Ian Evatt

1

1950`spoolfan

Well-known member
He looked to have been handed the poison chalice when he took the manager`s job at that car crash of a club Bolton and no-one was very surprised when early results were not good but his team with help from our old friends Gilks,Baptiste and Delfouneso are making rapid progress up the table ,now just one point outside the play off positions having last night beaten another currently in form team Scunthorpe, and they have taken 16 points from their last 6 games. Impressive.

He had done a great job at Barrow who are now struggling without him and seemed to me to be the obvious candidate to replace Grayson and yet I gather although he fancied the job we did not even give him an interview.

I hope we don`t live to regret that decision.
 
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1950`spoolfan said:
He looked to have been handed the poison chalice when he took on the car crash of a club Bolton`s job and no-one was very surprised when early results were not good but his team with help from our old friends Gilks,Baptiste and Delfouneso they are making rapid progress up the table ,now just one point outside the play off positions having last night beaten another currently in form team Scunthorpe, and have taken 16 points from their last 6 games. Impressive.

He had done a great job at Barrow who are now struggling without him and seemed to me to be the obvious candidate to replace Grayson and yet I gather although he fancied the job we did not even give him an interview.

I hope we don`t live to regret that decision.
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Happy with who we have 👍
 
There is no doubt that Evatt is a decent manager, is learning all the time and he has the potential to go further.
Two of the reasons Barrow are struggling are that Evatt left them in the lurch before the season started and also the fact that they spent virtually nothing on improving the squad for entry into the EFL.
Contrast that with Bolton, who have spent much more and probably pay some of the highest wages in L2. With the players they have signed, Bolton really should be in the top six, if not the top 2.
Sadler's philosophy on signing players appears to focus on younger players with some experience and potential from lower leagues, together with younger players who have not established themselves at higher level clubs. The focus is then to develop and bring through those players to add to those we may develop through an improved academy and training system at BFC. The recruitment of Critchley was unexpected but does seem to fit Sadler's model. No one knows yet whether it will be a success as it it not a 5 minute project. Evatt may well have succeeded in a similarvrole, but I think he may have disappeared to something bigger and better at the first opportunity, rather than focus on a longer term project.
I do wonder if Sadler's model will continue to work if we do get back to the championship. They higher you go thevmore you tend to be reliant on established players
 
He hardly left Barrow in the lurch. Got them promoted totally against the odds when he took over. He was offered an opportunity with a bigger club, he took it. That's natural progression
He took over a very poor Bolton team that was in freefall and he stabilised them with experienced signings that he had connections with. All standard practice.
Maybe he'll progress to Blackpool in a year or two, who knows. I, for one, wish him well. Sounds like he's trying to get his teams playing the Blackpool way. Expansive, attacking football
 
1950`spoolfan said:
He looked to have been handed the poison chalice when he took the manager`s job at that car crash of a club Bolton and no-one was very surprised when early results were not good but his team with help from our old friends Gilks,Baptiste and Delfouneso are making rapid progress up the table ,now just one point outside the play off positions having last night beaten another currently in form team Scunthorpe, and they have taken 16 points from their last 6 games. Impressive.

He had done a great job at Barrow who are now struggling without him and seemed to me to be the obvious candidate to replace Grayson and yet I gather although he fancied the job we did not even give him an interview.

I hope we don`t live to regret that decision.
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Agree 50’s, he seems to have got them playing as he wants now so good to see a young manager progressing.
I heard him in a post match interview the other week after they had won 1-0.
Despite the win he didn’t like the blasé attitude adopted by some of the players after they took the lead. Good for him.

Similar to NC really, off to a poor start but then how quick things can change for the better.
It is very hard to say if we would regret signing him because we have a totally different set of players and in a different league but if he does get them promoted you can guarantee that a few on here will be saying that we should have got him instead of Critchley

What is also interesting is when he did get off to a bad start how many on here KNEW it was too big a jump for him and glad we didn’t sign him?

There really are some experts n this forum !
 
Glad things are looking good for him now, but don’t think that means we missed a trick by not appointing him. As the OP states, he’s calling on old friends who I don’t think would be able to replicate the same level of success in League 1.

I think he’ll do well regardless but I’m very optimistic about the management we have, the team they’ve built so far, and the way the project is going. We’ve been a slow burn but if we keep improving week on week, as we have been, we will be very strong by the end of the season and hopefully in contention for promotion ourselves.
 
