Banned Bolton manager preparing for 'different' Birmingham City experience
Birmingham City welcome Bolton Wanderers to St Andrew's on Tuesday night but manager Ian Evatt will have to watch from afar
Bolton Wanderers manager Ian Evatt is trying to 'see the positives' of his differing vantage point as he prepares to watch his side take on Birmingham City on Tuesday night without his touch-line influence. Evatt was recently handed a three-game touch-line ban after being sent off by the referee following the 2-2 draw with Shrewsbury Town.
He served the first of those when Wanderers beat struggling Burton Albion 2-1 on Saturday at the Toughsheet Community Stadium, watching the game from the gantry, and he will have to do so again this week when he side visit St Andrew's on Tuesday and then host Peterborough United on Saturday.
Despite not being able to directly communicate with his players, Evatt believes a broader view from the directors' box or gantry can allow him to see more of what is going on and how his side are playing as a collective - and he'll still be keeping in contact and issuing instructions to those down in the dugout in his absence.
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“It will probably be more relaxed,” he told The Bolton News. “When you are in the heat of the moment and we have the opposition bench screaming and shouting, all the shenanigans that happens with that, then yes, it will give me an opportunity to focus on just us, how we are doing in and out of possession, what are the opposition doing. I’ll have a really quick view on that.
"I’ll know if the plan is what we expected, whether it differs, how we can change and how we relay it to the players – so in that regard I think it can be a positive. The only difference is me standing there. And I am not saying I don’t have an influence, because I believe I do. I am a fairly imposing character and I think the players thrive off that sometimes.
“I am passionate, I am emotional, I want this club and team to win, I want it for our fans. This will be different, but I am seeing positives in the fact I can step back and really focus on the detail needed on the day.”