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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
John McDougall

Ian Evatt's frank admission on Bolton Wanderers out of contract player decisions as calls loom

Ian Evatt admits upcoming discussions and telling some of his Bolton Wanderers players their time at the club will end after their contracts expire is the 'worst' part of his job.

Wanderers' season comes to a conclusion tomorrow afternoon when they take on Fleetwood Town at the University of Bolton Stadium.

On Sunday evening, the club will host its Player of the Year awards at the UniBol as the season's achievements are celebrated.

READ MORE: Bolton injury latest on Santos, Lee, Sheehan, Isgrove & Williams as pre-season readiness assessed

The day after, Wanderers will hold reviews with players to reflect on their campaign, whether they have a contract for next season and beyond or not.

It is then when those whose deals expire this summer will be told if they have a future at Wanderers or not.

Wanderers have seven first-team players out of contract this summer, incuding Alex Baptiste, Andrew Tutte, Nathan Delfouneso, Liam Edwards, Liam Gordon, Adam Senior and Reiss Greenidge.

Greenidge is out on loan at Barnet and his Bolton career has essentially come to an end with the Bees having the option to make the move permanent this summer.

Delfouneso is currently out on loan at League Two Bradford City, with Edwards at non-league side Southport.

A busy summer is in store for the Wanderers boss and discussions extend to not just the first team, but also the club's Academy and second string set-up which is in the process of being established.

And he believes these decisions are the worst he encounters in his job to tell players he has developed relationships with that their time at the football club has come to an end.

Evatt told the Manchester Evening News : "It is the worst part of my job, there is no doubt about that. I have loved my four years as a manager and had lots of success, but that is the worst part.

"You develop really close bonds and relationships with these players. I trust them and they trust me, so it is really difficult. At the end of the day, you are taking a job away from them.

"There is never a nice way to do it but we all have to be professional understand it is just the industry we are in. It is not personal, it is just business. I think the world of them all.

"It has been challenging, and not just the first team. Now, I am all over the Academy and the second-year decisions as well because of the ‘B’ team. There are difficult conversations to take place in the next couple of days.

"I am not looking forward to those but there are lots of other things I am looking forward to – the Player of the Year awards, seeing the fans and walking around the pitch after the game on Saturday. Lots of positives but there are some negatives in this job as well."

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