Foot in Both Camps: Bolton Wanderers v Norwich City

Bolton Wanderers take on Norwich City at the University of Bolton Stadium this Saturday afternoon in the Sky Bet Championship. With that in mind, bwfc.co.uk take a look at players who have turned out for both sides i

Terry Allcock

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Wanderers approached the forward as a schoolboy playing for his county, Yorkshire in the 1950s.

He made his first team debut in 1953 and scored two goals within the first 20 minutes of his debut against Manchester City for the Whites.

With players such as Nat Lofthouse keeping Allcock out of the side, he signed for Norwich City in 1958.

In an 11 year stay with the Norfolk club, the frontman became the second highest goal scorer for the Canaries behind Johnny Gavin.

Ben Alnwick

Currently in-between the sticks for Wanderers, Alnwick had an loan spell at Norwich in 2009, where he made his debut for them against Yeovil Town and kept a clean sheet.

He was forced to return to his then parent club Tottenham Hostpur, due to a hip injury he sustained whilst with Norwich.

In the summer of 2016, Alnwick signed for Bolton Wanderers on a free transfer to create some competition with Mark Howard for the starting keeper spot.

He became a regular for the Whites in his first season at the club, being a mainstay in Wanderers promotion to Sky Bet Championship in 2016/17.

Last season, after another season starting in goal for Phil Parkinson’s team, Wanderers’ fans named him Player of the Year. 

Simon Charlton

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The left back joined the ranks at Bolton in 2000 from Birmingham City and was named Player of the Year for 2001/02.

He went onto make over 120 appearances under Sam Allardyce, in a four year stay in BL6. 

From Greater Manchester to Norfolk as Charlton moved to Norwich in July 2004. 

He spent two years with the Canaries and was unfortunately relegated in his first season from the Premier League. 

Hugh Curran

A Scottish international who plied his trade in the 1960s and 70s, Curran joined Norwich from Millwall in 1966.

Three years on from that and Curran had amassed over 100 appearances with over 50 competitive goals for the club, being named their Player of the Year in 1968.

Moving forward to 1974 and Curran joined Wanderers from Oxford United and made over 50 appearances for the Whites in a three-year stay.

Mark Seagraves

The centre back had a brief spell at Norwich City in 1986, during his tenure at Liverpool.

Following that, Seagraves had a spell at Manchester City before joining the Whites in 1990.

Here, the defender made over 150 appearances for the Trotters and appeared in the 1995 League Cup Final against Liverpool at Wembley. 

Aaron Wilbraham

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Back in 2011, the forward joined the Canaries on a permanent basis, following a loan spell with the club in which they were promoted to the Premier League.

Wilbraham left the east coast in 2012 to join Crystal Palace.

In August 2017, ‘Albie’ joined the Whites on a one-year contract. He scored just two goals for Bolton, but how vital they were.

His first goal came in the form of a last-minute equaliser against Sheffield Wednesday in March 2018.

His final bow came against Nottingham Forest on the final day of the 2017/18 season, where he started up top on his own.

With 86 minutes on the clock, Wanderers were set for the drop to Sky Bet League One, but David Wheater clawed an equaliser back leaving mere minutes left for the Whites to find a goal to retain Championship status for 2018/19.

Cue Aaron Wilbraham losing Tendayi Darikwa in the box and scoring a diving header to send the University of Bolton Stadium into rapturous applause. 

Gary O’Neil

In August 2014, O’Neil joined Championship side Norwich City and under the guidance of Alex Neil, the midfielder gained promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs, defeating Middlesbrough in the final.

The experienced midfielder appeared in the final, replacing goal scorer Nathan Redmond – this was O’Neil’s fourth promotion to the top tier of English football with his fourth team.

Fast forward to August 2018 and O’Neil had signed for Bolton on a short-term contract.

He made his debut a day after signing, replacing Luke Murphy in Wanderers’ 2-1 victory over West Bromwich Albion.

Johan Elmander

 

The former Swedish international forward joined Bolton in 2008 from Toulouse for a club record fee of £8.2million. 

He wore the number nine shirt during his tenure in BL6, scoring 22 competitive goals in 108 appearances for Wanderers.

After leaving the University of Bolton Stadium and during Elmander’s stay at Galatasaray, he joined Norwich on a season long loan move.

In his return to English football, he managed three goals in 33 appearances for the club.

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