Bolton Wanderers Trophies & Titles

In terms of clubs in the Greater Manchester area, you’d be hard-pushed to describe Bolton Wanderers as one of the more successful ones. It isn’t to say that the Wanderers haven’t enjoyed any success over the years, but when your neighbours nearby are Manchester City and Manchester United, you’re always likely to pail in comparison.

That being said, as one of the founding members of the Football League back in 1888, Bolton were always likely to win at least a couple of trophies at one point or another during their existence. They haven’t picked up the same level of big trophies as other clubs, but are still a successful side in their own right.

League Titles

Bolton Wanderers have never won the Premier League, not just in its current guise but also back when it was known as the First Division. In truth, they have never really even troubled the top-flight in terms of possible success, but that doesn’t mean that there is nothing to talk about in the way of league wins.

Second Division

Bolton Wanderers have actually won the First Division, but it was when that was its name because of the invention of the Premier League, yet it was still the second-tier league in the country. Ignore the confusion, though, because Bolton also enjoyed some success in the Third Division when it was the Second Division.

The first two times that Bolton Wanderers won the Second Division, they did so by just a single point. When they managed it in the 1908-1909 season, it wasn’t just Tottenham Hotspur that were on their coattails, with West Bromwich Albion also finishing the campaign on 51 points. When they won the competition when it was known as the First Division, confusingly, they did so by a huge margin. The Trotters also finished as runners-up in the nation’s second-tier league four times, gaining promotion as a result.

Here is a look at the Second Division success of Bolton Wanderers over the years:

Third Division

Whilst not troubling the top-flight, Bolton did manage to win the Third Division, which was also known as the Football League Second Division and would nowadays be more familiar to readers as League One, once.

Here is a look at their success:

As well as their win, the club also gained promotion via the second place in the 1992-1993 campaign and the 2016-2017 season.

Cups & Trophies

Although far from one of the country’s most successful clubs, Bolton Wanderers have given the club’s fans more than their fair share of things to shout about over the years. In both 1995 and 2004, for example, the Trotters reached the final of the League Cup, only to miss out to Liverpool and Middlesbrough, respectively.

FA Cup

Bolton Wanderers will almost certainly never be thought of as one of the biggest club’s in the country, but that doesn’t mean that they have been entirely without success over the years. In fact, in the sport’s more formative years they were often one of the better clubs in the FA Cup, winning it several times before much bigger sides such as Liverpool had even won it once.

When Bolton Wanderers won the trophy in 1923 thanks to a 2-0 win over West Ham United, they did so in front of one of the largest crowds ever seen at Wembley Stadium. It is believed that up to 300,000 people might have been there, even though the official attendance was registered as 126,047. It became known as the White Horse Final, which is where the White Horse Bridge at the modern day Wembley gets its name from. Wanderers fans will doubtless have enjoyed their wins over local rivals Manchester City and Manchester United in 1926 and 1958 respectively, enjoying the associated bragging rights.

Here is a look at how they got on each year, with the Bolton score always first:

Season	Opposition	Score
1922-1923	West Ham United	2-0
1925-1926	Manchester City	1-0
1928-1929	Portsmouth	2-0
1957-1958	Manchester United	2-0

Charity Shield / Community Shield

Nowadays, the showpiece event between the winners of the top-flight and the FA Cup victors is known as the Community Shield, largely on account of the fact that the Football Association didn’t give enough money to charity to earn the right to call it the Charity Shield any more. In its early years it was a match between the winners of the Football League and the Southern League, but became a competition to see whether the FA Cup winners or the top-flight winners were better.

Eventually the Charity Shield / Community Shield would be played at Wembley Stadium, but for a time it was hosted by one of the two teams playing in it. In 1958, that honour fell to Bolton, with Burnden Park being the venue of choice. The FA Cup winners absolutely spanked the league champions, suggesting that they might have been able to compete.

Here is a look at how Bolton Wanderers got on in it:

Year	Opponent	Score
1958	Wolverhampton Wanderers	4-1

Other Noteworthy Trophies

Although the likes of league titles an FA Cups will always take precedence over any other competition, there have been numerous trophies that club sides have been able to pick up over the years. Here is a look at those that Bolton have lifted at one point or another:

• *The Associate Members’ Cup was a knockout competition for clubs in the Third Division and Fourth Division, split into Northern and Southern sections with the winners of each then facing each other in the overall final