2000 - 2005
Click on one of the seasons below to read the review:
2000 - 2001: The Wanderers added Anthony Barness, Simon Charlton, Ian Marshall and Michael Ricketts to the squad in an attempt to make it third time lucky at getting back into the Premiership. Major outings were Eidur Gudjohnsen, who joined Chelsea and Danes Claus Jensen and Michael Johansen who signed for Charlton and AB Copenhagen respectively.
The defence was strengthened with the the arrival, on loan, of Colin Hendry from Coventry City and the move was made permanent in the New Year. He made his debut in a 1-0 win at Wimbledon where Dean Holdsworth netted against his former team. The Wanderers went into 2001 in second spot behind Fulham and made a great start to the year with a lunchtime 2-0 win at Preston. Gareth Farrelly and Michael Ricketts, who had now earned the title of super sub, grabbed the goals.
Bolton faced West Brom in the play-offs and things weren't too rosy as the home side lead 2-0 with ten minutes left. Gudni Bergsson then headed home and Per Frandsen converted a penalty to level matters. A 3-0 second leg success earned a final appearance against Preston at the Millennium Stadium.
Gareth Farrelly's first half goal settled any nerves and late goals from Michael Ricketts, his 24th of the season, and Ricardo Gardner secured a magnificent 3-0 win and a return to the Premiership.
2001 - 2002: New faces in Henrik Pedersen, Rod Wallace, Bruno N'Gotty and Jermaine Johnson all played a part in the opening weeks whilst Japenese striker Akinori Nishizawa scored in a 4-3 Worthington Cup win over Walsall. Back to the defeats at the Reebok Stadium by Sunderland and Newcastle Unitred were tempered by a magnificent 2-1 win at Manchester United.
The home side had taken the lead, but the Wanderers triumphed and became the first side to win at Old Trafford, thanks to super goals from Kevin Nolan and Michael Ricketts.
Bolton slipped into the bottom three for the first time during the season after a 3-2 reverse at Newcastle but it was to be the arrival of French international Youri Djorkaeff, and Danish international Stig Tofting, along with the loan signing of Fredi Bobic that kept Bolton out of trouble. Djorkaeff made his debut in a 2-1 win at Charlton. This result came after a low point which saw Derby County win 3-1 at The Reebok Stadium to drag the club into the relegation melting pot.
A home win over Aston Villa, in which Fredi Bobic scored his first goal for the club, and England Under 21 international Kevin Nolan took his season's League tally to eight, lifted the pressure. The proverbial six pointer came five games from the end of the season. Fellow relegation rivals Ipswich Town visited the Reebok Stadium and found themselves four down by the interval with Bobic grabbing Bolton's first top flight hat trick since Freddie Hill in 1962. Djorkaeff netted the other and although Ipswich pulled one back in the second half they were a broken team.
A point from a 1-1 home draw with Tottenham took the Wanderers to the mystical safety mark of 40 points and, a week later, that mark and Premiership status were confirmed when Ipswich lost at home to Manchester United. Two days later Arsenal won 2-0 at the Reebok Stadium on their way to the championship with a party atmosphere from both sets of supporters enveloping the stadium and watched by a record 27,351 crowd.
2002 - 2003: Nigerian international Jay Jay Okocha was Sam Allardyce's first signing of the 2002/2003 season when he arrived at the Reebok Stadium on a free transfer from Paris Saint Germain. Other signings that pre-season included France under 21 international Bernard Mendy, who arrived on a season-long loan; free transfer from Real Madrid, Ivan Campo and Huddersfield Town's Delroy Facey.
Wanderers opened the campaign with a 4-1 reverse at Loftus Road, when Fulham responded to Michael Ricketts' early penalty conversion by registering a comprehensive victory.
A week later, they were still looking for their first points of the campaign when Charlton Athletic came to the Reebok Stadium to record a 2-1 victory.
Wanderers soon regained their stride and recorded back-to-back victories against Aston Villa (Home) and at Old Trafford where they beat Manchester United for the second year on the trot with Kevin Nolan once again on the scoresheet.
Okocha netted his first goal for the club in a 3-1 loss at Birmingham City.
It was a fairly miserable first-half to the campaign - although victories away to Leeds United (4-2) and at home to Newcastle United (4-3) brought about temporary enlightenment.
However, the second-half of the season proved to be momentous in the definition of Bolton Wanderers as a truly established Premiership force. During the transfer window, wantaway striker Michael Ricketts was sold to Middlesbrough, while coming through the 'in door' were French duo Florent Laville and Pierre-Yves Andre, who were both recruited until the end of that season.
Dubbed 'The Rock', Laville slotted into a back-four that proved to be very mean as it stoically battled to overturn Wanderers' fortunes.
Wins against Birmingham City, Sunderland, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City revived the spirit within the camp and the prospect of avoiding relegation seemed tangible.
A turning point came in the home match against West Ham United, who were Wanderers' main rivals in the bid to stay up. A stunning strike from Okocha gave the home side three precious points and ultimately thrust the destiny of Wanderers' survival hopes into their own hands.
The final game of the season - at home to Middlesbrough - gave Wanderers the opportunity to control their own future. They had to match or do better than what West Ham United were doing at St Andrew's - the home of Birmingham City. Goals from Per Frandsen and Jay Jay Okocha quickly allayed the fears of the home fans, but a goal from former favourite Ricketts left the game with a nervy edge to it.
In the end, Wanderers hung on for victory and sensationally survived.
2003-2004: Greece international Stelios Giannakopoulos was Sam Allardyce's main signing of the summer and former Blackburn Rovers and Southampton striker Kevin Davies joined the club following a successful trial period after being released by the South Coast Club.
