Bolton Wanderers Football Club is pleased to announce an exciting transformation of our Academy, Development, and Community Football programmes which will build on the existing foundations and improve the football provision currently being delivered.
The changes are a key component in our commitment to the rebuilding of this great Club which will directly support the route to the First Team for our most talented young players.
The Club is committed to implementing procedures to secure, coach, and develop the best talent in our Academy in the age groups of 9 to 18 whilst, at the same time, ensuring our development centres and community football programmes take Bolton Wanderers to the heart of the community.
We aim to completely rejuvenate our presence and identity in Bolton and the surrounding areas and ensure there is real desire and pride in wanting to belong to Bolton Wanderers. This is a key element in our strategy of aligning all our football interests to support Bolton Wanderers back on its way to top flight football.
We will be re-categorising our Academy from category 2 to category 3, whilst still operating fully within the rules, regulations, guidelines, and best practices of the EFL academy structure. The Academy will continue with teams in the age categories of u9 to u18 with an emphasis focussed on high quality coaching and development.
In addition, the Academy is planning to introduce an exciting new hybrid programme next season for the u15 and u16 age groups, which will allow these players more training time to help fast-track their development. At the end of the current season we shall discontinue with our U23s.
As part of an integrated football plan we will be bringing the Development Centres and Community Football, which are currently operated by Bolton Wanderers Community Trust, under the same structure to enhance the Club’s philosophy in the wider Bolton Community.
This is a long term commitment to developing quality and skill for the future of our Club. The responsibility for implementing change for the future success of the Club’s football plan will fall under the remit of newly formed Football Operations, headed up by Tobias Phoenix.