# 2005–06 Bolton Wanderers F.C. season

The 2005–06 season was the 128th season in Bolton Wanderers F.C.'s existence and their fifth consecutive year in the top-flight. This article covers the period from 1 July 2005 to 30 June 2006.
Having finished sixth the previous season, Bolton had qualified for the UEFA Cup for the first time in their history.

## Season summary

In June 2005, Allardyce's assistant Phil Brown, left Bolton to take up the challenge of managing Derby County and he was replaced by coach Sammy Lee.
Off the field, with Bolton looking to get into Europe for the second successive season, Allardyce was being linked with the England manager's job. He was interviewed for the England manager vacancy during the Spring, though the news broke that the FA wanted Brazilian Luiz Felipe Scolari. In the end it came down to Allardyce or Steve McClaren. Between the middle of March and the beginning of April with rumours surrounding Allardyce in terms of taking the England job, Bolton's form hit an unexpected slump with five successive defeats seeing the side slide to eighth.

## First-team squad

    Squad at end of season
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | OMA | Ali Al Habsi |
| 2 | DF | ENG | Nicky Hunt |
| 4 | MF | ENG | Kevin Nolan (captain from November) |
| 5 | DF | FRA | Bruno Ngotty |
| 6 | MF | WAL | Gary Speed |
| 7 | MF | GRE | Stelios Giannakopoulos |
| 8 | MF | ESP | Iván Campo |
| 9 | FW | DEN | Henrik Pedersen |
| 10 | MF | NGA | Jay-Jay Okocha (captain until November) |
| 11 | DF | JAM | Ricardo Gardner |
| 12 | GK | ENG | Ian Walker |
| 14 | FW | ENG | Kevin Davies |
| 15 | DF | TUN | Radhi Jaïdi |
| 16 | MF | JPN | Hidetoshi Nakata |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 17 | FW | ENG | Matt Jansen |
| 18 | FW | MEX | Jared Borgetti |
| 20 | FW | POR | Ricardo Vaz Tê |
| 21 | FW | SEN | El Hadji Diouf |
| 22 | GK | FIN | Jussi Jääskeläinen |
| 24 | MF | IRL | Joey O'Brien |
| 25 | DF | SEN | Abdoulaye Faye |
| 26 | DF | ISR | Tal Ben Haim |
| 32 | DF | POL | Jarosław Fojut |
| 33 | FW | USA | Johann Smith |
| 39 | MF | SEN | Khalilou Fadiga |
| 42 | MF | ENG | Robert Sissons |
| 43 | GK | ENG | Sam Ashton |

### Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 17 | DF | FRA | Martin Djetou (released) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 23 | MF | FRA | Fabrice Fernandes (released) |

## Reserve squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 27 | FW | FRA | Bédi Buval |
| 29 | MF | ESP | Óscar Pérez |
| 30 | GK | ENG | Chris Howarth |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 31 | MF | ENG | James Sinclair |
| 35 | MF | AUS | Scott Jamieson |

## Competitions
### Premier League
#### Final league table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 6 | Blackburn Rovers | 38 | 19 | 6 | 13 | 51 | 42 | +9 | 63 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 7 | Newcastle United | 38 | 17 | 7 | 14 | 47 | 42 | +5 | 58 | Qualification for the Intertoto Cup third round |
| 8 | Bolton Wanderers | 38 | 15 | 11 | 12 | 49 | 41 | +8 | 56 | |
| 9 | West Ham United | 38 | 16 | 7 | 15 | 52 | 55 | −3 | 55 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 10 | Wigan Athletic | 38 | 15 | 6 | 17 | 45 | 52 | −7 | 51 | |
* ↑ Since Liverpool had already qualified for the Champions League, their UEFA Cup berth as the FA Cup winners went to West Ham, who were the FA Cup runners-up.

#### Results by matchday

| Matchday | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 |
| Ground | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H |
| Result | D | L | W | W | D | W | W | L | L | W | W | W | L | L | W | D | W | D | L | D | D | W | D | D | D | W | L | W | W | L | L | L | L | D | W | L | D | W |
| Position | 8 | 13 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |

#### Matches
### UEFA Cup
#### First round
#### Group stage
##### Table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | SEV | ZEN | BOL | BJK | VIT |
| 1 | Sevilla | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 4 | +4 | 7 | Advance to knockout stage | — | — | — | 3–0 | 3–1 |
| 2 | Zenit Saint Petersburg | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | +1 | 7 | Advance to knockout stage | 2–1 | — | — | — | 2–1 |
| 3 | Bolton Wanderers | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 6 | Advance to knockout stage | 1–1 | 1–0 | — | — | — |
| 4 | Beşiktaş | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 5 | | — | 1–1 | 1–1 | — | — |
| 5 | Vitória de Guimarães | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 9 | −5 | 1 | | — | — | 1–1 | 1–3 | — |

