Bolton Wanderers are a professional football club who currently play in League One, the third tier of English football.

They were founded as Christ Church Football Club in 1874 and adopted their current name in 1877. They were also founding members of the Football League in 1888.

Nicknamed the Trotters, the club have won the FA Cup four times, but their last trip to the final was back in 1958.

The majority of the football club’s early history was spent at the top end of English football. But their star waned in the mid 1960s, 70s and 80s, before rising from Division Three to the Premier League in the 1990s.

Bolton were an ever-present in the Premier League for 11 seasons before falling out of the division in 2012/13, and they are yet to return.

They sank to their joint-lowest league position ever in 2020/21 when finishing third in the League Two, the fourth tier of English football.

Bolton Wanderers early history

West Ham v Bolton FA Cup final in 1923

In 1894, Bolton Wanderers reached their first ever FA Cup final, but they lost 4-1 to Notts County at Goodison Park.

In 1904, Bolton Wanderers once again made it to the final of the prestigious knockout competition. On this occasion, they were beaten 1-0 by Manchester City.

In the period leading up to the First World War, as well as immediately afterwards, Bolton Wanderers enjoyed a golden era. In 1920/21 and 1924/25, the team finished in third place in the top flight. In the latter of those two seasons, they finished only three points off the title. This was during the era of two points for a victory, as opposed to three in the modern era.

On 28 April 1923, Bolton Wanderers took part in the first ever Wembley Stadium FA Cup final, where they came up against West Ham United in a final which is known today as “The White Horse final”. The match was played in front of over 127,000 spectators as Bolton Wanderers won 2-0 to pick up their first ever major trophy as a club.

This was the crowning moment for a Bolton Wanderers side which would go on to become cup kings throughout the course of the 1920s.

With Joe Smith starring for the Trotters upfront, Ted Vizard and Billy Butler doing superb work on the wings, and Jimmy Seddon a rock in the defensive line, Bolton Wanderers went on to win their second FA Cup title in 1926 and their third in 1929.

In 1926, the Trotters beat Manchester City 1-0 in front of a crowd in excess of 91,000 supporters.

In 1929, Bolton Wanderers beat Portsmouth 2-0 in front of a crowd containing close to 93,000 spectators in attendance.

In 1928, with Bolton Wanderers facing financial difficulties, they agreed to sell David Jack to Arsenal. The transfer fee of £10,890 was a world record, more than double the previous record fee for a soccer player.

From 1935 to 1964, Bolton Wanderers played in the top flight without once being relegated.

Their home ground witnessed the Burnden Park Disaster on 9 March 1946. In this tragic event, 33 Bolton Wanderers fans were crushed to death, and another 400 injured, in an FA Cup quarter-final second leg clash between the Trotters and Stoke City.

In 1953, Bolton Wanderers lost a famous FA Cup final to Blackpool, who were inspired by the sensational form of Sir Stanley Matthews on the day. Blackpool came back from 3-1 down to win the match 4-3.

However, in 1958, Bolton got their hands on the FA Cup trophy again as they beat Manchester United in front of a crowd of 100,000 at Wembley Stadium.

To date, this trophy remains the most recent major honour that the club has won.

Bolton’s struggles in late 20th century

Bolton were relegated to the Second Division in 1963/64 and then again to the Third Division in 1970/71. This was the first time in the history of the Trotters that they were relegated to the Third Division.

In 1972/73, Bolton Wanderers won the Third Division, and they went on to win the Second Division title in 1978. However, they were relegated from the First Division in 1980. After their drop back down, they signed Brian Kidd in 1980.

In 1982/83, Bolton Wanderers were relegated once again as they lost to Charlton Athletic by a 4-1 scoreline on the final day of their season.

Bolton stayed in the Third Division before suffering a disastrous relegation to the Fourth Division at the end of the 1986/87 season. This was a new low in the history of the football club.

Bolton Wanderers secured relegation back to the Third Division at the first time of asking and were winners of the Sherpa Van trophy in 1989.

Bolton had a torrid second half of the 20th century, but their fortunes finally began to improve in the 1990s.

Bolton’s rise to the Premier League

Sam Allardyce at Bolton

Bolton beat Reading 4-3 in the Division One play-off final to reach the Premiership at long last in 1995.

In the 1995/96 season, the Trotters were relegated straight back down to the second tier of English football. The following season resulted in another promotion and the one after that another relegation.

Sam Allardyce took over as Bolton Wanderers manager in 1999 and oversaw the most successful spell for the club in the modern era over the next eight years.

In 2000, Bolton made the semi-finals of the FA Cup, but lost on penalties to Aston Villa. In 2000/01, the Trotters were promoted back up to the Premier League.

After securing survival for two seasons in a row, Bolton did even more than this in the 2003/04 season, reaching the League Cup final and finishing eighth in the Premier League. In 2004/05, they finished sixth.

Bolton finished eighth and seventh in the following two campaigns and Allardyce departed as the 2006/07 campaign drew to a close after seven and a half years in charge.

But after Allardyce left, Bolton struggled and turned from a club playing for European qualification to a team battling to avoid relegation.

Bolton's fall from grace

At the end of the 2011/12 campaign, they were relegated to the Championship under manager Owen Coyle.

Bolton hopped between the Championship and League One for the remainder of the decade and then fell into financial strife and were under threat from several winding-up orders.

The club went into administration in May 2019 and were handed a 12-point penalty for the 2019/20 season.

They started the new season struggling to field a side and were forced to play youth team players. Manager Phil Parkinson resigned and the club came close to being liquidated.

In August 2019, Football Ventures Limited completed the purchase of the club from owner Ken Anderson, which stopped the club from going under.

At the end of a tumultuous 2019/20 campaign, Bolton were relegated to League Two, but they bounced back the following season with immediate promotion after finishing third under new manager Ian Evatt.

Evatt guided the club to the 2023 EFL Trophy and the semi-finals of the League One play-offs in the same season and then the 2024 League One play-off final, where they were beaten 2-0 by Oxford.

The poor performance in the play-off final left Bolton with a hangover that carried into the 2024/25 season.

They lost their tenth game of the season in January 2025 and it cost Evatt his job, with the club in ninth place, three points off the play-offs.

Evatt was replaced by Steven Schumacher who failed to drag the club into making a promotion challenge, and Bolton ended the season in 8th, ten points outside the play-offs.

Bolton Wanderers fanbase

Bolton are known as a team with a large fanbase relative to their stuttering form. Their home ground has a capacity of 28,723.

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Four-time FA Cup winners Bolton Wanderers are struggling to recreate their Premier League glory years, stuck in League One.

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