Ian Evatt responds to negative fan chants after Bolton’s 5-0 thrashing against Stockport County

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Ian Evatt responds to negative chants from Bolton fans after Stockport 5-0

Bolton manager Ian Evatt has hit back at his own club’s fans after the Trotters who travelled to Edgeley Park to witness their hefty defeat against Stockport County sang multiple negative chants.

Evatt’s men were on the receiving of a 5-0 thrashing against the Hatters in the League One fixture on Saturday, conceding four goals in the second half and with three of those coming with just 15 minutes of each other.

Wanderers‘ results have been very up and down of late, with the Greater Manchester clash now leaving them sat in 10th with five losses to their name from 14 games.

However, Evatt was defiant in one post-match interview with BBC Sport in which he tried to keep things in perspective and questioned the behaviour of the away supporters who voiced their criticism both during and after the game.

As you can hear from this brief clip alone, the 42-year-old former player-turned-coach clearly believes that the fan reaction was misjudged and unfair given what he sees as some relative success since he arrived at the club back in 2020.

Self-deprecating choruses of “you’re getting sacked in the morning”, “we’re f***ing sh**’ and even “we should have gone Christmas shopping” rang out around the crowd according to those who attended the drubbing inside Stockport’s stadium – a club which in contrast has continued to build year on year.

Bolton were knocked out of the FA Cup first round in their previous match against Walsall and were even beaten by Aston Villa’s under-21s team in the group stages of the EFL Trophy – incidentally, the last piece of silverware they won in April last year and something Evatt is keen to remind them of.

Nevertheless, his response to the away support making their feelings known hasn’t gone down particularly well either, with plenty of the opinion that it is Evatt who is in need of a reality check and that there hasn’t been enough progress in the last couple of years.

Like countless other comments, online fan page ‘Everything Bolton Wanderers’ simply wrote “Papa John’s Trophy and now 10th in L1, isn’t success to me” and while players have come out to shoulder the responsibility, the pressure continues to mount.

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Many have already made it clear that they now believe the Coventry-born coach should be sacked and that the project he began almost half a decade ago is now coming to an end.

Evatt has become an increasingly divisive figure around the club of late too – having most notably been charged with misconduct by the FA for a confrontation with a Shrewsbury player earlier this season – and it’s by no means the first time Bolton fans have aired their grievances via chants inside the ground.

There’s still a lot of football to be played yet but it seems he has some way to regain faith among much of the fan base. Find his full post-match interview HERE.

What do you think, Bolton fans – do you want to stick with him or is it time to go? You can watch the highlights for what proved to be a great day for County fans down below.

It’s not the first time they’ve put five past their local rivals.

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Featured Images — Bolton Wanderers (via YouTube)