# 2018–19 Bolton Wanderers F.C. season

The 2018–19 season was Bolton Wanderers's second season back in the second tier of English football following their immediate return from EFL League One. The season covered the period from 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2019.

## Pre-season

Friendlies against St Mirren, Atherton Collieries, FC Halifax Town, Morecambe, Girona, Guiseley and Peterborough United were confirmed. The game against St Mirren was cancelled a day before when the players went on strike due to unpaid wages. Bolton's game against Morecambe was changed from an away game to a behind closed doors match at Bolton's Lostock training ground due to Globe Arena not yet being ready to host football matches.

## Competitions
### EFL Championship
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion, qualification or relegation |
| 19 | Queens Park Rangers | 46 | 14 | 9 | 23 | 53 | 71 | −18 | 51 | |
| 20 | Reading | 46 | 10 | 17 | 19 | 49 | 66 | −17 | 47 | |
| 21 | Millwall | 46 | 10 | 14 | 22 | 48 | 64 | −16 | 44 | |
| 22 | Rotherham United (R) | 46 | 8 | 16 | 22 | 52 | 83 | −31 | 40 | Relegation to EFL League One |
| 23 | Bolton Wanderers (R) | 46 | 8 | 8 | 30 | 29 | 78 | −49 | 32 | Relegation to EFL League One |
| 24 | Ipswich Town (R) | 46 | 5 | 16 | 25 | 36 | 77 | −41 | 31 | Relegation to EFL League One |
* ↑ Brentford were awarded a 1–0 win over Bolton due to Bolton's inability to hold the fixture.

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: 5 May 2019. Source: BBC

#### 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 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 |
| Ground | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A |
| Result | W | D | W | W | L | D | L | L | D | W | L | L | D | L | L | L | L | D | L | D | L | L | L | W | D | L | L | L | D | L | L | W | L | L | L | W | L | L | W | L | L | L | L | L | L | L |
| Position | 3 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 15 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 18 | 18 | 19 | 19 | 23 | 22 | 23 | 22 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 22 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 23 |

#### Matches

On 21 June 2018, the Championship fixtures for the forthcoming season were announced. Bolton began their league campaign at newly relegated West Bromwich Albion on August 4 and finished it away at Nottingham Forest on May 5.

### FA Cup

The third round draw was made live on BBC by Ruud Gullit and Paul Ince from Stamford Bridge on 3 December 2018. The fourth round draw was made live on BBC by Robbie Keane and Carl Ikeme from Wolverhampton on 7 January 2019.

### EFL Cup

On 15 June 2018, the draw for the first round was made in Vietnam.

