George Thomason completed his first full season as a professional footballer by helping Bolton Wanderers to automatic promotion.
And the 20 year-old talented midfielder, who started the campaign on loan at Bamber Bridge, dedicated the return to Sky Bet League One to the Wanderers fans.
After helping Ian Evatt’s men beat Crawley Town 4-1 at the People’s Pension Stadium on Saturday, the former Blackpool trainee’s immediate thoughts were about the Bolton faithful.
He said: “I can imagine the fans are loving it back in Bolton and so they should because the club has been through turmoil, especially the last couple of years.
“This season, and I know it’s been said throughout, but we really have connected as a group back to the community and back to the fans.
“I hope they’ve bought into what we’re doing because every single player at this football club loves playing for this football club.
“You can see the celebrations today and I’m just glad that they’re enjoying it as much as we are because they deserve it as much as we do.”
Thomason made 25 appearances for the club during his debut campaign, netting his first professional goal in the 3-3 draw at Carlisle United on Boxing Day and he revealed that it’s a privilege to represent the club whenever he takes to the field.
He added: “Every time I’ve the honour to play for this club, I know the players and the manager and they just allow me to play my best football.
“The lads around me are just so great at making me play so I think without them, I don’t think I would be able to play as well as I have but it’s been a collective effort. To top it off with promotion is just a great feeling.”
And the midfielder believed that meticulous preparation in the week leading up to Saturday’s 4-1 victory in West Sussex, was key to Wanderers’ best performance of the season.
“We knew what we needed to do today and I thought every single one of us was professional,” he said.
“I think we played the conditions well, the win, the pitch, I thought we played some really good football at times.
“We knew we had to focus on ourselves. We knew how big the game was, not just for us but for the fans because we know football has been a mental getaway for many people this year and I think today we’ve managed to put a lot of smiles on a lot of different people’s faces.
“A 4-1 win away from home in the last game of the season to secure promotion over what has been a crazy season has just been a great feeling.”
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