##### Matches
#### Knockout stage
## Statistics
### Appearances

Bolton used a total of 26 players during the season.
| P | Player | Position | PL | FAC | LC | UC | Total |
| 1 | Jussi Jääskeläinen | Goalkeeper | 38 0(0) | 03 0(0) | 02 0(0) | 05 0(1) | 48 0(0) |
| 2 | Tal Ben Haim | Defender | 33 0(3) | 04 0(0) | 03 0(0) | 07 0(0) | 47 0(3) |
| 3 | Kevin Davies | Forward | 37 0(0) | 03 0(0) | 02 0(0) | 04 0(1) | 46 0(1) |
| 4 | Kevin Nolan | Midfielder | 36 0(1) | 03 0(0) | 02 0(0) | 04 0(3) | 45 0(4) |
| 5 | Stelios Giannakopoulos | Midfielder | 29 0(6) | 04 0(0) | 02 0(0) | 06 0(0) | 41 0(6) |
| 6 | Ricardo Gardner | Defender/Midfielder | 28 0(3) | 04 0(0) | 03 0(0) | 06 0(1) | 41 0(4) |
| 7 | Gary Speed | Midfielder | 30 0(2) | 02 0(0) | 02 0(0) | 02 0(3) | 36 0(5) |
| 8 | Bruno Ngotty | Defender | 28 0(2) | 02 0(0) | 00 0(1) | 06 0(1) | 36 0(4) |
| 9 | Abdoulaye Faye | Defender/Midfielder | 23 0(4) | 01 0(0) | 02 0(0) | 07 0(0) | 33 0(4) |
| 10 | Joey O'Brien | Defender/Midfielder | 22 0(1) | 03 0(0) | 02 0(0) | 06 0(0) | 33 0(1) |
| 11 | Jay-Jay Okocha | Midfielder | 19 0(9) | 03 0(0) | 01 0(1) | 06 0(1) | 29 (11) |
| 12 | Hidetoshi Nakata | Midfielder | 15 0(7) | 03 0(0) | 02 0(0) | 05 0(1) | 20 0(2) |
| 13 | Radhi Jaïdi | Defender | 16 0(1) | 02 0(1) | 03 0(0) | 03 0(0) | 19 0(2) |
| 14 | El Hadji Diouf | Forward | 17 0(4) | 00 0(0) | 00 0(1) | 04 0(2) | 19 0(0) |
| 15 | Henrik Pedersen | Forward | 16 0(6) | 00 0(1) | 00 0(1) | 02 0(1) | 18 0(9) |
| 16 | Nicky Hunt | Defender | 12 0(8) | 01 0(1) | 01 0(0) | 02 0(0) | 16 0(9) |
| 17 | Jared Borgetti | Forward | 05 (15) | 02 0(2) | 01 0(1) | 04 0(3) | 12 (21) |
| 18 | Khalilou Fadiga | Midfield | 05 0(3) | 01 0(0) | 01 0(1) | 02 0(0) | 10 0(4) |
| 19 | Iván Campo | Defender/Midfielder | 07 0(7) | 01 0(0) | 00 0(1) | 01 0(0) | 09 0(8) |
| 20 | Ricardo Vaz Tê | Forward | 06 (16) | 01 0(3) | 01 0(1) | 00 0(4) | 08 (24) |
| 21 | Ian Walker | Goalkeeper | 00 0(0) | 01 0(0) | 01 0(0) | 03 0(0) | 05 0(0) |
| 22 | Matt Jansen | Forward | 03 0(3) | 00 0(1) | 00 0(0) | 00 0(0) | 03 0(4) |
| 23 | Fabrice Fernandes | Midfielder | 00 0(1) | 00 0(0) | 01 0(0) | 02 0(1) | 03 0(2) |
| 24 | Martin Djetou | Defender | 01 0(2) | 00 0(0) | 01 0(1) | 00 0(0) | 02 0(3) |
| 25 | Jarosław Fojut | Defender | 00 0(1) | 00 0(1) | 00 0(0) | 00 0(0) | 00 0(2) |
| 26 | Sam Ashton | Goalkeeper | 00 0(0) | 00 0(1) | 00 0(0) | 00 0(0) | 00 0(1) |

### Top scorers

| P | Player | Position | PL | FAC | LC | UC | Total |
| 1 | Stelios Giannakopoulos | Midfielder | 9 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 12 |
| 2 | Kevin Nolan | Midfielder | 9 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 11 |
| 3 | Kevin Davies | Striker | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 4 | Jared Borgetti | Striker | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| 5 | Ricardo Vaz Tê | Striker | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 |