Bolton Wanderers F.C. Reserves and Academy

Bolton Wanderers Reserves play their home games at the Eddie Davies Academy in Bolton.

Bolton Wanderers Reserves
Full nameBolton Wanderers F.C. Reserves
Nickname(s)The Trotters, Junior Whites
Founded1921
GroundEddie Davies Academy
Bolton
Manager Sam Hird (reserves)
Mark Litherland (Under-18s)
LeagueThe Central League (Reserves)
EFL Youth Alliance North West (Under-18s)
2020–2021EFL Youth Alliance North West, 6th of 14 (Under-18s)

Notable graduates of the squad include former captain Kevin Nolan, Republic of Ireland international Joey O'Brien and eventual first team regulars such as Nicky Hunt, Ricardo Vaz-Te, Josh Vela, Zach Clough and Rob Holding.

Of the current squad, graduates Harry Brockbank, Dennis Politic and Ronan Darcy have featured extensively at senior level since coming from the Academy in 2019, whilst Matthew Alexander, Adam Senior, Finlay Lockett, Jay Fitzmartin, Bright Amoateng, Mitchell Henry, Arran Pettifer and Matthew Tweedley have also made appearances for the first team squad.

History

Bolton first ever reserve team was set up in 1921.[1]

They have won the Central League twice in 1955 and 1995. Their most recent success came in the FA Premier Reserve league in 2007.

Previous years have seen the club compete in the Avon Insurance Premier League, FA Premier League North and Professional Development League 2.

They also participated in the Manchester Senior Cup and Lancashire Senior Cup in previous years, winning their third Manchester Senior Cup as recently as 2015 and winning the Lancashire Senior Cup twelve times, the last occasion coming in 1990-91 season.

In August 2016, the U21 side was renamed as the U23 side, after a consultation involving all 31 clubs in the Professional Development League 2, voted in favour of the new age parameters.[2]

Abolishment and Re-formation

Due to Bolton dropping to Category Three in March 2020 Bolton had no Development Squad in the 2020–21 season.[3] This was the first time since the reserves were created in 1921 that Bolton had not had a reserve team.[1]

After nearly a year without reserve team football, Bolton started setting up reserve friendlies in March 2021 so that their fringe players could get game time and plan to relaunch a reserve team for the 2021–2022 season.[4] Bolton Reserves entered The Central League for the 2021–2022 season having previously been part of that competition between 1911 and 1999.[5] They also took part in the Central League Cup.

Starting with the 2022–2023 season, the reserves rebranded to "Bolton Wanderers B" and though they originally considered leaving the Central League to instead schedule friendlies against other B teams and U23 teams, they instead decided to stay in the League and also do said friendlies as extra matches.[6][7]

Grounds

Previous reserve grounds at Bolton include their old home at Burnden Park, Hilton Park the former home of Leigh Centurions, Bury's ground at Gigg Lane, Spotland Stadium, home of Rochdale and Rochdale Hornets and County Ground (Leyland).

Since re-forming in 2021, the reserve team play at the Eddie Davies Academy in Lostock.

Occasionally matches are played at the first team ground at the University of Bolton Stadium.

The Academy

The Bolton Wanderers Academy was established in 1998 and is based at the club and the main training ground. It replaced the older, more informal youth system, and enabled the club to focus their youth development and scouting, employing new techniques and FA standards.

It was last overseen by former Bolton Wanderers F.C. player Jimmy Phillips. It provides a stepping stone for youngsters to progress to the highest levels of football at Bolton Wanderers.

Scouts attend many local youth matches looking for talented boys. A boy will then be invited to attend training sessions at the Academy. They are taken in as young as the age of eight. At this age, the boys start by simply attending after-school training sessions, but as they reach their middle-teens, their academic needs will be taken over by the Academy if they are deemed athletically talented enough.

Between the ages of eight and twelve the boys play in eight-a-side games of three twenty-minute periods. It allows the boys to play as defenders or as attackers in small groups within a system and is not as physically demanding as playing eleven-a-side matches.

The first player to graduate from the Academy to the first team was the former club captain, Kevin Nolan who had previously been on the youth books of Liverpool. He has since been followed into the first team by Joey O'Brien, Ricardo Vaz Tê, Nicky Hunt. Josh Vela, Zach Clough and Rob Holding amongst others.

In December 2012, the Bolton Academy was awarded Elite status by the Premier League.[8]

In June 2015, it was announced that the club had sought to downgrade from a Category One status in order to save money.[9] On March 2020, the club announced it would down grade to Category Three.[3]

Players

Academy (Under-18s)

As of April 2022.

NamePositionDate of BirthNationality
Joseph BrownDefender (2004-04-23) 23 April 2004
Joel BurgessDefender
Max ConwayDefender (2003-09-05) 5 September 2003
Jack DallimoreGoalkeeper
Wes FrimpongDefender
Noah HalfordDefender
Mitchell HenryStriker (2003-09-02) 2 September 2003
Daniel JonesMidfielder
Abdul KamaraMidfielder
Ellis LitherlandGoalkeeper (2004-05-05) 5 May 2004
Sam OlawumiStriker
Arran PettiferMidfielder (2003-10-01) 1 October 2003
Sonny Sharples-AhmedMidfielder (2005-03-03) 3 March 2005
Jack ThompsonDefender (2003-11-02) 2 November 2003
Lamine ToureStriker (2003-12-24) 24 December 2003
Matthew Tweedley (C)Midfielder (2004-04-16) 16 April 2004
Max WilcoxMidfielder (2003-09-11) 11 September 2003

Managerial History

Reserves/Development Squad

Youth Team/Academy

Staff
  • Reserves Manager: Sam Hird
  • Academy Manager: Mark Litherland
  • Academy U-18 Coach: Dave Gardiner
  • Academy U-16 Coach: Julian Darby
  • Academy Goalkeeper Coach: Andy Fairman
  • Head Academy Physiotherapist: Ali Gibb
  • Head of Education: Lee Wood

In addition, the academy employ staff from the first-team.

Graduates

The following players have been associated with the Bolton Wanderers Academy and have gone on to play league football for Bolton or other clubs since the Academy was founded in 1998.

Academy Graduates who have made at least one senior appearance for the Bolton Wanderers first team.

Other players associated with the Academy who have made at least one senior appearance for league clubs in Britain or abroad.

Notes
  1. The Bolton News: "Bolton re-structure means end of the road for reserve team football"
  2. "Professional Development League switches to Under-23 format".
  3. "Bolton Wanderers to axe Under-23s team in academy shake-up".
  4. The Bolton News: "Bolton boss Ian Evatt on potential return of second-string football"
  5. "Bolton boss Ian Evatt explains decision to bring back reserve side | the Bolton News".
  6. The Bolton News: "Ian Evatt reveals Bolton Wanderers will launch B team amid major overhaul"
  7. BWFC: "'B' Team Plan In Place"
  8. "Academy Awarded Top Status".
  9. "UPDATED: Wanderers to save £1 million by downgrading youth academy". The Bolton News.
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