Steven Schumacher reckons there is “no ceiling” to what Wanderers can achieve in the long term.
Schumacher has been in the hot seat for a couple of months and the immediate goal is to finish above the dotted line in the play-off race.
But beyond that, the head coach is excited by the potential as the club aims to keep progressing in the right direction.
During an episode of the _" target="_blank" class="link"> Wanderers Way Podcast, Schumacher explained the interview process and why he knew straight away it was the “right move”.
“I got the call from my agent a couple of days after it was announced that Ian was leaving. I’d had a few interviews and spoken to a few clubs,” he said.
“There was one club where I was thinking, ‘OK that sounds good, I would be really interested in that’. There were a couple of others where I wanted to do the interview process as kind of practice really.
“If I was offered the job, fantastic, but I didn’t think they were the right fit for me. I didn’t get offered the jobs so that was OK.
“But when this job came, my agent rang me and said Bolton want to speak to you. I was like, ‘OK, I definitely want this job’. I hadn’t said that to him before.
“I had to make sure I prepared properly, get my presentation right and do my research on everything about the club so I knew what it was all about. I went for it.
“From the first interview I did, I knew. My missus listens on the stairs, I got out of the office and said to her it sounds perfect and she said it feels right. It took a bit of time, it was a five or six-day process but we got there in the end. I just knew in my gut this was the right move.
“I said in my first interview there is no ceiling to where this club can get to. Good people behind the scenes, a good group of players and everybody on the same page, an unbelievable fanbase, we can achieve whatever we want.”
Schumacher has experience of winning promotion from League One, leading Plymouth to the title in 2022/23 following a remarkable season at Home Park.
“The first thing is we have got to get to the Championship. We have got to find a way of getting out of this division,” he explained.
“The club is too big – everyone has probably said it and everyone knows it – it’s too big to be in this division so that is what we have got to do.
“I obviously have experience of getting out of this division and that is probably why I have been brought here.
“That is the first objective and once we do that, then the sky is the limit. It is going to take a lot of hard work and it is something that will take time for us to kick on and get to the next level.
“But there is no reason why it can’t get back to where this club has been before. One step at a time and the first step is getting out of here.”
