Bolton Wanderers boss says Birmingham City are 'an outlier'

Peterborough United visit the Toughsheet Stadium on Saturday, with Stockport County, Blackpool and Rotherham United to come in November, all teams likely to test the manager’s belief that his side are now returning to the standards they set in their top two chase last season.

Evatt argues that Birmingham’s spending power places them in a category of their own but he accepts that bigger judgements are just around the corner.

“That’s fair,” he told The Bolton News. “I don’t think we should be compared with Birmingham, they are an outlier and on their own. I don’t think it’s a direct comparison.

“Certainly, some of the other teams we are coming up against are ones we should be compared to.

“I’d like a fully fit squad to choose from, it would make things a little easier, but we are where we are, we have to find ways to suit the personnel available.”

Relegated from the Championship last season, Birmingham City have found themselves playing third-tier football for the first time since 1995, when they went up as champions with Steve Claridge scoring 20 league goals.

The expectation for them to follow suit has been heightened by an unprecedented spending spree on more than a dozen permanent and four loan deals, including £11million on Fulham striker Jay Stansfield, which made him the most expensive player ever purchased at this level of football.

Backed by US investors which include NFL legend Tom Brady, and managed by ex-Celtic, Tottenham and Leicester City coach Chris Davies, the Blues have surfed that wave of headlines to make an excellent start, beaten only once in their first two games.

“I am not going to sit here and whinge about spending because if I was Chris, I’d be delighted,” Evatt said.

“That comes with its own pressure. They spent more on one player than out entire budget. That shows the difference and where the comparisons should stop.

“We are in the same division and if it was as easy as who spends the most money wins then football would be pretty boring. They have started well, I don’t envy them in any way, it’s part of the game. Spending brings its own challenges, and I am sure Chris would explain that himself.

“They have lots of talented players and like to play in a style which is better suited to the higher echelons of football and I think we’d like to think we’re in that category as well, so I think it would be a good game. I am looking forward to the experience.

“It’s almost back home for me. I haven’t smelled the West Midlands air for a while so it will be nice to get back there and do the best we can. I have some decent memories there as a player so fingers crossed we can go and perform well, show what we are about.”

Ian Evatt spoke to the local media, pictured with BBC Radio Manchester's Jack Dearden (Image: CameraSport - Lee Parker) Evatt also accepts that his opposite number is not the only one pressured by a big budget.

Wanderers have supplied spending power to enable him to bring in some sizeable purchases during 2024 including Aaron Collins, Szabolcs Schön and John McAtee, giving him the biggest budget he has had in four seasons.

“There is always exterior pressure at this football club, no doubt about that,” Evatt said. “And there is pressure from everywhere but believe me when I say nobody puts more on me, than me.

“I want to be as good as I possibly can be. I want to get to the top of the game. I want to work hard to make that happen.

“I am still learning, no denying that, but I am willing to learn. You have to be willing to learn in this game because if you stand still you get found out and we are constantly having to move and evolve, getting better.

“The sticky starts and tough results, moments where you feel the world is against you really makes you stronger and gives you clarity of thought on what we’re doing, why we are doing it.

“We have to believe in what we are doing. I am a strong personality and I believe in what we are doing, it’s my job to make the fans and the players believe, improve things.

“I think we are getting better and there is more to come, I think we can show that in the coming weeks, especially when we get people back firing and available.”

Wanderers have won four of their last five games to recover what had been a poor start, although Evatt disagrees with the statement that his team is still playing ‘within themselves’ at the moment.

“I think it is a bit harsh, what I would probably say is that there is more to come,” he added.

“We are not firing on all cylinders but I don’t expect us to be necessarily right now.

“Given what went on earlier in the season and how difficult that start was, the difficulty of managing the environment and the situation we are not a million miles away from where we want to be. I think if we win our extra game we’re three points off the top two, which isn’t bad considering everyone thought it was a disaster at the start.

“We have started to pick ourselves up and get results. There are games where we have won and played well, Northampton was a great example, so was Reading, and look what they have done since. But we have also found different ways to win.

“Parts of Saturday were really good, first 20 minutes, so was the first 20 minutes of the second half. In-between it wasn’t so good but I do think there is more to come.

“We are trying o adapt. What has been labelled at us is that we are very one-dimensional and don’t win games in different ways but we are trying to do that. We always want to be possession dominant and we always want to be aggressive without the ball but there are different ways to achieve that.

“We are trying to find ways whilst also being in the middle of having some key injuries, which is our way as well. We always seem to have a big injury list and we are trying to figure out why and to make that better.”

On Saturday Evatt suddenly found his plans turned upside down by the loss of captain George Thomason to injury, and both Nathan Baxter and Eoin Toal also being declared unavailable.

The absences led to a rather unconvincing victory against the league’s bottom club Burton Albion but Evatt is hopeful that his next line-ups against Birmingham and Peterborough will make for a more even performance.

“I have to say, it’s my job, it’s what I am paid to do, but it isn’t easy to balance that team,” he said. “It was quite a challenge and we were quite lop-sided.

“Randell Williams was playing more aggressively on that right side inverted, which is something we haven’t done much, John McAtee was number eight, which we haven’t done a lot.

“It was aggressive, it was lop-sided but it was what was needed for that game. Hopefully with bodies coming back we can be a bit more balanced now and have a better plan suited to what we want to do for the coming week.”