Bolton manager Phil Parkinson: Promotion rebuilds us
Sunday 30 April 2017 17:17, UK
Bolton manager Phil Parkinson says automatic promotion to the Sky Bet Championship marks the transition to a more stable future for his side.
The Wanderers returned to the second tier with a 3-0 victory over Peterborough at the Macron Stadium on Sunday, just one season after they were relegated to League One for the first time in 23 years, following turbulent times at the club.
But, on the final day of the regular 2016/17 season, Bolton secured their immediate return to the Championship as goals from Jem Karacan, David Wheater and Adam Le Fondre got the promotion party started for Parkinson's side, who closed their campaign on 86 points.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Bolton boss Parkinson expressed his joy at guiding his team to promotion at the first time of asking and said his club are rebuilding their reputation.
"I'm absolutely delighted. To perform as well as we did on a big day like today, I'm so proud of the boys," he said.
"It means a lot to so many people in the club and the club's had some tough times over the last few years."
Bolton were facing serious financial difficulties just last season and consequently threatened with a winding-up order over unpaid taxes but, a year on, the ship has steadied and Parkinson feels positive about the future.
"This is a great day for us and this has got to be the start of the club building back and putting the platform in place to take us forward again. It's a great day for us," he continued.
"I think the spirit of the lads, when we went away in pre-season we kind of detected the lads had galvanised together through the adversity of last year."
Parkinson took charge of the north west side in June 2016 before going on to lead Bolton to their best league start in 82 years.
He said: "They've pulled together all year and they're a really good group to work with. We've pulled together and I'm just so proud of every one today to get the job done.
"We've had lots of things thrown as us through the year and we've just kept our heads down to concentrate on what we've had to do week in week out and we've got our rewards in the end."
The former Reading midfielder praised the players and the board, adding: "The club's in a good position now to go forward and we've had some troubled times but what a day for everyone at Bolton today.
"Enormous credit to Ken Anderson, the chairman, for what he's done because this was a big job to take on for him as well as myself and the staff and he's handled the club really well.
"I think this has got to be the start of something that builds the club back up again."
