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"The Trotters" redirects here. For the family in the British comedy Only Fools
and Horses, see Only Fools and Horses § Cast and characters.
Bolton Wanderers Football Club

Full name Bolton Wanderers Football Club

Current season
Bolton Wanderers Football Club (/ˈboʊltən/ ( listen)) is a professional
football club in Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL
League One, the third tier of English football. Formed as Christ Church
Football Club in 1874, it adopted its current name in 1877 and was a founder
member of the Football League in 1888. Bolton have spent more seasons,
73, than any other club in the top flight without winning the title.[4] They
finished third in the First Division in 1891–92, 1920–21 and 1924–25. Bolton
won the FA Cup three times in the 1920s, and again in 1958. The club spent
a season in the Fourth Division in 1987–88, before regaining top-flight status
in 1995 and qualifying for the UEFA Cup twice; reaching the last 32 in 2005–
06 and the last 16 in 2007–08.
The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895. On 9 March 1946,
thirty-three Bolton fans lost their lives in a human crush, the Burnden Park
disaster.[5] In 1997, Bolton moved to the Reebok Stadium (as it was then
known). The stadium was renamed the Macron Stadium in 2014 and
University of Bolton Stadium in 2018.
Since 2015, Bolton had been in severe financial difficulties, and went into
administration in May 2019. Facing possible EFL expulsion, the club was
acquired by new owners on 28 August 2019.[2][3]
 Contents
1 History 1.1Early
1.2Top
history
1.3Few
flight
1.4Return
(1877–1929)
highs
run
1.5Return
and
1.6
and
to
2
Relegation
the
cup
Colours
1.7
many
to
3
Under
top
the
success
Stadiums
4lows
flight
Championship
Support
and
new
and
5 Rivalries
(1958–1995)
and
badge
(1929–1958)
ownership
financial
6 Ownership
venture
7
(2012–2018)
crisis
Players
(2019–present)
6.1
into
Sponsorship
and
(2018–2019)
Europe
finances
7.1Current
7.2
(1995–2012)
Out
7.3squad
Reserves
on7.4
loan
8
Form
Clu
7.5
9
P
External links History[edit]
Main article: History of Bolton Wanderers F.C.
Early history (1877–1929)[edit]
The club was founded by the Reverend Joseph Farrall Wright, Perpetual
curate of Christ Church Bolton,[6] and Thomas Ogden, the schoolmaster at the
adjacent church school, in 1874 as Christ Church F.C.[7] It was initially run
from the church of the same name on Deane Road, Bolton, on the site where
the Innovation factory of the University of Bolton now stands. The club left the
location following a dispute with the vicar, and changed its name to Bolton
Wanderers in 1877. The name was chosen as the club initially had a lot of
difficulty finding a permanent ground to play on, having used three venues in
its first four years of existence.[8]
Bolton were one of the 12 founder members of the Foot