Bolton Wanderers
Also written as Bolton.
The club
Bolton Wanderers were founded in 1874 as Christ Church FC and took their present name in 1877. They play at the Toughsheet Community Stadium in Horwich, on the edge of Bolton in Greater Manchester, which holds 28,723. The ground opened in 1997 as the Reebok Stadium and has also been known as the Macron Stadium and the University of Bolton Stadium. The club are known as the Trotters, and also as the Wanderers or the Whites. They play in white shirts with navy trim, navy shorts and white socks.
Recent seasons
Bolton went into administration in May 2019 over a £1.2m unpaid tax bill and carried a 12-point deduction into 2019/20, a season that ended in relegation to League Two. They came straight back up in 2020/21, finishing third. Four seasons in League One followed: ninth in 2021/22, fifth in 2022/23 with a play-off semi-final defeat to Barnsley by 2-1 on aggregate, and third in 2023/24, when they lost the play-off final 2-0 to Oxford United at Wembley on 18 May 2024. That was Ian Evatt's last full season. He left on 22 January 2025 with the club drifting, Julian Darby, Andrew Tutte and Andy Taylor took interim charge, and Steven Schumacher was appointed on 30 January 2025. Bolton finished eighth in 2024/25 with 68 points from 46 games (20 wins, 8 draws, 18 defeats, 67 scored and 70 conceded), outside the play-offs.
In 2025/26 they finished fifth in League One and went up through the play-offs. They beat Bradford City 2-0 on aggregate in the semi-final, Ollie Cozier-Duberry scoring at home on 9 May and Josh Simons in the second leg on 14 May, then beat Stockport County 4-1 in the final at Wembley on 24 May 2026 in front of 48,268. Rodrigues scored twice, including a penalty, Sam Dalby added another and Wootton put through his own goal for Stockport, whose consolation came from Sidibeh. It was Bolton's return to the second tier after seven years away. Their biggest wins of that league season were 4-0 at home to Port Vale on 8 November 2025 and 5-1 away at Exeter City on 13 December 2025; the heaviest defeat was 4-0 at Swindon Town in the FA Cup on 6 December 2025. Mason Burstow was the leading league scorer with 12, Dalby the leading scorer overall with 14. Home league attendances averaged 21,692.
Honours and landmarks
Bolton have won the FA Cup four times, in 1923, 1926, 1929 and 1958. The 1923 final against West Ham United was the first at Wembley and is remembered as the White Horse Final; Bolton won 2-0. They beat Manchester City 1-0 in 1926, Portsmouth 2-0 in 1929, and Manchester United 2-0 in 1958, Nat Lofthouse scoring both. They were runners-up in 1894, 1904 and 1953, the last of those the Matthews Final, lost 4-3 to Blackpool after Bolton had led 3-1. They have twice lost League Cup finals, 2-1 to Liverpool in 1995 and 2-1 to Middlesbrough in 2004. They have won the EFL Trophy twice, 4-1 against Torquay United in 1989 and 4-0 against Plymouth Argyle in 2023.
League titles are Second Division in 1908/09 and 1977/78, Third Division in 1972/73, and the First Division (then the second tier) in 1996/97. Bolton played in the UEFA Cup between 2005 and 2008, their best run taking them to the last 32 in 2005/06 where Marseille beat them 2-1 on aggregate.
Record attendance at Burnden Park was 69,912 against Manchester City in an FA Cup fifth round tie on 18 February 1933. The record at the current stadium is 28,353 against Leicester City in the Premier League on 28 December 2003. Eddie Hopkinson holds the appearance record with 578 between 1952 and 1970. Nat Lofthouse is the leading scorer with 285 goals between 1946 and 1960. The record fee paid is £8.2m plus a player for Johan Elmander from Toulouse in June 2008; the record received is £15m for Nicolas Anelka to Chelsea in January 2008. Bolton were also the club that sold David Jack to Arsenal in 1928 for £10,890, the first five-figure transfer in football.
The Burnden Park disaster of 9 March 1946, at an FA Cup quarter-final second leg against Stoke City in front of an estimated 67,000, killed 33 supporters and injured around 400. It was the worst tragedy in British football at the time.
Notable scorelines
Record victory: 14-0 against Wigan in the first round of the Lancashire Senior Cup on 9 October 1886. Record league win: 8-0 against Barnsley on 6 October 1934. Record defeat: 0-7, suffered three times in the league, against Burnley on 1 March 1890, Sheffield Wednesday on 1 March 1915 and Manchester City on 21 March 1936. The heaviest home league defeat is 0-6 against Manchester United on 25 February 1996.
Head-to-head notes
Bolton do not publish all-time head-to-head records on their own site in the way some clubs do, and no reliable all-time figures could be established for their 2026/27 Championship opponents. The numbers circulating on aggregator sites for the Preston North End fixture (FotMob gives 2 Bolton wins, 3 Preston wins and 4 draws) cover only the recent period and should not be presented as an all-time record. What can be said is that Bolton have not beaten Preston in their last six meetings, of which Preston won three and three were drawn, Preston scoring nine to Bolton's five. Bolton have not shared a division with West Ham United, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Burnley or Southampton for several seasons and no current record was found for any of them. Lincoln City, Cardiff City and Wrexham are all recent League One opponents.
Right now (2026/27)
Steven Schumacher remains manager, appointed 30 January 2025 and promoted in his first full season. Sharon Brittan is chairman.
The summer business has been modest. David Watson, a central midfielder, arrived from Kilmarnock on 15 June for an undisclosed fee. Centre-back Ben Davies joined on a free from Rangers on 1 July, and centre-back Akin Famewo came from Hull City the same day for an undisclosed fee. Right-back Luca Stephenson signed from Liverpool on 2 July for £700,000, the only fee Bolton have paid this summer. Winger Kyliane Dong joined on loan from Augsburg on 7 July with a view to a permanent deal, and right-back Gaizka Larrazabal signed on a free from Casa Pia on 23 July. Going out, Szabolcs Schon left for Gyori ETO on 15 June for an undisclosed fee, Kyle Dempsey was released and joined Port Vale on 30 June, and George Johnston was released and joined Luton Town. Schumacher said publicly after promotion that he wanted at least five more signings before the window closes on 1 September.
Pre-season took in a 2-1 defeat at DAC Dunajska Streda on 17 July, a 3-1 win at Oldham Athletic on 21 July, a goalless draw at home to Everton on 25 July and a 1-1 draw at Fleetwood Town on 28 July.
Bolton open competitively in the Carabao Cup first round away at Sheffield Wednesday on 8 August 2026, a 3pm kick-off at Hillsborough. The Championship campaign begins at home to Preston North End on Saturday 15 August 2026 at 12.30.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolton_Wanderers_F.C. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Bolton_Wanderers_F.C._records_and_statistics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024%E2%80%9325_Bolton_Wanderers_F.C._season https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025%E2%80%9326_Bolton_Wanderers_F.C._season https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_Bolton_Wanderers_F.C._season https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_EFL_play-offs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_EFL_Championship https://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/bolton-wanderers/transfer-talk/feature/bolton-wanderers-summer-transfers-all-confirmed-ins-and-outs-for-2026_599227.html https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11938/13550702/carabao-cup-2026-27-first-round-draw-championship-league-one-and-league-two-teams-discover-opponents https://www.fotmob.com/matches/preston-vs-bolton/2dqkw6 https://footystats.org/england/preston-north-end-fc-vs-bolton-wanderers-fc-h2h-stats
Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.