Bolton Wanderers

In my save they've tanked. Successive relegations and now they're 15th in the National North (it's 2025 in my save), and don't seem too fussed about getting out of there. I'm not griping, I know this happens IRL (eg Stockport), but I wonder why it always seems to be poor old Bolton. They did this on every save I ran on FM15 too. Does anyone else notice this? Wigan always seem to plummet too, but no quite as badly.

They have huge money issues IRL which obviously leads to issues in FM for them.

They just survived being made bankrupt last week but could easily end up that way by the end of the season.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/35342982

There's the money issues, compounded by the fact they're in a footballing Bermuda Triangle. Just in terms of professional clubs they're in the same catchment area as Man United, Man City, Liverpool, Everton, Burnley, Blackburn, Wigan, Preston, Blackpool, Oldham, Fleetwood, Rochdale, Bury, Tranmere, Morecambe and of course Accrington Stanley - all just in the one county of Lancashire! Once they drop down a bit and are looking for cheap, English players who probably don't want to move accross the country, that's a lot of competition none of whom have their financial issue and thus can all probably offer better wages than whatever level Bolton are at at the time. They're also going to be snapping up youth products left, right and centre making it much harder for Bolton to rely on their academy in the way other crisis clubs like Portsmouth have done. Barring some major investment out of the blue, they look to be well and truly doomed both in real-life and on FM.

Same on mine mate, but in fairness there's a little part of me that's tempted to take on the challenge of bringing them all the way back up to the top..

I must be mad..

As said, it more than feasible in real life. Actually in real life they're likely to be liquidated and start again somewhere around the 9th tier, but FM doesn't do that!

Bolton, Birmingham, Stoke all tanked in mine because of huge debts. The vandrama north team I started with and won the fa vase twice and had two promotions with have tanked and likely will drop out of the playable leagues this season too.

Just checked and Stoke are bottom of league 2, Bolton are top of lg 2 and knocked out Chelsea in the cup. Birmingham won lg 2 playoffs season before and now 3rd in lg1. It's Jan 2026 in my save.

In my save Birmingham have been relegated to league 1 in the first season and have gone on a mass selling spree, also there on there 3rd manager and its September 2016. Would love the job as its my club!

Same on mine mate, but in fairness there's a little part of me that's tempted to take on the challenge of bringing them all the way back up to the top..

I must be mad..

It's a pretty good challenge to try on FM16. I think I read on another post somewhere that they sell off their training ground at some point to help with the debt so there are a lot of problems to deal with.

Oddly on mine Bolton are doing ok in the championship still (2025)m, but in another save they tanked right down to league 2/conference.

They just gained promotion back to the Championship and are sitting 17th. Club is worth £160,000 with £58,000,000 worth of debt.

Bolton, Birmingham, Stoke all tanked in mine because of huge debts. The vandrama north team I started with and won the fa vase twice and had two promotions with have tanked and likely will drop out of the playable leagues this season too.

Just checked and Stoke are bottom of league 2, Bolton are top of lg 2 and knocked out Chelsea in the cup. Birmingham won lg 2 playoffs season before and now 3rd in lg1. It's Jan 2026 in my save.

You had a few relegations to win the FA Vase.

Bolton are screwed without major investment. I seriously doubt anybody has seen Bolton recover under AI management unless they are a long way into their save.

2023 on my save and Doncaster Rovers have bombed down to Evo-Stick Premier League, did the same thing on FM2015. Bolton are in L2 on my save, did drop like a stone to begin with but managed to stabilize things.

Mid 2030s and Bolton are a stable League 1 team in my save. Doncaster were the biggest plummeters, and have spent the last 7 seasons as a bottom half Conference North team. The teams dropping out of the league seem to get back quickly, with the non-league teams going up into the league dropping back down quickly. Except Doncaster.

The biggest rise is Wrexham, established in the Championship without a tycoon.

Interestingly, exactly the same in FM15 for me, very similar to skybluedude.

Yeah they have 1m a month debt until 2025. I managed them for 4 seasons on a recent game, took them up to the premier league second year somehow. Once you get TV money debts become irrelevant, I was getting 40m transfer budgets.

They got 11 points from 46 games in Championship in my save. 4 straight relegations and now in the lowest league.

Yeah they have 1m a month debt until 2025. I managed them for 4 seasons on a recent game, took them up to the premier league second year somehow. Once you get TV money debts become irrelevant, I was getting 40m transfer budgets.

That indeed is Bolton's only hope in real life - they get some relatively small investment and take a gamble, stay up this season, make astute signings and secure an unlikely promotion (which of course is entirely possible, if unlikely, in the Championship). One year of PL money eliminates the debt, even though they won't be able to spend much on transfers or wages and thus will very likely go straight back down again to become a stable Championship team and build from there.

Last years game, Liverpool tanked on my save. Was happy about that, but was really unusual to see. They broke FFP - had a transfer ban, points deduction and sold a load of good players to balance the books before being relegated to the Championship. More sales followed, apart from the one or two players they'd signed on huge long-term contracts who wouldn't agree deals elsewhere - I tried signing one on the cheap but he wanted over £300k a week to match his current wage! Anyway, they ended up so poor that they ended up down in League Two, only just surviving relegation from there twice in a row before starting to make a come back. From their promotion to League One, it took them another 4 or so years to make it back to the Prem.

Biggest collapse I've seen from a team that was doing so well. Almost happened to Man City as well, but their players were too good, so even with the transfer embargo and everything else, they hovered mid table for about two seasons before getting back to destroying everyone.

I'm in charge of Bolton Wanderers because I'm a fan.

There is no way I am going all the way down to the Conference North (like Stockport County).

I manage Birmingham and got them promoted to the prem 1st season via the play=offs

After a few years of teetering on the edge, they finally went down to League One in the season I've just finished - 19/20.

3 1/2 seasons into my game they are bottom of the championship

Bolton Wanderers have just won the NPL First Division North in the 2030s in a test run for EEE.

Halfway through my blackburn save, started it yesterday, Bolton sit 7th in the championship.

Bolton Wanderers have just won the NPL First Division North in the 2030s in a test run for EEE.

I bet Newcastle Town are above them now.

Your test needs to become my reality Daniel.