Bolton Wanderers had a disastrous season last year, finishing bottom of the Championship table and suffering relegation to League One. The club also had several off-field problems and were put under transfer embargo.
The summer has started well for Bolton however. Bolton’s new owners have appointed Phil Parkinson as the club’s new manager and there is even talk of the transfer embargo being lifted before next month.
The simulation game Football Manager is considered to be very realistic, with SkySports using the in-game stats last season to evaluate players linked with Premier League clubs.
To predict where Bolton will finish next season, a full season Football Manager simulation has been run with all information accurate as of 3rd June 2016.
As Bolton are still under transfer embargo at this moment in time, the simulation has taken this into account. This means that Bolton did not sign any players for the whole of the League One season.
Despite their lack of signings, Bolton finished the season in sixth place on 73 points and were promoted back into the Championship at the first time of asking via the play-offs.
The simulation also provided an insight as to how Zach Clough will get on in League One should Bolton manage to keep hold of their star player. Clough scored 22 goals for the club, their highest scorer.
Lawrie Wilson was a key player in midfield for Bolton, scoring eight times in 48 outings as the club won promotion.
Gary Madine provided support for Clough in the attacking role, scoring 12 times in 21 starts for the club.
Josh Vela, Darren Pratley, Mark Davies and Jay Spearing all racked up the appearances in the centre of the park for Bolton, with Max Clayton performing well on the wing for the club.
Central defender Derik Osede was a regular starter for the club in League One, contributing a respectable five goals in 30 appearances.
Bolton secured a play-off place comfortably in the end, finishing eight points above seventh place. However Bolton finished nearly 20 points behind third place. The gulf didn’t matter in the end though as Bolton won their play-off semi-final 5-1. The club followed this up with a 1-0 victory in the final to ensure promotion.
Some notable results were a 0-4 home defeat to MK Dons early in the season before a 4-0 home win against Millwall as the season drew to a close.
It’s important to understand that Football Manager has only run a simulation, and it is impossible to predict what will really happen next season. However, Football Manager is understood to be the most realistic simulation game around at the moment.
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