Following last week’s unveiling of Bolton’s new home kit, the Trotters have today revealed their away strip for the coming 2023/24 season and Ian Evatt’s Wanderers will be donning all-black.
The design was selected from three possible options in a fan vote and while the eye-catching design has clearly been popular with supporters, some among the Bolton fanbase fear that the kit could be a bad omen.
Bolton unveil their new away kit
Bolton revealed their away kit for the 2023/24 season on Friday, June 30. The all-black strip features red trim on a white collar and sleeve cuffs while the main body of the shirt also includes an embossed geometric pattern.
Unlike on the home shirt, the logos of Bolton’s shirt sponsors, Victorian Plumbing and Arbworks, appear in white rather than their traditional green colour schemes.
Fans are able to pre-order the new Wanderers kit via the club website now and it will be available to purchase from the club shop from Wednesday, July 12.
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Bolton’s black away kit ‘curse’
The decision from Bolton’s fans to opt for a black away kit could be viewed as controversial by some, owing to a perceived curse that has followed the Trotters each time they have donned a similar design.
Bolton have had black away kits on four occasions in the past 15 years, excluding this new design, and each season has been marked by the team struggling.
Most recently, Bolton had a black away kit in 2018/19, the season that saw Phil Parkinson’s Wanderers get relegated from the Championship and fall into administration, undoubtedly the darkest period in the club’s history.
Before then, Bolton had a black away strip in 2015/16, which turned out to be another disastrous season. While Neil Lennon had hoped to propel the Whites up the Championship table, Bolton ended up suffering one of their worst-ever seasons both on and off the pitch and were relegated to League One.
Bolton’s black away kit curse dates as far back as the club’s Premier League days too. In 2011/12, Owen Coyle’s Wanderers were relegated, ending their 11-year stay in the Premier League, while sporting an all-black Reebok design.
And finally, there is the 2007/08 away kit, again designed by Reebok. This kit differs from the others as Bolton were not relegated while wearing it. However, the team did struggle and only survived relegation on the final day of the season – even though the bulk of that squad qualified for Europe just one year prior.
It’s high time for Bolton to lift the curse
Since Football Ventures and particularly Ian Evatt arrived at Bolton Wanderers, the club’s fortunes have completely turned around.
The Trotters secured an unlikely promotion from League Two in Evatt’s first season as a manager and the team has shown encouraging progress in each of the following seasons, even winning silverware in the form of the Papa John’s Trophy in April 2023.
Evatt and his team have made no secret of their desire to secure promotion again this campaign but if they are to do so, they’ll have to put aside the apparent curse that has haunted Bolton each time they have had an all-black away kit.
But as Bolton’s aspirational manager has already put a number of unwanted records to bed, who’s to say that Ian Evatt’s team won’t be able to break this particular hoodoo as well?
As Ted Lasso wisely says in season 1 of the Apple TV+ comedy, “We got ourselves a curse to reverse.”
In other news: Where Bolton need to strengthen before the transfer window ends