# 2004–05 Bolton Wanderers F.C. season

The 2004–05 season was the 127th season in Bolton Wanderers F.C.'s existence, and was their fourth consecutive year in the top-flight. This article covers the period from 1 July 2004 to 30 June 2005.

## Season summary

Bolton finished in sixth place in the final Premiership table - tied on points but one place behind that season's European champions Liverpool, and three points off qualification for the Champions League. As it was, sixth place was enough to grant Bolton their first ever excursion into European competition, in the UEFA Cup.

## First-team 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 |
| 1 | GK | ENG | Kevin Poole |
| 2 | DF | ENG | Anthony Barness |
| 3 | DF | BRA | Júlio César |
| 4 | MF | ENG | Kevin Nolan |
| 5 | DF | FRA | Bruno Ngotty |
| 6 | MF | WAL | Gary Speed |
| 7 | MF | GRE | Stelios Giannakopoulos |
| 9 | FW | DEN | Henrik Pedersen |
| 10 | MF | NGA | Jay-Jay Okocha (captain) |
| 11 | MF | JAM | Ricardo Gardner |
| 14 | FW | ENG | Kevin Davies |
| 15 | DF | TUN | Radhi Jaïdi |
| 16 | DF | ESP | Iván Campo |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 17 | DF | FRA | Florent Laville |
| 18 | DF | ENG | Nicky Hunt |
| 20 | DF | ESP | Fernando Hierro |
| 21 | FW | SEN | El Hadji Diouf (on loan from Liverpool) |
| 22 | GK | FIN | Jussi Jääskeläinen |
| 23 | DF | FRA | Vincent Candela |
| 24 | MF | NGA | Blessing Kaku |
| 26 | DF | ISR | Tal Ben Haim |
| 28 | FW | POR | Ricardo Vaz Tê |
| 30 | FW | ENG | Ricky Shakes |
| 33 | MF | IRL | Joey O'Brien |
| 39 | MF | SEN | Khalilou Fadiga |

### 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 |
| 8 | FW | ENG | Michael Bridges (to Sunderland) |
| 13 | GK | ENG | Andy Oakes (on loan from Derby County) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 23 | FW | ENG | Les Ferdinand (to Reading) |
| - | DF | ENG | Danny Livesey (to Carlisle United) |

## 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 |
| 31 | DF | ENG | Charlie Comyn-Platt |
| 32 | DF | ENG | Jason Talbot |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 34 | FW | FRA | Bédi Buval |
| 35 | DF | ENG | Bradley Hill |

## Transfers
### In

* Michael Bridges - Leeds United, free, 9 June
* Les Ferdinand - Leicester City, free, 5 July
* Radhi Jaïdi - Espérance, free, 6 July
* Gary Speed - Newcastle United, £750,000, 21 July
* Fernando Hierro - Al Rayyan, free, 28 July
* Tal Ben Haim - Maccabi Tel Aviv, £203,000, 28 July
* El Hadji Diouf - Liverpool, season loan, 19 August
* Blessing Kaku - F.C. Ashdod, free transfer, 24 August
* Khalilou Fadiga - Internazionale, free, 14 September
* Vincent Candela - Roma, free transfer, 31 January
* Júlio César - Real Valladolid, free, July

### Out

* Simon Charlton - Norwich City, £250,000, 13 July
* Jeff Smith - Port Vale, free, 22 June
* Per Frandsen - Wigan Athletic, free, 24 June
* Emerson Thome - Wigan Athletic, free, 4 August
* Mário Jardel - Newell's Old Boys, free, 13 August
* Ibrahim Ba - Çaykur Rizespor, free, 24 August
* Michael Bridges - Sunderland, season loan, 23 September
* Youri Djorkaeff - Blackburn Rovers, free, 28 September
* Les Ferdinand - Reading, free, 6 January
* Danny Livesey - Carlisle United, month loan, 25 December
* Danny Livesey - Carlisle United, free, 25 January
* Joey O'Brien - Sheffield Wednesday, loan
* Derek Niven - Chesterfield
* Steve Howey - New England Revolution, free
* Ndiwa Lord-Kangana - released
* Jeremy Bon - released
* Lewis Hamlin - released
    Note: All players listed as joining other clubs from Bolton on a free transfer were released by the club on 17 May 2004, with the exception of Ferdinand, who was released on 2 January 2005.

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

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 4 | Everton | 38 | 18 | 7 | 13 | 45 | 46 | −1 | 61 | Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round |
| 5 | Liverpool | 38 | 17 | 7 | 14 | 52 | 41 | +11 | 58 | Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round |
| 6 | Bolton Wanderers | 38 | 16 | 10 | 12 | 49 | 44 | +5 | 58 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 7 | Middlesbrough | 38 | 14 | 13 | 11 | 53 | 46 | +7 | 55 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 8 | Manchester City | 38 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 47 | 39 | +8 | 52 | |
* ↑ Shakes was born in Brixton, England, but also qualified to represent Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana internationally. He won his first cap for Trinidad and Tobago in a friendly game in 2006, and made his full international debut for Guyana in October 2011.
* ↑ Although they failed to qualify for the Champions League as one of the top four English clubs, Liverpool were given a special dispensation to compete as the defending champions. They were, however, forced to enter in the first qualifying round.
* ↑ Since the finalists of the FA Cup, Arsenal and Manchester United, as well as Chelsea, who won the 2004–05 Football League Cup, were qualified for the Champions League, and the fifth-placed team (Liverpool) were moved to the Champions League, the sixth and seventh-placed teams in the Premier League were rewarded entry to the UEFA Cup.

