Bolton Wanderers F.C. Reserves and Academy

Bolton Wanderers B Team
Full name	Bolton Wanderers F.C. B Team
Nickname(s)	The Trotters, Junior Whites
Founded	1921
Ground	Eddie Davies Academy; Bolton
Manager	Andy Taylor (B team); Julian Darby (under-18s)
League	The Central League (B team); EFL Youth Alliance North West (under-18s)
2023–2024	The Central League 6th of 6 (reserves); EFL Youth Alliance North West, 3rd of 14 (under-18s)
Home colours	Away colours
	Current season

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

Quick Facts Full name, Nickname(s) ...

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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, graduate Aaron Morley has featured most often at senior level since re-joining Bolton in 2022, whilst Luke Hutchinson, Sam Inwood, Conor Lewis and Sonny Sharples-Ahmed have also made appearances for the first team squad.

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]

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 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.^[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] In March 2020, the club announced it would down grade to Category Three.^[3]

Academy (Under-18s)

As of October 2024.

More information Name, Position ...

Name	Position	Date of Birth	Nationality
George Barlow	Goalkeeper
Luke Lomax	Goalkeeper
Jamie Grayson	Defender
Jack Mawditt	Defender
Corey Nuttall	Defender
Emile Oliver	Defender
Jack Sixsmith	Defender
Oliver Smith	Defender
Xander Taylor	Defender
Harley Irwin	Midfielder
Harry Leigh	Midfielder
Conor Lewis	Midfielder
Sam O'Neill	Midfielder
Harrison Rice	Midfielder
Toby Ritchie	Midfielder
David Abimbola	Forward
Daeshon Lawrence	Forward
Latrell Lewis	Forward
Corey Thomas	Forward

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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–: Dave Gardiner

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

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

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.