Who will be the next Bolton boss?

Bolton are still looking for a replacement for Owen Coyle

As we revealed on Soccernews last week Championship Bolton Wanderers have dispensed with the services of boss Owen Coyle.

The former-Trotters hero was manager of the club for 36 months after joining from arch-rivals Burnley.

The Scot is now being linked with a possible return to Turf Moor and new faces are being linked with the vacant position at Turf Moor.

Unlucky

Last season Wanderers were incredibly unlucky. Two of their best quality players Stuart Holden and Chung-Yong Lee missed most of the campaign with serious injuries.

If any other team in the Premier League lost players of such importance they would have struggled to cope.

They were the two players that could make things happen in the team and without them Bolton struggled to score goals. No matter what Coyle did, the team just couldn’t save themselves from relegation.

Football

Coyle tried to get his team to play football, but just didn’t have the resources or players to pull it off. The final straw was a defeat against Millwall that left the Trotters 18^th place in the Championship.

Problems

Now comes the hard part for the Bolton board. The fans aren’t happy with Phil Gartside’s running of the club, but he will ultimately be the man that chooses the next Trotters boss. Bolton have already been linked with a number of managers already in the search for a new boss.

The problem that Bolton has is that Blackburn are also looking for a new boss and the same bosses have been linked with both vacancies. Both posts provide challenges, but for different reasons.

At Bolton the club are unlikely to give their next manager much to work with in terms of funds to strengthen their squad when the transfer window opens in January. Blackburn has been turned into a laughing stock by their Indian owners and the club would offer hard working conditions for the new boss.

Candidates

As I mentioned earlier the Trotters have been linked with a number of candidates. The name that keeps cropping up is former-Wolves and Ireland boss Mick McCarthy. The Yorkshire man currently seems like the favourite for the job.

Former-Manchester United striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was being linked with the job, but the Molde boss has now revealed that he is not in the running for the job.  MK Dons boss Karl Robinson is also being linked with the job.

Robinson is one of the most highly-rated young bosses in the country and has done a superb job in Milton Keynes. In fact he is one of the youngest bosses in the football league.

McCarthy definitely has far more experience than Robinson. He also has the experience of gaining promotion to the Premier League, which is Bolton’s aim this season.  Another boss being linked with the vacancy is Alan Curbishley.

Former-Charlton boss Curbishley has been out of the game for a while, but seems to get linked with every vacant position these days. McCarthy and Robinson both look like more likely candidates.

Difficult

The Bolton Wanderers job is definitely a difficult one. The club are not willing to invest money into the squad, despite the squad being relatively thin. The quality of that squad is also poor compared to some of their rivals.

This summer saw a mass exodus from the club which left Wanderers very short of numbers and quality. That lack of quality and numbers has shown in the clubs performance so far this season.

Despite the challenge ahead I’m sure there will be a host of bosses interested in taking the reins at the Reebok Stadium. The Bolton vacancy is still an attractive one and whoever gets the job will have got themselves a job at a great club.

Who will be the next Bolton boss?