The fall of Bolton Wanderers: How the Trotters reached their lowest ever league position

Bolton Wanderers
(Image credit: PA Images)

In 2008, Bolton Wanderers were officially one of the best 50 teams in all of Europe. After two seasons in the UEFA Cup - reaching the last 32 in 2006, then the last 16 two years later - they sat 47th in UEFA’s rankings. PSG were 66th. Atletico Madrid were 67th. Manchester City were 86th. Borussia Dortmund were 109th.

Today, Bolton are not even close to being one of the best 50 teams in England, let alone Europe. On Saturday, the club commenced a season in the fourth tier for only the second time in its 146-year history.

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Chris Flanagan
Senior Staff Writer

Chris joined FourFourTwo in 2015 and has reported from 20 countries, in places as varied as Jerusalem and the Arctic Circle. He's interviewed Pele, Zlatan and Santa Claus (it's a long story), as well as covering the World Cup, Euro 2020 and the Clasico. He previously spent 10 years as a newspaper journalist, and completed the 92 in 2017.