Bolton Wanderers urged not to "panic" with John McAtee but sale mooted | OneFootball

The 26-year-old scored 12 League One goals last season

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Bolton Wanderers got their 2025/26 League One campaign off to a disappointing start with a 2-0 defeat at Stockport County.

Goals courtesy of Malik Mothersille and Kyle Wootton were enough to topple Steven Schumacher’s side, who matched Stockport throughout the contest but failed to create many concrete chances.

John McAtee came under criticism from some Wanderers fans on X after the game for failing to make an impact, which didn’t help Wanderers in their pursuit of goals.

The 26-year-old had the fewest touches of any outfield player to play 90 minutes, which somewhat backs up these claims.

Football League World’s Bolton Wanderers fan pundit, Liam O'Meara, believes that McAtee is an adequate creative force and that the Trotters shouldn’t rush into recruiting any alternatives.

Bolton Wanderers handed John McAtee verdict following Stockport defeat

“McAtee got quite a lot of stick after the game,” stated Liam. “It was quite a difficult performance for him.

“I do think it's a little bit early because he's not played that position for quite some time, so I think it's difficult to judge him on one game, particularly an away game at Stockport.

“There will be a lot of teams that lose away at Stockport, and it is hard to have an influence in the No.10 position when we were doing a lot of direct type play, so it wasn't necessarily him receiving the ball on the half turn.

“A lot of the work that he had to do was receiving the ball in an advanced position, running with the ball. So, I don't think we need to panic about anything. He and Joel Randall are going to be competing for that No.10 position, and I think they are pretty good options to have competing for it.

“So, no, I wouldn't bring someone in, but if there was an offer for McAtee, Randall or almost anybody in the team that's the right price, I would then consider selling and then doing something, but unless there is sufficient interest in John McAtee, I wouldn't make a change.”

Although Bolton’s opening day defeat isn’t what anybody involved with the club would’ve expected, they mustn’t compound their issues by overreacting.

McAtee has proven himself to be a capable League One operator over the past two seasons, reaching double figures for goals and providing a healthy number of assists in both campaigns.

It wouldn’t make sense to discard this asset after one poor performance, especially when a direct replacement hasn’t been lined up.