Bolton Wanderers' January transfer windows listed, worst to best

Deadline Day has become a carnival of last-minute deals, ridiculous highs and lows, with business principles readily abandoned in favour of one last signing.

Roman Abramovic had just taken the reins at Chelsea when the first window opened in 2003, and he paved the way for what was to come by bringing in 13 new players at Stamford Bridge. Twenty years later, the same club is expected to confirm the British transfer record fee of Argentinian Enzo Fernandez, costing £107million from Benfica.

In total, the BBC estimate that £275m was spent on deadline day alone.

At Wanderers, January windows have rarely seen such spending extravagance – but that is not to say there have not been some incredibly wasteful deals, in hindsight.

Still a Premier League team in its infancy when the new transfer system kicked in, they along with Portsmouth are the only club to have experienced a January transfer window in all four divisions.

This season, Ian Evatt has brought in six new players – Manchester City defender Luke Mbete joining fellow loanees Dan Nlundulu (Southampton) and Shola Shoretire (Manchester United), and permanent captures Victor Adeboyejo, Cameron Jerome and Randel Williams.

It is hoped their arrival will give the manager enough quality and options to sustain a push for the play-offs and, potentially, compete at a Wembley final in the Papa Johns Trophy.

If they achieve all that, last transfer window may go down as one of the best in which Bolton have been involved. But, for now, judgement must be reserved.

We can, however, look back on previous January business, compare their success and failures, the sense of joy or disappointment felt when the window ‘slammed shut’.

What has been Wanderers’ best January window? And what must the current crop live up to?

20. 2016.

Starting in reverse order, that particular January window could not have come at a worse time.

Wanderers were in the midst of a sale – Dean Holdsworth’s Sports Shield group intent on buying from Eddie Davies, but a mysterious oil ‘billionaire’ Roger Tamraz had also announced he was coming to save the day. All the while, an unmotivated Neil Lennon was unable to add anything to his squad in the chaos.

Striker Shola Ameobi offered to play for nothing but EFL transfer regulations prevented Bolton from adding to their squad in any way.

19. 2012.

Selling Gary Cahill for just £8m will go down as one of the worst bits of business Wanderers have ever done. Struggling in the bottom three, Bolton brought in Tim Ream – who would prove a good buy in the end – but wasted money on the untested, and ultimately mistreated Marvin Sordell, alongside Japanese winger Ryo Miyaichi and young Scot, Greg Wylde.

There are many theories on the moment Bolton’s top flight dream ‘went wrong’ and this window would be a strong contender.

18. 2006.

Wanderers were looking forward to a UEFA Cup game at Marseille and were handily placed in the Premier League to book a second European tour. But it all rather got lost in the fog as Sam Allardyce was pursued for the England job and form went into a tailspin during the second half of the season.

The only January additions were Oscar Perez – a Spanish midfielder about which nothing was known, and is still a mystery to this day – and Matt Jansen, the one-time Crystal Palace prodigy who was trying to rebuild his career after a serious motor vehicle accident.

17. 2018.

Losing top scorer, and attacking lynchpin Gary Madine on the final day of the window looked to be a fatal blow, regardless of the £6million transfer fee.

Wanderers attempted to get bodies in – Tyler Walker, Jon Flanagan, Harry Charsley – and even brought back Zach Clough on loan from Nottingham Forest. But the impact made by the incoming players was negligible. Aaron Wilbraham famously earned a stay of execution on the final day but the club’s decline was already in motion.

16. 2020.

New Bolton management team of Keith Hill and David Flitcroft had been tasked with building a squad from scratch in 48 hours in the summer window. The following one wasn’t much calmer as in flooded Jacob Mellis, George Thomason, Ryan Delaney, Mo Faal, Toto Nsiala, Kean Bryan, Brandon Fleming, Anthony Georgiou and Ethan Hamilton.

Two months later the season was cut short for the pandemic. Only Thomason and Delaney played for the club again.

15. 2019.

Things were getting nasty at Bolton. Under-fire owner Ken Anderson had controversially reneged on a promise to Forest Green to buy Christian Doidge. The club brought in keeper Remi Matthews from Norwich City and Everton youngster Callum Connolly, but the writing was on the wall for all concerned.

14. 2004.

Underwhelming was probably the best way to put it. Wanderers were mid-table and brought in non-descript signings like Steve Howey, Donovan Ricketts, Javi Moreno, Jon Otsemobor and the ‘Guatemalan Beckham’ Dwight Pezzarossi. Impact was minimal.

13. 2007.

Big Sam was not happy that with Bolton riding high in fifth, the money was not made available to sign players to push for a Champions League spot. Names of the top talents he was apparently targeting at the time range from Samuel Eto’o to Sylvain Legwinski but, suffice it to day, Cesar Martin, David Thompson and Lubomir Michalik did not have the same ring.

12. 2009.

Kevin Nolan had been sold for £4m, Gary Megson had fallen out with the Bolton fans, but he was able to bring in mercurial midfielder Mark Davies to brighten the mood. Other arrivals that month included French beefcake defender Sebastien Puygrenier and Portuguese powerhouse Ariza Makakula, the latter achieving little other than pushing Nemanja Vidic to earn a booking against Manchester United.

11. 2015.

Neil Lennon got rather a raw deal in the transfer market but his first window was a real smorgasbord. He had already tempted Emile Heskey and Eidur Gudjohnsen in on a free but then scattered the loan net far and wide to land Rochinha, Saidy Janko, Ben Amos, Simeon Slavchev and Adam Le Fondre. Filip Twardzik was signed for £75,000, which for a few years would stand as the club’s last cash purchase. Then, to top off a mad deadline day, local lad Andy Kellett signed on loan for Manchester United.