#### 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 | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H |
| Result | W | L | W | W | D | D | D | L | W | W | W | D | L | D | L | L | L | L | L | L | D | W | W | W | W | W | D | L | W | W | L | W | W | D | D | L | D | W |
| Position | 2 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 13 | 14 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |

#### Matches
### League Cup
## Statistics
### Appearances

Bolton used a total of 26 players during the season.
| P | Player | Position | PL | FAC | LC | Total |
| 1 | Bruno Ngotty | Defender | 37 0(0) | 04 0(0) | 00 0(0) | 41 0(0) |
| 2 | Jussi Jääskeläinen | Goalkeeper | 36 0(0) | 04 0(0) | 00 0(0) | 40 0(0) |
| 3 | Gary Speed | Midfielder | 37 0(1) | 02 0(0) | 00 0(0) | 39 0(1) |
| 4 | Kevin Davies | Striker | 33 0(1) | 04 0(0) | 01 0(1) | 38 0(2) |
| 5 | Ricardo Gardner | Defender/Midfielder | 30 0(3) | 03 0(1) | 01 0(0) | 34 0(4) |
| 6 | Nicky Hunt | Defender | 29 0(0) | 03 0(1) | 01 0(0) | 33 0(1) |
| 7 | Kevin Nolan | Midfielder | 27 0(9) | 02 0(0) | 02 0(2) | 31 (11) |
| 8 | Stelios Giannakopoulos | Midfielder | 28 0(6) | 01 0(1) | 02 0(0) | 31 0(7) |
| 9 | Jay-Jay Okocha | Midfielder | 29 0(2) | 01 0(0) | 01 0(0) | 31 0(2) |
| 10 | El Hadji Diouf | Midfielder/Striker | 23 0(4) | 02 0(0) | 01 0(2) | 26 0(6) |
| 11 | Tal Ben Haim | Defender | 19 0(2) | 04 0(0) | 02 0(0) | 25 0(2) |
| 12 | Iván Campo | Defender/Midfielder | 21 0(7) | 01 0(1) | 00 0(0) | 22 0(8) |
| 13 | Radhi Jaïdi | Defender | 21 0(7) | 01 0(0) | 00 0(0) | 22 0(7) |
| 14 | Fernando Hierro | Midfielder | 15 (14) | 04 0(0) | 02 0(0) | 21 (14) |
| 15 | Henrik Pedersen | Striker | 13 (14) | 03 0(1) | 01 0(1) | 17 (16) |
| 16 | Vincent Candela | Defender | 09 0(1) | 01 0(1) | 00 0(0) | 10 0(2) |
| 17 | Anthony Barness | Defender | 05 0(3) | 00 0(2) | 01 0(0) | 06 0(5) |
| 18 | Julio Cesar | Defender | 04 0(1) | 00 0(0) | 02 0(0) | 06 0(1) |
| 19 | Ricardo Vaz Tê | Striker | 01 0(6) | 02 0(0) | 00 0(0) | 03 0(6) |
| 20 | Khalilou Fadiga | Midfielder | 00 0(5) | 03 0(0) | 00 0(0) | 03 0(5) |
| 21 | Kevin Poole | Goalkeeper | 01 0(1) | 00 0(0) | 02 0(0) | 03 0(1) |
| 22 | Les Ferdinand | Striker | 01 (11) | 00 0(0) | 01 0(1) | 02 (12) |
| 23 | Blessing Kaku | Midfielder | 00 0(1) | 00 0(0) | 01 0(1) | 01 0(2) |
| 24 | Andy Oakes | Goalkeeper | 01 0(0) | 00 0(0) | 00 0(0) | 01 0(0) |
| 25 | Joey O'Brien | Defender/Midfielder | 00 0(1) | 00 0(0) | 00 0(1) | 00 0(2) |
| 26 | Ricky Shakes | Midfielder | 00 0(0) | 00 0(0) | 00 0(1) | 00 0(1) |

### Top scorers

| P | Player | Position | PL | FAC | LC | Total |
| 1 | Kevin Davies | Striker | 8 | 1 | 0 | 9 |
| 1 | El Hadji Diouf | Midfielder/Striker | 9 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 1 | Henrik Pedersen | Striker | 6 | 2 | 1 | 9 |
| 4 | Stelios Giannakopoulos | Midfielder | 7 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
| 5 | Jay-Jay Okocha | Midfielder | 6 | 0 | 1 | 7 |