Bolton Wanderers can confirm that Academy coaches Julian Darby, Andy Taylor and Andrew Tutte will step up to take interim charge of the Whites’ First Team.
The trio will be in charge for Saturday’s visit to Huddersfield Town and for the period while Wanderers conclude their search for the right candidate to lead the Club forward on a permanent basis following the departure, by mutual consent, of Ian Evatt as manager earlier today.
Farnworth-born Darby, 57, played almost 350 games as a midfielder for Wanderers between 1986 and 1993 and also boasts an impressive coaching CV to bring vital experience to the role.
As well as working at first-team and youth level with the Whites – with his U19 team currently top of the EFL Youth Alliance – Darby has also spent spells as assistant manager at Championship clubs Leeds United, Nottingham Forest, Derby County and Preston North End.
He will be joined in the dug-out by Taylor, who joined Wanderers to lead the B Team last January after a spell as assistant manager at AFC Fylde, and Tutte, who has worked as assistant coach to the B Team since ending his playing career with Wanderers.
Taylor, 38, also boasted an impressive playing pedigree after playing 355 games as a left-back for clubs including Sheffield United, Blackpool, Walsall and Tranmere Rovers.
Tutte, 34, made 320 club appearances after starting out at Manchester City and was part of Wanderers’ 2021 promotion-winning team under Evatt before injury curtailed his first-team career and prompted a move onto the B Team staff as player-coach in June, 2022.