THERE is a tendency in this game to hold managers to account for every syllable and sentence uttered, as if they are issuing a testimony in court.

In this world of social media soundbites, the context of the conversation is very often lost.

Not to drag up some old scenarios, but the classic in recent years was Ian Evatt’s ‘man up’ comment, which occurred during a lengthy conversation about goalkeeper Billy Crellin’s form after a game against Cambridge United.

Looking back, it is bizarre to think that those two words sparked such a national debate. Within 48 hours of talking about a young player needing to adapt quickly to first team football we were plunged into radio phone-ins of BBC Five Live about mental well-being and all sorts of other accusations.

It was a harsh lesson that if you clip a piece of audio the right way, you can spin it any way you like.

I had to chuckle when Joey Barton used the same phrase as part of a verbal attack on one of his own Bristol Rovers players last October. Then again, it was a drop in the proverbial ocean where that bloke is concerned.

Another one that has followed Bolton around is “best team in the league” – a phrase not only used by the manager but also by his players on a few occasions. Again, the context is ignored, and in each case the statement was proceeded by a “in my opinion” or an “I think that” but I suppose the adage about printing the legend applies.

As I have noted on many occasions, the self-confidence which runs through Evatt and the team he has created is both their greatest strength and their biggest weakness. There are times when they look unstoppable, and other times, like the play-off final, where one mishap sends the whole thing crashing to the ground. The argument about stronger mentality, or lack thereof, is another column in itself.

One interview I wish I could strike from the record, however, happened last July in a conversation about the relative strength of League One compared with the year before.

The manager made a fair point about divisions moving in cycles, and that the lack of significantly larger budgets like those spent at Sheffield Wednesday and Ipswich Town the year before could play in Bolton’s favour. He did, in fact, describe the division as “slightly weaker” and if I owned a time machine, I’d not only steal Barry Knight’s cards and whistle from that night at Portman Road, I’d also have stricken that comment from the record. I honestly think it sowed a seed of entitlement around the fanbase.

The same topics were revisited in April, when the chances of Wanderers catching Derby and Portsmouth were looking remote. Evatt stressed the importance of getting into the Championship via the play-offs, if necessary, adding: “We have to get there no matter what. As I have said before, this league seems to go in waves and the next season’s division seems to have the capability of being stronger than it has been this season, I think we can all see that with the teams that are coming up and those coming down.”

Next year’s League One sees Rotherham United, Birmingham City and Huddersfield Town enter from the Championship and Wrexham, Stockport County, Mansfield and Crawley enter from League Two.

You can also anticipate improvement from the likes of Charlton, Barnsley, Peterborough and Lincoln, who finished last year well, but I’d question the wiseness of building this opposition up too much.

Rather, Wanderers have to make sure their house is in order. The odds are against them – only a quarter of clubs who have lost a play-off final manage to get rid of the hangover and get promotion the following year. And I don’t need to remind the manager or his players that emotions are still raw among the fans.

Bolton have been knocked off their perch, but then Evatt and his team have always functioned better when people are writing them off. The whole ‘best team in the league’ thing never really suited them, anyway.

We will learn a lot more about the man in charge of the team this summer, and how he operates under pressure. There are some fundamental issues to address in the squad and it is quite apparent that the club is tightening its belt, financially, after missing out on promotion. That is only to be expected.

The biggest danger to Wanderers next season is not the supposedly bigger budgets they will face it is the demons they face in their own dressing room. How many of those players can push past what happened at Wembley and rediscover the form they showed in the first half of last season before the injuries kicked in?

Can Evatt recognise the weak links and can this club’s increasingly complex approach to recruitment unearth players who will not only fit the style of football they are being asked to play but also those which will cope with the mental pressures of unforgiving league of extremes.

Can we finally create a team that can deal with a wet Tuesday night at Stevenage and then go toe-to-toe at home to Birmingham in a more technical and expansive game?

Or will we be left looking back over our shoulder at Wembley with regret?