The 2011–12 season was Bolton Wanderers's thirteenth season in the Premier League, and their eleventh consecutive season in the top-flight of English football. It is their third season with shirt sponsors 188BET.

It covers the period from 1 July 2011 to 30 June 2012. As Bolton Wanderers didn't win the 2011–12 Premier League title, it is the 73rd time that they have competed at the top level without winning the title, the most of any club.

The home strip for the 2011–12 season was revealed on 12 May 2011 bearing the 188 Bet logo. The Reebok home strip has a white and blue body with a white right arm and a blue left arm. The away strip is all black with a yellow trim. Last seasons away strip was retained and used in Bolton's 2-0 loss away to Newcastle on 9 April.

At the end of the season, Bolton Wanderers finished in eighteenth place in the Premier League, meaning relegation to the following season's Football League Championship and ending their longest run in the top division for forty eight years.

Pre-season Bolton Wanderers preceded their 2011–12 campaign with a tour of the United States for the second year in a row. They originally announced games at Orlando City on 17 July, with Bolton winning the game 3–1, and against midfielder Stuart Holden's former club Houston Dynamo on 20 July, which they also won, 2–0. On 14 June they announced an extra game at FC Tampa Bay which was played on 14 July, with the home team winning 1–0. On 3 June, the club announced two initial games to be played against domestic opposition. They met Newport County on 30 July and won 3–1. However, the game was overshadowed by an injury suffered by Lee Chung-Yong who broke his leg following a challenge by Tom Miller. Initial reports suggested that Lee would miss the vast majority of the season. Two days later they beat Hereford United scoring three goals with no reply. On 7 June the club announced further games at Bradford City and a local derby at Bury. The Bradford game took place on 24 July, with Bolton winning 4–1 and the Bury game followed three days later, Bolton beating their nearest rivals 2–0. On 13 June, Bolton announced their only pre season game at the Reebok Stadium would be on 5 August against La Liga side Levante. The Spanish side won the match 1–0. This meant that Ivan Klasnić finished the pre season as the club's leading scorer with five goals. In addition to this, the reserve team also played five games away from home at non-league opposition, winning three, drawing one and losing one. Lee was not the only Bolton player to suffer a major injury in pre season, with Tyrone Mears who had only just joined the club from Burnley, also breaking his leg in a training session on 4 August.

Reserves

Premier League

The fixtures for the 2011–12 season were announced on 17 June at 09:00 BST, and revealed that Bolton will begin the season away from home for the first time in six years. Bolton travelled to Loftus Road to take on newly promoted Queens Park Rangers on 13 August 2011. Goals from Gary Cahill, Ivan Klasnić, Fabrice Muamba and an own goal from Danny Gabbidon gave Bolton a 4–0 win. This was their best season opener since the first game of the 2001–02 season. They finished the weekend in joint first place with their next opponents, Manchester City, to whom they suffered a 2–3 home defeat. Manchester City scored two first-half goals from David Silva and Gareth Barry before Ivan Klasnić pulled one back shortly before halftime from Martin Petrov's cross for his second goal of the season. Edin Džeko restored Manchester City's two-goal cushion straight after halftime before Kevin Davies pulled a goal back with a header midway through the second half from Petrov's free-kick. The Saturday after, Bolton travelled to Anfield to take on Liverpool. The home side dominated the game, and scored three goals from Jordan Henderson, Martin Škrtel and Charlie Adam before Ivan Klasnić scored a consolation goal in stoppage time.

After an international break, which saw Gary Cahill become the first Bolton player since Ray Parry in 1959 to score for England, Bolton's next home game was against the other Manchester club, Manchester United. In suffering a 0–5 loss, Bolton recorded their worst home defeat since their return to the Premier League in 2001. It was also the worst home defeat at the Reebok Stadium and the worst home defeat since Manchester United won 6–0 at Burnden Park in 1996. A Wayne Rooney hat trick and a Javier Hernández brace causing the damage. A week later there was a second successive home fixture, this time against newly promoted Norwich City. Two first half goals from Anthony Pilkington and Bradley Johnson saw the away side on their way to their first win at Bolton since 1982. A second half Martin Petrov penalty was not enough for Bolton, who also saw Ivan Klasnić sent off for a head butt on Marc Tierney. The defeat, Bolton's fifth successive at home including the previous season, saw them fall into the relegation zone just over a month after leading the league. A week later they fell to bottom with a 3–0 loss at Arsenal, two goals from Robin van Persie and a late strike from Alex Song doing the damage. For the second week in a row they also had a man sent off, David Wheater being shown red for a foul on Theo Walcott. Bolton remained bottom going into an international break with a 1–5 home loss to Chelsea. Former loanee Daniel Sturridge added two goals to a Frank Lampard hat trick. This was Chelsea's ninth straight win at the Reebok Stadium, but Bolton did finally score a goal against them at home, through Dedryck Boyata, something they hadn't managed since 2002–03. This was Bolton's worst start to a top flight season since 1902–03, when they were relegated.

