want to be, and that is where I want us to be together, because I love it. I love not just the fact that it is an event, and it is on such a huge scale, but it is the technical and tactical battle.

“These games are so technical and it is great speaking to their staff after the game about how we surprised them with how high we pressed and how many we pressed with. They found it difficult and struggled to find solutions, and it is great to hear. That is what you want to hear.

“And vice versa, they caused us problems as well as how we rectify those, it is a great learning curve. It definitely whet my appetite to get there.”