BOLTON Wanderers have confirmed Steven Schumacher has been appointed as their new head coach.
The former Stoke City and Plymouth Argyle boss will be in the dugout on Saturday for his first game at Reading after agreeing a three-and-a-half-year-deal with the Whites.
Schumacher, 40, led Plymouth to promotion from League One with 101 points in 2023, and has been out of work since leaving Stoke in September five games into the Championship season.
He has turned down offers to return to the game since then but felt the opportunity to manage Bolton was one he could not pass up.
“So many things attracted me to this great club,” he said. “The history, the fanbase, the ownership, the quality in the squad. It has got so many different things, and I am just really excited to be here.
“When you're out of work, you are trying to reflect. I tried to go and do some extra learning, tried to take some time as well, spend with the familly"
“It was the first Christmas in 23 years of not being involved in the game. And it was good, hectic, but it was good.
“You are always just looking for the right opportunity and when I got the call late last week and started discussions over the weekend there was just something that felt right about it.
“I have obviously spoken to other clubs in the four months that I've been off, and this one, as I say, it felt right. I've got a really good feeling, and I'm super excited.”
Schumacher takes over a club which had been moulded over four-and-a-half years by his predecessor, Ian Evatt, with a squad that had been recruited to a specific style of play.
In the end, the manager’s footballing philosophy became a bone of contention, accelerating his exit, confirmed after the 2-1 defeat against Charlton Athletic on January 21.
Asked to sum up the style of management that he will bring to Wanderers, the new man in charge hoped to create a buzz around the fanbase.
“I'm the type of manager that is ultra-positive, tries to play football in a way that the fans enjoy coming to watch us, try and entertain, but ultimately I'm a young manager that is desperate to win,” he said.
“I think over the years, since I've been a head coach, even as an assistant coach, we have found a way to adapt our teams and to try and get points on the board and success, and that's what I want to bring to Bolton Wanderers.”
Schumacher says his goal is promotion and hinted that he will be picking up some of the existing transfer plans which have been worked on by sporting director Chris Markham and the recruitment department.
“You have to concentrate on the short-term plan,” he said. “We’re in a really exciting part of the season and in a fantastic position in the league.
“I'm quite fortunate, really, to come into a club that is only one point outside the play-offs.
“That doesn't happen too often, and that's obviously credit to the work that's gone on before me with Ian and his team.
“I know that hasn't gone exactly to how Bolton Wanderers wanted it to go at the start of this season, but it's still a brilliant opportunity and loads to play for and loads to be excited about.”
Maybe not black, but if it’s more of a gray-ish black, it will absolutely blend in with the constant cloud