History of Bolton Wanderers F.C.

[3] This time, however, Everton were disqualified for fielding two professional players who had been registered as amateurs,[4] and the match was awarded to Bolton, who then suffered a club record 9–1 defeat in the second round away to Preston North End.

[10] On 28 April 1923, Bolton won the cup at their third attempt to win their first major trophy, beating West Ham United 2–0 in the first ever Wembley final.

[11] Driven by long-term players Joe Smith in attack, Ted Vizard and Billy Butler on the wings, and Jimmy Seddon in defence, they became the most successful cup side of the 1920s, also winning in 1926 and 1929, beating Manchester City[12] and Portsmouth respectively.

[13] From 1935 to 1964, Bolton enjoyed an uninterrupted stay in the top flight – regarded by fans as a golden era – spearheaded in the 1950s by Nat Lofthouse.

[14] Remarkably, a number of these soldiers managed to carry on playing the game in these theatres of war, taking on as "British XI" various scratch teams assembled by, among others, King Faruk of Egypt in Cairo and Polish forces in Baghdad.

[14] On 9 March 1946, the club's home was the scene of the Burnden Park disaster, which at the time was the worst tragedy in British football history.

[17] Bolton have not won a major trophy since 1958, when two Lofthouse goals saw them overcome Manchester United in the FA Cup final in front of a 100,000 crowd at Wembley Stadium.

[19] Following relegation in 1980, Bolton signed former Manchester United European Cup-winning striker Brian Kidd from Everton for £110,000[20] as they prepared to challenge for a quick return to the First Division.

[19] By the end of the 1981–82 season, Bolton were no closer to promotion and had lost several key players including Peter Reid and Neil Whatmore.

There were then rumours that Brazilian legend Pelé would be appointed to take over from George Mulhall as manager, but the job went to John McGovern (a European Cup winner with Nottingham Forest) who became Bolton's first player-manager.

[19] The appointment of McGovern as manager, however, was not the turning point that everyone at Burnden Park had hoped it would be, and in 1983 Bolton were relegated to the Third Division after losing 4–1 at Charlton Athletic on the final day of the season.

In 1993, Bolton beat FA Cup holders Liverpool 2–0 in a third round replay at Anfield thanks to goals from John McGinlay and Andy Walker.

In 1994, Bolton beat FA Cup holders Arsenal 3–1 after extra time in a fourth round replay, and went on to reach the quarter-finals, bowing out 1–0 at home to local rivals (and then Premier League) Oldham Athletic.

[28] The arrivals of experienced international players Bobic and Youri Djorkaeff proved vital, as did the emergence of Kevin Nolan and Michael Ricketts.

[29] Despite suffering from a lack of consistency, Bolton ground out the results needed and secured survival in a final day 2–1 victory over Middlesbrough.

[19] However, the style that the media branded Bolton as playing during this time led them to be voted the seventh most-hated club in English football in a 2008 poll.

The new manager broke Bolton's record transfer fee with the signing of Johan Elmander from Toulouse on 27 June 2008, in a deal which cost the club a reported £8.2 million and saw Norwegian striker Daniel Braaten head in the opposite direction.

January saw former fan favourite Kevin Nolan leave the club to relegation bound Newcastle United in a £4 million deal, with Mark Davies and Sébastien Puygrenier the only positive signings coming in.

Over the summer, Megson signed Sean Davis, Lee Chung-yong, Zat Knight, Paul Robinson (on-loan from West Bromwich Albion) and Ivan Klasnić (on loan from Nantes).

[45] During the summer, Coyle bolstered the ranks by signing Martin Petrov and Robbie Blake on free deals from Manchester City and Burnley respectively.

[51] During the January transfer window, Coyle signed David Wheater from Middlesbrough for £2.3 million and Daniel Sturridge from Chelsea on loan until the end of the season.

In the summer of 2011, Coyle released several players, including Johan Elmander, Tamir Cohen, Joey O'Brien and Jlloyd Samuel,[56] as well as selling goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi to Wigan for a fee believed to be £4 million.

[58][59] Coyle signed Darren Pratley and Nigel Reo-Coker on free transfers,[60][61] Chris Eagles and Tyrone Mears from his former club Burnley for a joint fee in the region of £3 million[62] and Tuncay and Dedryck Boyata on loan from VfL Wolfsburg and Manchester City respectively.

[63][64] On transfer deadline day, Bolton completed the signing of David Ngog from Liverpool,[65] and the loan of Gaël Kakuta from Chelsea.

Bolton used some of this money to bring in defender Tim Ream from the New York Red Bulls and forward Marvin Sordell from Watford, as well as the loan of Japanese midfielder Ryo Miyaichi from Arsenal for the rest of the season.

On 17 March 2012, Coyle travelled to the London Chest Hospital with Fabrice Muamba who had suffered from a cardiac arrest while playing against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane in an FA Cup match.

In the aftermath of relegation, chairman Phil Gartside revealed the intention to cut the wage bill by half to ease financial concerns surrounding the club.

[71] Freedman's first game in charge was a 2–1 victory over Cardiff City at the Reebok Stadium, where goals by Martin Petrov and David Ngog secured the win.

Additionally, he brought in midfielders Medo Kamara on a permanent basis from Partizan and Steve De Ridder on loan from Southampton within his first transfer window as Bolton manager.