Evatt gets the nod to take Bolton helm

IAN Evatt has been appointed as the new manager of Bolton Wanderers.

The 38-year-old succeeds Boltonborn Keith Hill, whose contract at the club expired on Tuesday, after just nine months in charge.

Evatt joins Wanderers after leading Barrow AFC to the Football League for the first time since 1972.

After completing his move to Wanderers, Evatt said: ‘’Bolton Wanderers is a fantastic football club with an incredible history and fanbase and this is a really exciting opportunity for us all.

“Hopefully I can bring a brand and an identity that people will enjoy watching – attacking and scoring goals is what we all want to see.

“We want to be challenging and competing for promotion at the top of the division and to see a packed University of Bolton Stadium.

“The community and town is also very important to me. We will get out there and engage with them and make them proud of Bolton Wanderers.”

The former Blackpool central defender, who played in the Premier League for the Tangerines, has signed a contract until the end of the 2022/23 season and will be joined at the club by his assistant, Peter Atherton, who played for Wigan Athletic and Sheffield Wednesday, and held a position as a coach at the DW Stadium prior to joining Barrow.

Evatt took charge of Barrow in June 2018 and guided them to a 10th place finish in his first season.

In his second season he took them back to the Football League.