Blackpool hero Ian Evatt delights in defying the doubters as he takes Bolton job
New Bolton Wanderers boss Ian Evatt says the doubters, including those who believed he wouldn’t make it as a Premier League player with Blackpool, have fuelled his successful start to management.
At 38, the Seasiders legend is relatively new to the management game but he already has a promotion on his CV, having guided Barrow to the National League title this season.
The former central defender made the move to Holker Street in 2018, after being snubbed for the Chesterfield job – the Spireites, where Evatt spent the last five years of his playing career after leaving Bloomfield Road in 2013, instead opted for the more experienced Martin Allen.
But it was such experiences, both as a player and as a manager, that have given the new Trotters boss the motivation to succeed.
Evatt told the Bolton News: “Chesterfield was different because they were already relegated out of the Football League and it was damage limitation more than anything else. But it gave me that thirst and appetite to be a manager.
“I have always seen myself as a manager, particularly in the last 10 years or so of my playing career.
“Sometimes negativity or someone saying, ‘No, you can’t do it that way’ inspires you. It definitely does for me. I have done it throughout my whole career.
“As a centre-half people said, ‘Is he quick enough? Is he good enough?’ But I won player of the year trophies in those seasons. It is what fires my belly.
“At Barrow, people told me that I couldn’t get promoted out of the National League playing that way. Again, yes we can. I put down a platform, started the process and achieved it.
“I see the same thing at Bolton. So much negativity has happened around this football club in recent times but again – to emphasise – it’s gone, it’s finished ... this is a fresh start.
“I will build the fanbase again. You have to be good people, first and foremost, if you are going to build that trust again. Only then will you get that buy-in from coming to the stadium, enjoying what you are seeing, being proud of the football club again.”