10. 2014.

Dougie Freedman was rebuilding on a significantly lower budget at Bolton but came up with a couple of loan gems in the winter window of his first full season in charge.

Lukas Jutkiewicz proved a hit after signing from Middlesbrough, as did Aston Villa’s Alan Hutton in his short spell. Joe Mason returned for another stint from Cardiff and Liam Trotter was added from Millwall.

As for goalkeeper Arran Lee-Barrett, Yannick Bastos – the Luxembourg international winger - or midfielder Andy Robinson, who eventually returned homesick after moving from Southampton, the less said, the better.

9. 2005.

Wanderers, now at their Premier League pomp, needed only a few finishing touches to claim a first-ever European spot. And the signing of World Cup winning defender Vincent Candela from Roma proved a fine bit of business, the Frenchman going on to play nearly every game until the end of the season.

8. 2013.

Championship football had proved more difficult than Bolton had imagined but thanks to a flurry of January signings they very nearly made the play-offs under Dougie Freedman.

Big striker Craig Davies was brought in for £300,000 from Barnsley, Sierra Leone international Medo Kamara signed to bolster midfield and defender Craig Dawson loaned from West Brom added not only strength at the back, but an unexpected supply of goals.

Jan Gregus, Cian Bolger, Jacob Butterfield and Danny Butterfield completed a squad that went on a good run of form, up until that fateful last hurdle against Blackpool.

7. 2011.

It is sometimes forgotten that Owen Coyle’s Wanderers went into the New Year eighth in the table and pushing for Europe. The FA Cup run brightened what was an inconsistent end to the season, as did the two January recruits – defender David Wheater, added for £2.3m from Middlesbrough, and promising striker Daniel Sturridge, loaned from Chelsea.

Neither played a part at Wembley, as Bolton slumped against Stoke, and other factors contributed to the club’s decline, not least Stu Holden’s injury at Manchester United, but, in truth, this was the last window Coyle got 100 per cent right.

6. 2022.

We hardly need to introduce you to Dion Charles, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson, Kieran Sadlier, Kyle Dempsey, Aaron Morley, Marlon Fossey or James Trafford, last January’s recruits who helped turn a difficult return to League One into a much more positive affair, thanks to a strong run of post-January results.

5. 2017.

Phil Parkinson’s piece de resistance. We’re including Fil Morais, even though he theoretically had his deal confirmed the day after the window closed. His impact was undeniable, as was the addition of goal-poacher Adam Le Fondre, who effectively replaced homegrown hero Zach Clough, sold for £3m to Nottingham Forest.

Le Fondre’s second spell would prove his most successful, ending with promotion as League One runners-up to Sheffield United. Jeff King, Viv Solomon-Otaboor and Chris Long were also brought in to supplement a strong squad.

4. 2003.

There is a picture of three new Bolton signings from the first January window – and some supporters may be hard pressed to name even one of them. But it is not too far-fetched to say that had the man on the right, looking particularly nonplussed, not signed for Bolton, their golden Premier League era might have never happened.

Frenchman Florent Laville was brought in on loan from Lyon on the same day as countryman Pierre Yves-Andre and Spaniard Salva Ballesta. While the other two players played fringe roles, Laville commanded a regular centre-back spot alongside Gudni Bergsson which provided a backbone for the club’s survival effort.

Sadly, after signing permanently the following season, serious injury against Middlesbrough wrecked the defender’s career, and by 2007 he had retired.

3. 2010.

Wanderers were in the mire when Owen Coyle arrived to succeed Gary Megson – sacked in December after his relationship with the fans hit the point of no return.

Former Burnden favourite Coyle was the upbeat antithesis, and his first window added the energy to what proved a successful second half to the season, with the Whites avoiding relegation by some distance.

American Stu Holden had been on the verge of signing for Coyle at Burnley when he switched ends of Lancashire to join the new boss at Euxton. Unknown to most on his arrival, the midfielder became an instant favourite.

Likewise young Arsenal playmaker Jack Wilshere, tipped to be England’s future, he rattled straight into a challenge with Kevin Davies on his first day in training to show he meant business.

Manchester City winger Vladimir Weiss featured infrequently – but the window as a whole was a resounding success.

2. 2008.

No window in Bolton Wanderers’ history was more expensive than Gary Megson’s first as manager. But then investment was needed in a squad that had failed spectacularly to settle after a style makeover by Sammy Lee.

Gary Cahill, Gretar Steinsson, Matty Taylor, Tamir Cohen and Grzegorz Rasiak cost in the region of £17million between them – albeit money partially recouped by the sales of Nicolas Anelka, Gary Speed and Lubomir Michalik.

Fulham’s Great Escape under Roy Hodgson grabbed the headlines but Megson’s work in hauling Bolton away from the foot of the table was significant, despite the cash spent.

1. 2021.

When January came to a close, Bolton were 19th in League Two, just 10 points above the drop zone, and 10 behind the play-offs. Football finances had been shaken during the global pandemic, stadia were empty, impractical salary caps applied to the lower leagues, and Wanderers’ own recruitment was in a complete and utter mess.

Ian Evatt has built a squad virtually from scratch the previous summer with Tobias Phoenix, the club’s head of football operations. But it quickly became apparent that the arrangement was not working, and by the end of 2020, Phoenix was out, replaced by Chris Markham, who set about building his own analysis team.

Evatt – whose own title had changed from head coach to manager – brought in his own men - MJ Williams, Declan John, Zack Elbouzedi, Lukas Jensen, Marcus Maddison, Dapo Afolayan, Ben Jackson and Kieran Lee.

Results changed almost instantaneously and Bolton were able to recover an unprecedented amount of lost ground to grab automatic promotion on the final day of the season.