CLAIMS TO FAME

BOLTON WANDERERS

1 SCORING TOO EARLY

The Trotters struck home the Football League’s first ever goal when Kenny Davenport scored inside two minutes against Derby on September 8, 1888. The hosts surged into a 3- 0 lead, but didn’t stay top of the live league table for very long ( we assume the BBC were on it back then) – eventually, the Rams recovered to win 6- 3.

2 PELE SAYS NO

Despite being a second- tier team at the time, Bolton tried to appoint Pele as manager in 1982 – the icon had trained in the town with Brazil during the 1966 World Cup, but rejected the chance to replace George Mulhall. Wanderers similarly failed to add Rivaldo to their playing ranks in 2004; after flying in to meet Sam Allardyce, he signed for Olympiacos. Spoilsport.

3 MADRID MASTERS

During their run to the last 16 of the UEFA Cup in 2007- 08, Bolton became the first British side to win at Red Star Belgrade, and knocked out Atletico Madrid. Between 1974 and 2021, no other English outfit had ousted Atletico in a European knockout tie: Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool ( twice), Leicester ( twice), Aston Villa and Fulham all tried but came up short.

4 MIXU MIX- UP

Bolton frequently featured in Peter Kay sitcom Phoenix Nights.

A prank caller pretended to be their Finnish striker Mixu Paatelainen, then bouncers Max and Paddy were set upon by seven dwarves sporting Trotters shirts, singing songs about legend John Mcginlay. Standard.

5 AYE AYE CAPTAIN

The 2005- 06 squad contained 10 players who captained their country at some point: Gary Speed, Jay- Jay Okocha, El- Hadji Diouf, Ali Al- Habsi, Hidetoshi Nakata, Ricardo Gardner, Tal Ben Haim, Radhi Jaidi, Khalilou Fadiga and Jared Borgetti. Obviously, the skipper for most of that campaign was Kevin Nolan...