Football Season Review

It is a measure of how much Bolton improved in the second half of the season that Wanderers only finished five points and two places off a top half finish in 2013/14. Bolton made a disastrous start to the season, one of their worst in their modern day club history, and looked doomed to what seemed like an unlikely relegation battle before the start of the season. However, Dougie Freedman ignored calls for his resignation and made a number of astute January loan signings to boost the squad. The likes of Liam Trotter, Neil Danns and Liam Feeney all added an injection of pace, power and creativity which culminated in a run of just four defeats in their last 19 league games to secure a comfortable 14th place finish. In many ways this season mirrored 2012/13 for the Trotters, who came close to sneaking into the top six last season with a fine run of results in the second half of the campaign. If they can find a level of consistency from the outset in August Bolton will certainly be top half contenders.

Player of the Season: Tim Ream