Martin hopes to see Bolton restored to their former glory

It has been nearly eight years since Bolton Wanderers were relegated from the Premier League, but Russell Martin hopes they can one day return to the top flight.

Martin took on Bolton several times in the top flight during his time at Norwich City, and remembers the games fondly.

But since their relegation to the Championship in 2012, problems mounted on and off the field. Relegation to League One followed and with a 12-point deduction this season because of their financial issues, they are destined for League Two next year, though it is a markedly better situation now than it was at the start of the campaign.

Dons did not play last weekend as a result of Bury's expulsion from the league, and could even have had a two-week gap had Bolton's situation not been resolved at the 11th hour in September.

After Bolton faced those problems, Martin said he was grateful to Dons chairman Pete Winkelman for not falling into similar traps and hopes to see Bolton find some stability and return to where he feels they belong.

He said: "I've got strong views on what happened at Bury and Bolton over the summer, on club ownership and financial management, but fortunately we haven't got to worry too much about it here.

"It's a real shame. I remember playing Bolton in the Premier League with a full stadium, and it was a brilliant place to go and play but it's a real shame.

"With their manager now, they've got a real chance of building back up again, and hopefully they'll stick with him. I'm sure at some point, they'll work back through the leagues to where they should be."

"It's not easy. Managing budgets, expectations, all that kind of thing. It's all about the owners and what they believe and how they want to do things. It's easy to chuck money at it and pray and hope for the best, but if it doesn't you're in real trouble. I'm grateful here, we've got an owner who cares about the future of the club, wants to look after it and protect it."