## Squad

| No. | Name | Pos. | Place of birth | Age | Apps | Goals | Signed from | Date signed | Fee | End |
| Goalkeepers ||||||||||||
| 1 | Ben Alnwick | GK | Prudhoe | 32 | 95 | 0 | Peterborough United | 31 August 2016 | Free | 2020 |
| 20 | Remi Matthews | GK | Gorleston | 25 | 20 | 0 | Norwich City | 18 January 2019 | Undisclosed | 2020 |
| 27 | Ben Williams | GK | Manchester | 36 | 0 | 0 | Blackpool | 3 August 2018 | Free | 2019 |
| Defenders ||||||||||||
| 2 | Mark Little | RB | Worcester | 30 | 35 | 1 | Bristol City | 1 July 2017 | Free | 2019 |
| 3 | Andrew Taylor | LB | Hartlepool | 32 | 88 | 0 | Wigan Athletic | 1 July 2017 | Free | 2019 |
| 5 | Mark Beevers | CB | Barnsley | 29 | 132 | 12 | Millwall | 3 July 2016 | Free | 2019 |
| 14 | Jack Hobbs | CB | Portsmouth | 30 | 27 | 1 | Nottingham Forest | 30 July 2018 | Free | 2019 |
| 16 | Paweł Olkowski | RB | Ozimek | 29 | 39 | 2 | 1. FC Köln | 10 July 2018 | Free | 2020 |
| 17 | Callum Connolly | CB/DM | Liverpool | 21 | 16 | 2 | Everton | 31 January 2019 | Loan | 2019 |
| 18 | Marc Wilson | CB/DM | Aghagallon | 31 | 17 | 0 | Sunderland | 23 July 2018 | Free | 2019 |
| 29 | Jonathan Grounds | LB | Thornaby-on-Tees | 31 | 15 | 0 | Birmingham City | 13 August 2018 | Loan | 2019 |
| 31 | David Wheater | CB | Redcar | 32 | 236 | 16 | Middlesbrough | 20 January 2011 | Undisclosed | 2019 |
| Midfielders ||||||||||||
| 4 | Jason Lowe | DM | Wigan | 27 | 37 | 0 | Birmingham City | 1 July 2018 | Free | 2020 |
| 6 | Josh Vela | CM | Salford | 24 | 189 | 13 | Academy | 20 March 2011 | Trainee | 2019 |
| 7 | Erhun Oztumer | AM | Greenwich | 28 | 18 | 1 | Walsall | 1 July 2018 | Free | 2020 |
| 10 | Sammy Ameobi | RW | Newcastle | 26 | 91 | 12 | Newcastle United | 14 July 2017 | Free | 2020 |
| 11 | Will Buckley | LW | Oldham | 28 | 59 | 6 | Sunderland | 1 July 2017 | Free | 2019 |
| 12 | Craig Noone | RW | Kirkby | 30 | 66 | 2 | Cardiff City | 31 August 2017 | Undisclosed | 2019 |
| 15 | Luke Murphy | CM | Macclesfield | 29 | 13 | 0 | Leeds United | 2 August 2018 | Free | 2020 |
| 19 | Gary O'Neil | CM | Beckenham | 36 | 31 | 3 | Bristol City | 3 August 2018 | Free | 2019 |
| 21 | Joe Williams | CM | Liverpool | 22 | 30 | 0 | Everton | 23 August 2018 | Loan | 2019 |
| 22 | Lloyd Dyer | LW | Birmingham | 36 | 7 | 0 | Burton Albion | 24 September 2018 | Free | 2019 |
| 30 | Yanic Wildschut | LW | Amsterdam | 27 | 18 | 2 | Norwich City | 19 July 2018 | Loan | 2019 |
| 34 | Joe Pritchard | CM | Watford | 22 | 5 | 0 | Tottenham Hotspur | 1 July 2018 | Free | 2019 |
| 48 | Luca Connell | CM | Liverpool | 19 | 12 | 0 | Academy | 5 January 2019 | Trainee | 2019 |
| Forwards ||||||||||||
| 8 | Clayton Donaldson | CF | Bradford | 35 | 34 | 2 | Sheffield United | 1 July 2018 | Free | 2019 |
| 28 | Josh Magennis | CF | Bangor | 28 | 45 | 7 | Charlton Athletic | 30 July 2018 | Undisclosed | 2020 |
| 35 | Connor Hall | CF | Slough | 21 | 2 | 0 | Sheffield United | 3 July 2017 | Free | 2020 |
| Out on Loan ||||||||||||
| | Ben Amos | GK | Macclesfield | 29 | 45 | 0 | Manchester United | 1 July 2015 | Free | 2019 |

