Patience needed after Reading but Bolton Wanderers, Steven Schumacher can take Owen Coyle hope | OneFootball

Bolton started the Steven Schumacher era with a 1-0 defeat to Reading last weekend but there are reasons, both practical and tangential, to have hope.

Comparing a new manager to Owen Coyle to promote hope among Bolton Wanderers supporters may seem bizarre but the early part of his Trotters stint is worth considering with new manager Steven Schumacher in mind.

Wanderers head into February sitting just outside the top six and the play-off spots in League One with the pre-season expectations of being a title challenger now very much faded but promotion hopes still well and truly alive.

Those promotion hopes have been ignited by the departure of Ian Evatt and the subsequent appointment of the aforementioned Schumacher following the Whites’ year-long underperformance.

Defeat in his first game in charge at the weekend will leave some supporters concerned that things run a bit deeper than just the head coach but there is still room to believe that things will turn around.

Bolton have only experienced a managerial change mid-way through the campaign on just three occasions in the last 15 years – when already relegated under Neil Lennon and when 24th in the table in October under Dougie Freedman – but a different dugout switch is more relevant where Schumacher is concerned.

From Megson to Coyle and Evatt to Schumacher

Coyle took charge after the poor results of Gary Megson as Bolton languished in a Premier League relegation battle for a second successive season under his management during the 2009/10 campaign – and just two seasons after they had become a top eight mainstay in the top-flight.

Megson departed in late December and then Burnley boss, who had led the Clarets to Premier League promotion the previous campaign, Coyle departed Turf Moor to return to Bolton, where he had been a striker during the 1990s.

Megson’s biggest flaw was not necessarily the turgid style of football and below-average results but his relationship with supporters, who he appeared to hold in contempt – and they him.

Evatt, whilst enjoying some relative success with Bolton in his first two or three years in charge, failed quite badly in his fourth season as they once again failed to gain League One promotion before a collapse this season.

Just like Megson, his relationship with supporters had gone beyond repair and, for everyone’s sake, a change was needed in the dugout. Becoming just the second January appointment in Bolton’s history after Coyle, Schumacher needs a mid-season boost.

Coyle managed just one win in his first eight games as Bolton boss but eventually turned things around and got them comfortably into the middle of the table by the end of the season and then, within a year, they were flirting with European qualification and reaching an FA Cup semi-final before things turned sour.

Even if Schumacher was to get off to a rocky start at the Toughsheet Community Stadium, as last week’s defeat suggested may be possible, then he can look back to someone whose appointment shares a few similarities and believe Bolton can propel themselves forward with only one medium-to-long good run of form likely enough to see them in the top six and then who knows.

Bolton’s familiar failures will remain a concern

The concern for Schumacher is that whilst this team are dramatically underperforming and had seemingly given up on some of Evatt’s methods, Bolton’s issues this season are something that can handle a quick fix.

The issues in their defeat against Reading were all too familiar. Bolton shaded the play and were probably just about the better side, not creating much but wasting the clear-cut chances they did fashion before losing the game due to a defensive error.

Wanderers were outplayed for the opening 20 or so minutes before growing into the game. They squandered chances for Aaron Collins and Kion Etete, which allowed Reading to exploit their continued haplessness at the back and notch a 1-0 win thanks to a late penalty, given away by the aforementioned new loanee Etete and scored by Harvey Knibbs.

In ways, it felt like an Evatt defeat, which raises questions for Schumacher about how deep the problems run.

Patience will be required from Bolton supporters after an underwhelming start to the new era with a result and a performance that would have been a lot more heavily criticised had his predecessor remained in the dugout.

But it's only one game, which came soon after a new appointment and in the final throes of the transfer window so it is too early to judge.

Coyle made a poor start but turned fortunes around after the toxicity of the Megson era and that should offer belief that Schumacher can do the same.