But Wanderers started the campaign with a gut-wrenching reverse at Old Trafford - a venue where Wanderers had won their two previous encounters. Ryan Giggs opened the scoring in the first-half for the hosts, but a further goal from the Welshman, plus strikes from Paul Scholes and Ruud van Nistelrooy ensured that Allardyce's men trudged away from Manchester with their tails between their legs.
Another local derby followed with Blackburn Rovers making the short journey to the Reebok Stadium. Wanderers appeared to have recovered from their opening-day thumping as they raced to a two-goal lead against their neighbours. Youri Djorkaeff put Wanderers in front from the spot, before Davies netted an emotional goal against his former club. But a second-half fight back from Rovers saw them earn a point when Dwight Yorke's injury time effort added to Matt Jansen's earlier effort.
Newly-promoted Portsmouth were next on Wanderers' travels, but a hat-trick from Teddy Sheringham plus another goal from Steve Stone ensured that Wanderers suffered their second 4-0 reverse of the campaign.
Signs of improvement were showing in Wanderers subsequent games and they went through the month of September unbeaten. Their first victory of the season came at home to Middlesbrough with goals from Kevin Davies and Bruno N'Gotty securing the points.
A 3-1 victory at home to Walsall put Wanderers in the hat for the Carling Cup's third round.
Jussi Jaaskelainen proved to be the hero at Villa Park as his penalty save from Juan Pablo Angel enable his side to pick up their first point away from the Reebok Stadium. Wanderers took the lead through Kevin Nolan in the first-half, but a goal from Angel set the game up for a frantic finale. But it was Jaaskelainen who had the last laugh as he guessed the right way to thwart the Colombian.
Two defeats - away to Manchester City and home to Birmingham City - were followed by two victories. A home win against Gillingham in the Carling Cup gave Wanderers a fourth round tie at Liverpool, while three vital Barclays Premiership points were grabbed at home against Tottenham Hotspur thanks to Kevin Nolan's fourth goal of the season.
Wanderers' first away victory of the campaign was registered at Leeds United's Elland Road. Goals from Stelios and Henrik Pedersen proved to be enough against the men from West Yorkshire. This was followed up by another three points at home to Everton and Wanderers found themselves in tenth position.
Their progression in the Carling Cup continued thanks to a memorable 3-2 victory at Anfield. A last-minute Youri Djorkaeff penalty completed the victory after Mario Jardel and Jay Okocha saw Danny Murphy and Vladimir Smicer cancel out their strikes.
In the next round, it took extra time to see off plucky Southampton, but Wanderers fell at the first hurdle in the FA Cup when they lost a replay at home to Tranmere Rovers.
Wanderers' league campaign went on the slow burner and they didn't win a game until January when Kevin Nolan netted the winner in a seven-goal thriller.
Aston Villa provided the opposition in the semi-final of the League Cup, and Wanderers put the tie out of sight as they registered a 5-2 home victory in the first-leg. Although Villa scored two without reply in the second-leg, Wanderers had done enough to earn a place in the Carling Cup Final at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.
The distraction of the final against Middlesbrough didn't prevent Wanderers from picking up an outstanding away victory at Charlton Athletic, a win that took them to eighth position in the League.
However, a disappointing sequence of five straight defeats, which included the League Cup final, saw Wanderers drop down to 13th place.
A victory against Newcastle at the Reebok brought the run to an end, but Middlesbrough rubbed salt into their wounds by recording another 2-0 win.
But Wanderers ended the season in style by winning five games on the spin before losing to Fulham on the final day.
A final position of eighth saw Wanderers narrowly miss out on a place in the UEFA Cup. But previous seasons of fighting against the drop were dispelled and Wanderers' highest top-flight finish in over 40 years gave the fans some food for thought for the following season.
2004-2005: Captain Jay Jay Okocha ended his goalscoring drought in style by netting two goals in the opening day demolition of Charlton Athletic. The African ace, who hadn't netted from open play the previous season, bagged a pair, as did Henrik Pedersen, as Wanderers comprehensively beat the Londoners 4-1.
Wanderers were brought crashing back down to earth, however, a week later when they travelled to Fulham, who ran out 2-0 winners. Wanderers stayed in the south of England as they were set to face Southampton just several days later. A rousing performance from Wanderers, who included new signing Radhi Jaidi, saw the visitors pick up a 2-1 victory, which saw them go third in the Premiership.
Another win followed, this time over Liverpool, and Wanderers remained unbeaten until their trip to the West Midlands to face West Brom in early October. Although Stelios got on the scoresheet after finding the back of the net with a well-taken free-kick, the Baggies managed to claim all three points for their first victory of the campaign.
Bouncing back in style, Wanderers won their next three league games - although they were knocked out of the Carling Cup by Spurs at the Reebok.
A disappointing spell ensued which saw Wanderers lose eight out of nine matches. This devastating run of form saw them slip down the league to 13th and their hopes of qualifying for the UEFA Cup for the first time in their history took a severe blow.
But a New Year's Day draw at home to West Brom thanks to El-Hadji Diouf's late, late leveller propelled Wanderers onto a stunning run of form which saw them win eight out of their next nine matches. A place in the FA Cup quarter-final was their reward as was as a charge up the league, which kept up their aspirations of Europe.
Having already beaten Arsenal at the Reebok during that fantastic turnaround of form, Wanderers were dumped out of the FA Cup at the hands of the Gunners, who scarcely deserved victory.
Wanderers only lost two more games that campaign and confirmed their place in the UEFA Cup with a 1-1 draw at Fratton Park in their penultimate game of the season.
A 3-2 victory at home to Champions League qualifiers, Everton, was the fitting finale to a memorable campaign.