Bolton returned after the international break with an away game at local rivals Wigan Athletic. A Gary Caldwell own goal was pulled back by Mohamed Diamé, but David Ngog, opening his account for Bolton, regained the lead on the stroke of half time. Kevin Davies had a second half penalty saved by former Bolton goalkeeper Ali Al-Habsi before Chris Eagles secured the win in second half injury time. However a week later their poor run at home continued with a 2–0 loss to Sunderland, late goals from Stéphane Sessègnon and Nicklas Bendtner leaving Bolton still in the relegation zone where they remained after the next game, away at Swansea City where goals scored by Joe Allen, Scott Sinclair and Danny Graham saw Bolton fall to one off the bottom. Bolton's only goal was put into his own net by Graham, whilst Ricardo Gardner was sent off for the third time in his Bolton career after receiving two yellow cards. Going into their next game at home to Stoke City, Bolton were in danger of setting a new record if they lost their sixth home game in a row from the start of the season. However an early, and contentious, Kevin Davies goal along with braces from both Chris Eagles and Ivan Klasnić gave Bolton a 5–0 win, equalling their best ever victory in the Premier League. The game also marked the league debut of Joe Riley who received a standing ovation from the fans when substituted late in the game. The scoreline was the reverse of the FA Cup Semi-final the previous March which, ironically, had been overseen by the same referee, Howard Webb. The result left Bolton just inside the relegation zone going into an international break.

Returning from the break, Bolton played West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns. Jerome Thomas scored first for the home side but this was quickly levelled through an Ivan Klasnić penalty. However, Shane Long won the game for West Bromwich midway through the second half, leaving Bolton still just inside the relegation zone. The week after, Bolton faced Everton at The Reebok Stadium. David Wheater was sent off midway through the first half, his second red card of the season. Second half goals from Marouane Fellaini and Apostolos Vellios gave Everton a 2–0 win and Bolton finished November still just inside the relegation zone. Bolton suffered a third successive defeat the following weekend, losing 3–0 at Tottenham Hotspur. Goals from Gareth Bale, Aaron Lennon and Jermain Defoe followed Gary Cahill's dismissal, Bolton's fifth of the season. This red card was overturned by the FA the following Tuesday after Bolton successfully appealed. The result left Bolton in nineteenth place, ahead of Wigan Athletic on goal difference only. A week later, Bolton returned to the foot of the table after a 2–1 home defeat to Aston Villa. Two first-half goals from Marc Albrighton and Stiliyan Petrov put Villa into a half time lead, before Ivan Klasnić scored his seventh goal of the season early in the second half. Before the match there was a minute's applause in memory of former player Gary Speed, who had died a fortnight earlier. This was followed by another loss, this time to Fulham at Craven Cottage. Two first-half goals, the second coming just 66 seconds after the first, from Clint Dempsey and Bryan Ruiz ensured that Bolton stayed at the bottom of the table after a 2–0 loss. With only one team in Premier League history surviving at the end of the season when being bottom at Christmas, Bolton went into the local derby at Blackburn Rovers the following Tuesday knowing that only a victory would prevent this. An early Mark Davies goal, followed by Nigel Reo-Coker's first goal for the club, and his first goal in over three years, midway through the first half took Bolton into the lead and although Yakubu pulled one back in the second halfway, Bolton leapfrogged their opponents and moved up one place. The next match was against Newcastle United on Boxing Day, where two individual mistakes led to Newcastle's goals in a 2–0 win, Hatem Ben Arfa and Demba Ba scoring. Bolton's final game of 2011 came at The Reebok against Wolverhampton Wanderers on 31 December, the game finishing 1–1, Bolton's first draw since their game at Newcastle United on 26 February, a run of 34 consecutive matches. Sam Ricketts, making his return after a ten-month absence due to injury, put Bolton ahead midway through the first half from twenty yards, but Steven Fletcher equalised early in the second half. This draw coupled with Blackburn Rovers's win at Manchester United ensured that Bolton would finish 2011 bottom of the Premier League.

Bolton's first game of 2012 came in midweek against Everton on 4 January. Tim Howard, Everton's goalkeeper, opened the scoring in bizarre fashion when a wind assisted clearance from his own penalty area took on bounce just outside Bolton's penalty area and looped over Ádám Bogdán. Goals from David Ngog and Gary Cahill in an eleven-minute period gave Bolton the three points. This result moved Bolton up into eighteenth, one point and one place from safety. This was the first time since the previous April that Bolton had avoided defeat in two consecutive games. The run didn't last however, with Bolton going down 3–0 at Manchester United ten days later. After Bogdán had saved a Wayne Rooney penalty midway through the first half, Paul Scholes scored his first goal since coming out of retirement just before the break. Danny Welbeck and Michael Carrick added two further goals in the second half as Bolton slipped to nineteenth. However, by virtue of kicking off in the late game the following Saturday, Bolton knew that they would rise out of the bottom three with a win against Liverpool at The Reebok. An early Mark Davies goal was followed by Nigel Reo-Coker's second goal of the season. Craig Bellamy pulled on back late in the first half but Grétar Steinsson's first goal of the season secured the points in the second half as Bolton won by the same scoreline as Liverpool had done in the reverse fixture earlier in the season. The result took Bolton out of the relegation zone for the first time in over three months.