Fergal Harkin does not deal in hyperbole. So when the Sporting Director describes himself as "really, really pleased" with Wanderers' summer transfer business, it is worth listening.
Speaking to Wanderers TV a fortnight after the window closed, Harkin reflected on a recruitment drive that touched almost every position in the squad and stretched the club's search across Europe, North America and Asia.
"First of all, I'm glad it's over. It felt like it went on forever," he said. "But overall, I'm really, really pleased with where we finished up. We had a plan at the beginning of the window and we looked at the results at the end. We executed on that plan."
Built for the level
Wanderers returned to the Championship this season after seven years awa, and Harkin was clear about the scale of the rebuild that promotion demanded.
"We had a lot of work to do. We needed to build a squad that we felt could compete in the Championship," he explained. "The club hadn't been there in a good few years and we had a lot of players in our squad that hadn't played at that level before, so we needed to beef that up a little bit."
The headline number of arrivals tells only half the story. As Harkin pointed out, a significant group left Whites at the same time.
"We had three players out of contract last season that we didn't renew. We had seven loan signings. So straight away, that was 10 players from the squad that left. We also needed to improve the quality so we could compete. So that's where it's come from."
Two plans, one outcome
The groundwork began long before the window opened. From February, the recruitment department ran two parallel plans, one for League One and one for the Championship and waited on results at Wembley to decide which survived.
"It would be wrong of us not to look at both of them until as close to the end of the season as we could," Harkin said. "I was delighted to have to rip up the League One plan and then from the 25th of May focus on the Championship, which is what we did."
Each position carried several options, agreed in advance with Steven Schumacher and the recruitment team against a clear profile.
"You don't always get what you want," Harkin said. "As long as those players in those positions are of the quality that can come in and improve it, then you look at who's available, who's affordable, who wants to come and we look at which deals we can get done in the end."
Eyes on a wider world
This summer's intake drew on Scotland, Belgium, Germany and Major League Soccer, a reach made possible by an expanded scouting network. Laurent D'Affnay joined as Head of European Scouting shortly before the window opened, working alongside Head of Recruitment Jimmy Dickinson.
"Football's a global game now, so we need to look at players no matter where they come from," Harkin said. "It doesn't matter, as long as they have the quality and as long as they have the character that we believe can come and play here.
"Laurent has got great connections in Europe. He knows players in Europe, he knows agents. Jimmy also, from his work previously, has got great connections. The combination of them two really helped us."
Just as telling is what the new arrivals were prepared to give up to come.
"We signed a lot of players in the window that came to our football club for reduced wages and that shows that they really wanted to come," Harkin said. "We wanted players that want to come and understand what fight we have and what we're trying to do here and they wanted to be part of it."
The pull, he believes, is the club itself.
"They recognise the name of Bolton Wanderers. They remember Bolton from the Premier League and they want to be part of a club that can get back to that eventually. When they come and they see the stadium,and we present on how we want to play and the environment that we try to create, I think that's what players find attractive."
Relationships that open doors
Trust built over years does the rest. Harkin has now worked alongside goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu at three different clubs, while Ryan Hardie arrived having previously worked with Schumacher.
"Football, for me, is about relationships and you never know when that relationship will then allow you to do a transaction," he said.
"It's an easier sell when they know the people. They trust us and that's what's important."
Relief, and a platform
On the pitch, Thierry Gale's 90th-minute header against Cardiff City on Saturday ended a run of four straight Championship defeats.
"The goal is always to win. We want to win by playing good football and dominating games but sometimes you don't," Harkin said. "I thought we played well in each of those four. I felt really hard done by that we didn't pick up any points.
"It was important on Saturday that we did win. We needed to rely on everyone in that particular game. For me, it was just relief at the end and hopefully now that can kick us on."
Gale, scoring his second of the campaign, drew particular praise.
"Thierry was a player that we signed because we know he has potential to go higher and he's shown that this year," Harkin said.
"He looks very, very bright. There's a number of players that we signed last summer that should be able to shine this year in the Championship and that was always the goal."
"Together we'll achieve good things"
Harkin reserved warm words for the support the team has carried through its opening weeks.
"Fans have been amazing. Like we saw from the very first game against Preston at home, how they got behind the team," he said. "Everyone realises we haven't been in the Championship in a good few years, this is going to be a tough season, but let's roll their sleeves up and everyone be in it together. That's exactly what we've seen so far.
"As long as people understand that the players and the staff are working extremely hard, the fans are behind us and together we'll achieve good things."
Attention now turns to Carrow Road on Sunday, and then to an international break that Harkin sees as an opportunity rather than an interruption.
"It gives us three weeks now to work with players that signed late in the window. We've got a couple of players coming back from little niggles, so almost everyone will be available, which is great," he said.
"It gives the coaches time on the grass, time to implement their game plan and to work on the finer details."
Watch the full interview with Fergal Harkin free on Wanderers TV.