'Doesn’t guarantee you' - Ian Evatt's Salford promotion message & reflections on Bolton success

Ian Evatt believes achieving promotion out of League Two is not something which should be taken for granted as he relected on Bolton Wanderers' achievement in his first season at the club and believes Salford City are a 'prime example' of football getting more competitive below the Premier League.

Evatt achieved automatic promotion with Wanderers out of the fourth tier of English football in the 2020/21 campaign. It was Bolton's first season in League Two for some 30 years.

During that time, Wanderers were subject to a salary cap which restricted what they could spend on players' wages to £1.5m annually. Evatt also had to build a team from scratch when he arrived at the club in the summer of 2020.

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This evening's opponents in the Carabao Cup first round are the Ammies, who have highly ambitious owners in the form of several members of Manchester United's Class of 92. It includes the likes of Gary and Phil Neville, Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and David Beckham.

Salford have been in League Two since winning promotion to the EFL in 2019. Over the past three seasons, they have failed in their bid to reach League One and are yet to finish in the play-offs.

The experiences of Wanderers in the division and the extraordinary run of results in the second half of the season to clinch a third placed finish are perhaps 'underappreciated' Evatt believes with the salary cap and squad rebuild that took place. On reflection, th Bolton boss feels it was a 'phenomenal achievement'.

But he believes that regardless of recruitment and spending money on that aspect, it does not guarantee getting out of leagues and winning