Derby and Bolton both stared into the abyss… now the two proud clubs are thriving in League One after passionate and noisy promotion tussle – ON THE ROAD

It was around the 55 minute mark, when the match finally started with a Derby attack and a Bolton counter-punch, that Pride Park exploded with noise.

“Derby is huge everywhere we go,” sang the home support, as the chant rippled around all four packed stands.

“Bolton is huge,” replied the Lancashire 3,000 in the corner and the largest crowd in this stadium since December 2016 sang in one voice to the same beat.

Debates about how ‘great’ certain clubs are will continue into eternity, but given that both were founding members of the Football League in 1888, are former FA Cup winners and have enjoyed decent Premier League spells, neither claim was invalid .

When these promotion candidates competed against each other in front of a packed house on a great occasion like this, it warmed the heart that this was happening at all.

Derby moved into second place in League One after a 1-0 win over Bolton

Just a few years ago, the prospects for these two famous names in English football were very different.

Instead of a League One summit, this could indeed have ended in a clash between two phoenix clubs in the depths of non-League.

Derby rose to the stars under former owner Mel Morris but overextended themselves and ended up owing £29 million to the tax authorities and £15 million to their creditors after failing to return to the Premier League.

They managed 21 points in a season through the EFL and struggled under a transfer embargo with just a handful of senior professionals and a lot of kids. They were just a week away from extinction when local property developer David Clowes paid £55m to save them in June 2022, including £22m to buy Pride Park.

Then there is Bolton, who entered a downward spiral after leaving the Premier League in 2012 and had a debt burden of £172.9 million at the end of 2015.

The Trotters subsequently faced so many bankruptcy petitions that HMRC had them on speed dial – from 2017 to 2018 there were four in fourteen months.

Towards the end of that sorry campaign they were unable to play a game because the players had not been paid and the electricity at their training ground had been cut off. The 2019/20 season started with just three senior outfielders in the squad – and they had not been paid for five months.

When Covid forced the League One season to be curtailed, Bolton were at rock bottom and no points-per-game formula could save them.

So these are two clubs that know what it feels like to stare into the abyss. But luckily their only concern now is getting results on the pitch.

Both clubs, Derby and Bolton, have a rich history and significant past successes

Derby manager Paul Warne previously led Rotherham to the Championship three times

In the week that Derby chief executive Stephen Pearce said the club has ‘never been in a better financial position’, they have taken a big step back towards the Championship.

Kane Wilson’s late header for the Rams won a match in which they had spent most of their time in second place, creating a handy four-point gap between themselves in second place and their opponents in third.

But Bolton boss Ian Evatt, who led the club back from League Two in 2021, has no intention of giving up on another promotion.

‘There are still seven games to go and things can change in an instant. We are the pursuers. “Everyone will think it’s done, but it’s definitely not, so we’ll keep pushing and striving,” he said.

Derby manager Paul Warne knows these waters well, having guided Rotherham United to the Championship three times. Warne was hired on the back of that record and was under heavy pressure as Derby finished 11th at the end of October, but they have slowly worked their way into a strong position.

‘The pressure to win every match is insatiable. A defeat or even a draw can be seen as a disaster, but it is not. You just have to move on to the next one,” he said.

‘I don’t sleep great, it’s a stressful job, everyone has better answers than me. I run every day – that is my liberation. Oh, and I’m addicted to caffeine.

Bolton boss Ian Evatt is not giving up on leading his side to a second successive promotion

The Rams faced financial problems under former owner Mel Morris, but were saved from possible extinction in 2022 by local property developer David Clowes.

‘I just try to spend time with my wife and kids, or get away from it all, read and listen to podcasts. I took the dog to the caravan in Wells-next-the-Sea in North Norfolk. Dogs are amazing, they live in the moment, wagging their tails.

“He doesn’t know I have to pick a team for Northampton next weekend.”

Given what Derby – and Bolton – have been through, that’s not the worst problem.