They are finding some form now, relative to the rest. If it was up to Bolton fans, he would have been out by October.

I don't think they will make the top seven, personally, although if they keep the momentum going they will be close. I'm not sure that the model they are following is particularly sustainable - there are quite a lot of older players with no sell-on value in that squad. And the time bomb ticking away in the background is their financial position. They really can't afford to stay in L2 for long if they are going to shift the debt they are labouring under.

So there is a lot at stake for them this season. A near miss and then coping with key senior players being another year older next season would do nicely.
 
1950`spoolfan said:
He looked to have been handed the poison chalice when he took the manager`s job at that car crash of a club Bolton and no-one was very surprised when early results were not good but his team with help from our old friends Gilks,Baptiste and Delfouneso are making rapid progress up the table ,now just one point outside the play off positions having last night beaten another currently in form team Scunthorpe, and they have taken 16 points from their last 6 games. Impressive.

He had done a great job at Barrow who are now struggling without him and seemed to me to be the obvious candidate to replace Grayson and yet I gather although he fancied the job we did not even give him an interview.

I hope we don`t live to regret that decision.
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It’s not looking that way...
 
In 6th now, unbeaten in 8 with 7 wins..

Look what can happen when you give managers time. I think they had a much more intense period of calling for the managers head in comparison to us as well.
Screenshot 2021-03-04 at 14.11.09.png
 
1950`spoolfan said:
He looked to have been handed the poison chalice when he took the manager`s job at that car crash of a club Bolton and no-one was very surprised when early results were not good but his team with help from our old friends Gilks,Baptiste and Delfouneso are making rapid progress up the table ,now just one point outside the play off positions having last night beaten another currently in form team Scunthorpe, and they have taken 16 points from their last 6 games. Impressive.

He had done a great job at Barrow who are now struggling without him and seemed to me to be the obvious candidate to replace Grayson and yet I gather although he fancied the job we did not even give him an interview.

I hope we don`t live to regret that decision.
Click to expand...
He was my number one choice by a mile
 
He's got the biggest budget in league1, Eoin Doyle signed on a three year contract!,not many league1 clubs would be able to finance that.It was inevitable they would start rising at some point,judgement for me starts if and when Evo gets them back to league1 where he will be competing with similar sized clubs with similar sized budgets.
 
Alfie Conn said:
He's got the biggest budget in league1, Eoin Doyle signed on a three year contract!,not many league1 clubs would be able to finance that.It was inevitable they would start rising at some point,judgement for me starts if and when Evo gets them back to league1 where he will be competing with similar sized clubs with similar sized budgets.
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But we all know that big budgets are no guarantee of success especially without the right man in charge. Evo has only had 2 jobs and so far his record is impeccable.
 
Alfie Conn said:
He's got the biggest budget in league1, Eoin Doyle signed on a three year contract!,not many league1 clubs would be able to finance that.It was inevitable they would start rising at some point,judgement for me starts if and when Evo gets them back to league1 where he will be competing with similar sized clubs with similar sized budgets.
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No he’s not!!! They’re not in league 1😉
 
basilrobbie said:
They are finding some form now, relative to the rest. If it was up to Bolton fans, he would have been out by October.

I don't think they will make the top seven, personally, although if they keep the momentum going they will be close. I'm not sure that the model they are following is particularly sustainable - there are quite a lot of older players with no sell-on value in that squad. And the time bomb ticking away in the background is their financial position. They really can't afford to stay in L2 for long if they are going to shift the debt they are labouring under.

So there is a lot at stake for them this season. A near miss and then coping with key senior players being another year older next season would do nicely.
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Fingers crossed
 
Different managers have different attributes.
Critch has great coaching experience and his knowledge of the best young players in the country I suspect is outstanding.
Appointing any manager is always a risk and you can only choose one (unless your surname is Cowley)
 
We will never know if he would have done better here than NC. Maybe it will happen in the future at some point. Both Evo & NC appear to be learning on the job, which is understandable. Good to see them both progressing. Compare and contrast to Larry, who started brilliantly and now seems to have lost his mojo at the same rate as his hair.
 
I hope he takes them to the Play Off final to prove his worth, lose in the final to keep them down and then get snapped up in the summer 😁
 
Considering he has double or even treble the budget of any other league 2 manager I'd say he is so far under achieving
 
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