### Statistics

    As of 6 May 2019
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Championship | Championship | FA Cup | FA Cup | League Cup | League Cup |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 1 | GK | ENG | Ben Alnwick | 28 | 0 | 27+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | ENG | Mark Little | 4 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | ENG | Andrew Taylor | 27 | 0 | 26+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 4 | MF | ENG | Jason Lowe | 37 | 0 | 35+0 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | ENG | Mark Beevers | 34 | 4 | 31+1 | 3 | 2+0 | 1 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 6 | MF | ENG | Josh Vela | 19 | 0 | 12+5 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 |
| 7 | MF | TUR | Erhun Oztumer | 18 | 1 | 8+9 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 1 |
| 8 | FW | JAM | Clayton Donaldson | 34 | 2 | 18+13 | 1 | 0+2 | 1 | 1+0 | 0 |
| 10 | MF | NGA | Sammy Ameobi | 31 | 4 | 26+4 | 4 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 11 | MF | ENG | Will Buckley | 34 | 4 | 23+10 | 4 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 12 | MF | ENG | Craig Noone | 39 | 1 | 25+11 | 1 | 2+0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 14 | DF | ENG | Jack Hobbs | 27 | 1 | 24+1 | 1 | 1+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 |
| 15 | MF | ENG | Luke Murphy | 13 | 0 | 7+4 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 16 | DF | POL | Paweł Olkowski | 39 | 2 | 34+3 | 2 | 2+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 17 | DF | ENG | Callum Connolly | 16 | 2 | 15+1 | 2 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 18 | DF | IRL | Marc Wilson | 17 | 0 | 13+3 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 |
| 19 | MF | ENG | Gary O'Neil | 31 | 3 | 24+5 | 3 | 0+1 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 |
| 20 | GK | ENG | Remi Matthews | 20 | 0 | 18+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 |
| 21 | MF | ENG | Joe Williams | 30 | 0 | 29+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 22 | MF | ENG | Lloyd Dyer | 7 | 0 | 2+5 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 28 | FW | NIR | Josh Magennis | 45 | 7 | 29+13 | 4 | 2+0 | 3 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 29 | DF | ENG | Jonathan Grounds | 15 | 0 | 12+1 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 |
| 30 | MF | NED | Yanic Wildschut | 18 | 2 | 4+12 | 2 | 1+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 |
| 31 | DF | ENG | David Wheater | 34 | 0 | 32+1 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 34 | MF | ENG | Joe Pritchard | 5 | 0 | 1+3 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 35 | FW | ENG | Connor Hall | 1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 |
| 36 | DF | ENG | Harry Brockbank | 3 | 0 | 3+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 38 | MF | ENG | Jack Earing | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 41 | DF | ENG | Joe Muscatt | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 48 | MF | IRL | Luca Connell | 12 | 0 | 8+2 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 49 | FW | ENG | Ronan Darcy | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| Player(s) who left the club: ||||||||||||
| 9 | FW | ENG | Adam Le Fondre | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | WAL | Christian Doidge | 17 | 1 | 8+9 | 1 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |

### Goals record

    As of 30 March 2019
| Rank | No. | Nat. | Po. | Name | Championship | FA Cup | League Cup | Total |
| 1 | 28 | | CF | Josh Magennis | 4 | 3 | 0 | 7 |
| 2 | 5 | | CB | Mark Beevers | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 2 | 10 | | RW | Sammy Ameobi | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 2 | 11 | | LW | Will Buckley | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 5 | 19 | | CM | Gary O'Neil | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 6 | 8 | | CF | Clayton Donaldson | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 6 | 16 | | RB | Paweł Olkowski | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 6 | 17 | | CB | Callum Connolly | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 6 | 30 | | LW | Yanic Wildschut | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 | 7 | | AM | Erhun Oztumer | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 10 | 9 | | CF | Christian Doidge | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | 12 | | RW | Craig Noone | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | 14 | | CB | Jack Hobbs | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 28 | 5 | 1 | 34 |

### Disciplinary record

    As of 19 April 2019
| Rank | No. | Nat. | Po. | Name | Championship | Championship | Championship | FA Cup | FA Cup | FA Cup | League Cup | League Cup | League Cup | Total | Total | Total |
| 1 | 12 | | RW | Craig Noone | 8 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 0 |
| 2 | 4 | | CM | Jason Lowe | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | 28 | | CF | Josh Magennis | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | 31 | | CB | David Wheater | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | 6 | | CM | Josh Vela | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | 21 | | CM | Joe Williams | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | 10 | | RW | Sammy Ameobi | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 7 | 16 | | RB | Paweł Olkowski | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | 18 | | CB | Marc Wilson | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | 19 | | CM | Gary O'Neil | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | 5 | | CB | Mark Beevers | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | 8 | | CF | Clayton Donaldson | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | 11 | | LW | Will Buckley | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | 17 | | CB | Callum Connolly | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | 3 | | LB | Andrew Taylor | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | 15 | | CM | Luke Murphy | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | 29 | | LB | Jonathan Grounds | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 18 | — | | CF | Adam Le Fondre | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 74 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 79 | 2 | 2 |

