Bolton Wanderers F.C. Reserves and Academy

History

Bolton first ever reserve team was set up in 1921.

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.

Abolishment and Re-formation

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

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. Bolton Reserves entered The Central League for the 2021–2022 season having previously been part of that competition between 1911 and 1999. 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.

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 is currently overseen by Dave Gardiner. 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.

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

Players==

Academy (Under-18s)

As of January 2025.

Managerial History

Reserves/Development Squad/B Team

• 1991–2000: Steve Carroll
• 2000–2005: Neil McDonald
• 2005–2008: Jimmy Phillips
• 2008–2010: Alan Cork
• 2010–2012: John Henry
• 2013–2014: Jamie Fullarton
• 2014–2016: Iain Brunskill
• 2016–2020: David Lee
• 2021–2022: Sam Hird
• 2022–2023: Matt Craddock
• 2024–present: Andy Taylor

Youth Team/Academy

• 1985–1991: Steve Carroll
• 1991–1998: Dean Crombie
• 1998–2000: Martin Dobson
• 2000–2008: Chris Sulley
• 2008–2020: Jimmy Phillips
• 2020–2022: Mark Litherland
• 2022–: Julian Darby

Staff

• B Team Head Coach: ENG Andy Taylor
• Player/B Team Coach: ENG Andrew Tutte
• Head of Academy: ENG Dave Gardiner
• Academy Lead Professional Development Phase Coach: ENG Julian Darby
• Academy Lead Youth Development Coach: ENG Robert Moss
• Academy Lead Goalkeeping Coach: ENG Andy Fairman
• Academy Video Analyst: ENG Matt Stephens
• Academy Strength & Conditioning Coach: ENG James Welsh
• Academy Physiotherapist: ENG David Newbold
• Academy Physiotherapist: ENG Matt Pearce
• Head of Academy Education: ENG Alex Norwood

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.

• England David Abimbola

• England Matthew Alexander

• England Bright Amoateng

• England Sam Ashton

• Poland Błażej Augustyn

• England Chris Basham

• England Adam Blakeman

• England Jordan Boon

• England Harry Brockbank

• England Eddie Brown

• England De'Marlio Brown-Sterling

• Northern Ireland Wayne Buchanan

• England Zach Clough

• England Charlie Comyn-Platt

• Ireland Luca Connell

• England Max Conway

• England Ronan Darcy

• England Jack Earing

• England Jay Fitzmartin

• Poland Jarosław Fojut

• England Tyler Garratt

• France Arthur Gnahoua

• England Sonny Graham

• England Mitchell Henry

• England Sean Hogan

• England Rob Holding

• England Nicky Hunt

• England Luke Hutchinson

• Northern Ireland Sam Inwood

• England Harley Irwin

• England Andy Kellett

• Wales Callum King-Harmes

• England Daeshon Lawrence

• Northern Ireland Chris Lester

• England Conor Lewis

• England Danny Livesey

• England Finlay Lockett

• England Niall Maher

• England Aaron Morley

• Malta Joe Muscatt

• England Kevin Nolan

• England Temitope Obadeyi

• England Sanmi Odelusi

• Ireland Joey O'Brien

• Scotland Michael O'Halloran

• England Alex Perry

• England Arran Pettifer

• Romania Dennis Politic

• England Harrison Rice

• England Joe Riley

• England Regan Riley

• England Toby Ritchie

• Iran Alex Samizadeh

• England Adam Senior

• Guyana Ricky Shakes

• Egypt Sonny Sharples-Ahmed

• England James Sinclair

• England Robert Sissons

• USA Johann Smith

• England Oliver Smith

• Jamaica Cleveland Taylor

• England Oscar Threlkeld

• England Lamine Toure

• England Matthew Tweedley

• Portugal Ricardo Vaz Tê

• England Josh Vela

• England Tom Walker

• England Danny Ward

• England Joe White

• England Nathan Woolfe

• England Tom Youngs Other players associated with the academy who have made at least one senior appearance for league clubs in Britain or abroad.

• England James Ball

• England Rhys Bennett

• England Michael Bird

• France Bédi Buval

• Wales Michael Byrne

• Ireland Matthew Cassidy

• England James Caton

• Austria Christopher Cvetko

• England Tom Eckersley

• England Mark Ellis

• England Ashley Fletcher

• England Tom Grivosti

• England Brad Holmes

• England Chris Howarth

• Bulgaria Georg Iliev

• Finland Will Jääskeläinen

• Australia Scott Jamieson

• Poland Przemysław Kazimierczak

• England Rob Lainton

• England Jay Lynch

• England Alex McQuade

• Cyprus Marcos Michael

• Australia Aaron Mooy

• England Sean Mountford

• England Alex Newby

• Ireland Alan O'Hare

• Ireland Ike Orazi

• England Nathaniel Phillips

• Hong Kong Anthony Pinto

• England Aaron Ramsdale

• England Jack Sampson

• Germany Jan-Ole Sievers

• England Chris Stokes

• Norway André Sødlund

• England Jason Talbot

• Wales Jamie Thomas

• England Les Thompson

• England Matt Tubbs

• England Jake Turner

• Germany Kevin Wolze

• Philippines Luke Woodland

Notes

References

1. [https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/18423753.bolton-re-structure-means-end-road-reserve-team-football/ 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. [https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/19140711.bolton-boss-ian-evatt-potential-return-second-string-football/ The Bolton News: "Bolton boss Ian Evatt on potential return of second-string football"]
4. (2 July 2021). "Bolton boss Ian Evatt explains decision to bring back reserve side | the Bolton News".
5. [https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/20036566.ian-evatt-reveals-bolton-wanderers-will-launch-b-team-next-season/ The Bolton News: "Ian Evatt reveals Bolton Wanderers will launch B team amid major overhaul"]
6. [https://www.bwfc.co.uk/news/2022/april/b-team-plan-in-place/ BWFC: "'B' Team Plan In Place"]
7. "Academy Awarded Top Status".
8. (12 June 2015). "UPDATED: Wanderers to save £1 million by downgrading youth academy".
9. (3 March 2020). "Bolton Wanderers to axe Under-23s team in academy shake-up".