Steven Schumacher repeating Plymouth Argyle trick can bring Bolton Wanderers immediate success | OneFootball

Bolton's home form has been below par this season and Steven Schumacher will be tasked with recreating the home form shown by his Plymouth side.

On Thursday evening, Bolton Wanderers announced the appointment of just their 29th permanent manager in their history as Steven Schumacher officially signed a three-and-a-half-year deal at the Toughsheet Community Stadium.

Schumacher joins the Trotters after back-to-back victories under the interim management of boyhood Bolton fan and former player Julian Darby that has lifted the Whites to seventh in League One, and just outside of the top six and the play-off places on goal difference.

The former Plymouth Argyle boss will be blessed with some patience from Bolton supporters, but the expectation remains that the club does finish in the top six, with the pre-season expectations having been to challenge Birmingham City for the title.

One massive improvement that Bolton can make and Schumacher can instil would be to get Wanderers to be as relentless at home as his League One title-winning Argyle side were at Home Park under his stewardship.

Plymouth made their home a fortress

Schumacher led Plymouth to the third-tier title a couple of seasons ago, amassing over 100 points in a remarkable campaign ahead of the likes of Ipswich Town, who are now in the Premier League, and Sheffield Wednesday, now pushing for the play-offs in the Championship.

In that season, a strong Bolton side that boasted the likes of James Trafford and Conor Bradley, could only finish fifth, despite their best day and peak performance being so good as to have beaten Plymouth by four goals to nil in that season’s EFL Trophy final at Wembley Stadium.

Argyle’s title-winning form saw them put on some fairly astonishing numbers at Home Park, where they won 20 of their 23 matches and collected 61 points from just home games. That tally alone would have been enough for them to finish comfortably in the top-half in most League One seasons.

Wanderers have eight games, so 24 points available, from their remaining games at the Toughsheet this season and maximum points, or close to, with just a few wins on the road would surely be enough to secure play-off football in the post-season.

Bolton have crumbled at the Toughsheet

A reason as to why this specific improvement is something that should be focused upon, aside from the obvious, would be that whilst Schumacher became famed for Argyle’s form at Home Park; Bolton have thrown in some real duffs over the years under Ian Evatt at home.

For example, this season alone, Bolton have been hammered 4-0 by Huddersfield Town as well as beaten by a couple of goals against Exeter City and Wigan Athletic, the latter who have made a habit of humiliating Bolton in the South Lancashire Derby, with Wigan’s two previous visits before this season’s 2-0 win being 4-0 thumpings.

Evatt’s final game in charge was also another home defeat against Charlton Athletic, Bolton’s fifth of the campaign, with only six League One clubs losing more than that at home so far this season.

Bolton had the best home record in the division last season and yet still collected 11 fewer points at home than Plymouth had done under Schumacher in their promotion-winning campaign. Despite being the best team at home in the division last year, there were still major missed opportunities throughout that campaign.