## Transfers
### Transfers in

| Date from | Position | Name | From | Fee |
| 1 July 2018 | CF | Clayton Donaldson | Sheffield United | Free transfer |
| 1 July 2018 | CF | Stephen Duke-McKenna | Everton | Free transfer |
| 1 July 2018 | RB | Chiori Johnson | Arsenal | Free transfer |
| 1 July 2018 | DM | Jason Lowe | Birmingham City | Free transfer |
| 1 July 2018 | AM | Erhun Oztumer | Walsall | Free transfer |
| 1 July 2018 | CM | Joe Pritchard | Tottenham Hotspur | Free transfer |
| 10 July 2018 | RB | Paweł Olkowski | 1. FC Köln | Free transfer |
| 24 July 2018 | CB | Marc Wilson | Sunderland | Free transfer |
| 30 July 2018 | CB | Jack Hobbs | Nottingham Forest | Free transfer |
| 30 July 2018 | CF | Josh Magennis | Charlton Athletic | £200,000 |
| 2 August 2018 | CM | Luke Murphy | Leeds United | Free transfer |
| 3 August 2018 | GK | Ben Williams | Blackpool | Free transfer |
| 3 August 2018 | CM | Gary O'Neil | Bristol City | Free transfer |
| 13 August 2018 | DM | Marcus Wood | Manchester City | Free transfer |
| 13 August 2018 | CB | Yoan Zouma | Angers SCO | Undisclosed |
| 24 September 2018 | LM | Lloyd Dyer | Burton Albion | Free transfer |
| 9 October 2018 | CM | Stephen Ireland | Stoke City | Free transfer |
| 18 January 2019 | GK | Remi Matthews | Norwich City | Undisclosed |

### Transfers out

| Date from | Position | Name | To | Fee |
| 1 July 2018 | CB | Dorian Dervite | Charleroi | Released |
| 1 July 2018 | DM | Karl Henry | Bradford City | Released |
| 1 July 2018 | GK | Mark Howard | Blackpool | Released |
| 1 July 2018 | CM | Jem Karacan | Millwall | Released |
| 1 July 2018 | MF | Jeff King | St Mirren | Released |
| 1 July 2018 | CB | Jan Kirchhoff | 1. FC Magdeburg | Released |
| 1 July 2018 | RW | Filipe Morais | Crawley Town | Released |
| 1 July 2018 | CF | Chinedu Obasi | Elfsborg | Released |
| 1 July 2018 | CM | Derik Osede | CD Numancia | Released |
| 1 July 2018 | CM | Darren Pratley | Charlton Athletic | Released |
| 1 July 2018 | LM | Chris Taylor | Blackpool | Released |
| 1 July 2018 | MF | Ryan White | Free agent | Released |
| 1 July 2018 | CF | Aaron Wilbraham | Rochdale | Released |
| 14 August 2018 | CF | Adam Le Fondre | Sydney | Released |
| 18 September 2018 | RB | Stephen Darby | Retired | — |
| 20 December 2018 | AM | Stephen Ireland | Free agent | Mutual consent |

### Loans in

| Start date | Position | Name | From | End date |
| 19 July 2018 | LW | Yanic Wildschut | Norwich City | 30 June 2019 |
| 12 August 2018 | GK | Remi Matthews | Norwich City | 1 January 2019 |
| 13 August 2018 | LB | Jonathan Grounds | Birmingham City | 31 May 2019 |
| 23 August 2018 | CM | Joe Williams | Everton | 31 May 2019 |
| 31 August 2018 | CF | Christian Doidge | Forest Green Rovers | 1 January 2019 |
| 31 January 2019 | DM | Callum Connolly | Everton | 31 May 2019 |

### Loans out

| Start date | Position | Name | To | End date |
| 13 July 2018 | GK | Ben Amos | Millwall | 31 May 2019 |
| 17 August 2018 | GK | Jake Turner | Stalybridge Celtic | January 2019 |
| 31 August 2018 | CF | Connor Hall | Accrington Stanley | January 2019 |
| 7 September 2018 | GK | James Aspinall | Stalybridge Celtic | October 2018 |
| 23 October 2018 | DM | Marcus Wood | Southport | 2 January 2019 |
| 26 October 2018 | CM | Dennis Politic | Salford City | January 2019 |
| 2 November 2018 | CB | Liam Edwards | Southport | January 2019 |
| 30 November 2018 | RB | Harry Brockbank | Salford City | January 2019 |
| 12 January 2019 | LB | Joe Muscatt | Salford City | 31 May 2019 |
| 1 March 2019 | GK | Jake Turner | Darlington | 31 May 2019 |