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The sale of Wanderers’ Euxton training ground in February marked a low point in a shambolic season but when the team returned to work at Lostock this summer, the straightforward surroundings echoed the message being preached by new manager Phil Parkinson.
Even after the club dropped out of the Premier League, their training base on the old ROF Chorley Sports Ground was a daily reminder of how good they used to have it.
A plush, air-conditioned gym, smart reception and offices, spacious canteen and rehab centre had been built up over years by Sam Allardyce and once ranked among the best training grounds in the land.
Once the financial problems began to rack up, however, some questioned whether it was a luxury the club could no longer afford. After Preston North End showed an initial interest, it was eventually sold to Wigan Athletic.
Sports science equipment once envied around the top flight was mothballed and stored – leaving the Latics with little more than a shell for their cash.
Lostock, home of the club’s academy, would be the new dual-purpose base and while the windswept grounds did not have the decadent feel of the walled pitches of Euxton, this was a chance for a new start.
Logistically, moving the players and the staff proved problematic. It happened slowly but mimicked the chaos going on elsewhere.
Parkinson and his staff’s first point of order was to establish that players ate, changed and trained at one venue and did not flit back and forth to the stadium. Before they had even held a press conference, the new manager and his lieutenants Steve Parkin and Nick Allamby were making subtle changes to ensure their training base would be professional and suitable.
Everyone chipped in. Staff once again donned overalls and grabbed paintbrushes to bring things up to scratch.
“Our philosophy is that what we need to do the job day-to-day is not necessarily all the bells and whistles,” Allamby told The Bolton News.
“It’s a place of work. We will make it functional.
“What we have asked for is the training ground to reflect our philosophy, a functional environment.
“We have still got a lot of the equipment from Euxton and it’s about reorganising it into the space we have now. When that’s finished we’ll have a really good training centre.
“I always said that if I had the chance to design something from scratch it wouldn’t be all the bells and whistles. It would be straightforward and functional. That’s how we see it working.”
Parkinson's first message to his players was to draw a line through the mess of last season. His second was to get to work.
The former Bradford chief has set a clear distinction between work and play over the summer, instilling a discipline which perhaps escaped the club in the last 12 months as events off the pitch continued to grab the headlines.
Further improvements are planned at Lostock to bring in more office space and improve the catering and gym facilities. The Bolton Wanderers Development Agency could be called into action once again, converting some of the money fans pay for their weekly Golden Gamble or Lifeline lottery into crucial items for the football club.
But while the Whites appear to have gone back to basics, Allamby insists the legacy laid down by Allardyce will not disappear.
Having worked at Middlesbrough for a decade in the top two divisions before moving on to join Parkinson at Bradford City, he appreciates the pride Wanderers have traditionally taken in their sports science set-up.
“Looking on from afar, you could always see that Bolton was at the forefront of things, especially in the Premier League days,” he said.
“I worked at Middlesbrough at the time and they were similar clubs, two provincial clubs who didn’t have the same spending power as the top boys but were able to make up for it by the support they got.
“Bolton had one of the best training grounds in the Premier League at the time and, unfortunately, we have lost that now.
“The one we have got we are really pleased with. The club are looking into improving it too, and it shouldn’t take too long.
“We have inherited some good staff as well from a sports science point of view, and we’re formulating that into a team now to see how it can best serve the players.
“At Bradford we had a fair amount of success with less facilities than we have got here.
“It’s all about the work that we do – so as long as we have got the basic facilities to get it done, we’ll be okay.”
Source
Even after the club dropped out of the Premier League, their training base on the old ROF Chorley Sports Ground was a daily reminder of how good they used to have it.
A plush, air-conditioned gym, smart reception and offices, spacious canteen and rehab centre had been built up over years by Sam Allardyce and once ranked among the best training grounds in the land.
Once the financial problems began to rack up, however, some questioned whether it was a luxury the club could no longer afford. After Preston North End showed an initial interest, it was eventually sold to Wigan Athletic.
Sports science equipment once envied around the top flight was mothballed and stored – leaving the Latics with little more than a shell for their cash.
Lostock, home of the club’s academy, would be the new dual-purpose base and while the windswept grounds did not have the decadent feel of the walled pitches of Euxton, this was a chance for a new start.
Logistically, moving the players and the staff proved problematic. It happened slowly but mimicked the chaos going on elsewhere.
Parkinson and his staff’s first point of order was to establish that players ate, changed and trained at one venue and did not flit back and forth to the stadium. Before they had even held a press conference, the new manager and his lieutenants Steve Parkin and Nick Allamby were making subtle changes to ensure their training base would be professional and suitable.
Everyone chipped in. Staff once again donned overalls and grabbed paintbrushes to bring things up to scratch.
“Our philosophy is that what we need to do the job day-to-day is not necessarily all the bells and whistles,” Allamby told The Bolton News.
“It’s a place of work. We will make it functional.
“What we have asked for is the training ground to reflect our philosophy, a functional environment.
“We have still got a lot of the equipment from Euxton and it’s about reorganising it into the space we have now. When that’s finished we’ll have a really good training centre.
“I always said that if I had the chance to design something from scratch it wouldn’t be all the bells and whistles. It would be straightforward and functional. That’s how we see it working.”
Parkinson's first message to his players was to draw a line through the mess of last season. His second was to get to work.
The former Bradford chief has set a clear distinction between work and play over the summer, instilling a discipline which perhaps escaped the club in the last 12 months as events off the pitch continued to grab the headlines.
Further improvements are planned at Lostock to bring in more office space and improve the catering and gym facilities. The Bolton Wanderers Development Agency could be called into action once again, converting some of the money fans pay for their weekly Golden Gamble or Lifeline lottery into crucial items for the football club.
But while the Whites appear to have gone back to basics, Allamby insists the legacy laid down by Allardyce will not disappear.
Having worked at Middlesbrough for a decade in the top two divisions before moving on to join Parkinson at Bradford City, he appreciates the pride Wanderers have traditionally taken in their sports science set-up.
“Looking on from afar, you could always see that Bolton was at the forefront of things, especially in the Premier League days,” he said.
“I worked at Middlesbrough at the time and they were similar clubs, two provincial clubs who didn’t have the same spending power as the top boys but were able to make up for it by the support they got.
“Bolton had one of the best training grounds in the Premier League at the time and, unfortunately, we have lost that now.
“The one we have got we are really pleased with. The club are looking into improving it too, and it shouldn’t take too long.
“We have inherited some good staff as well from a sports science point of view, and we’re formulating that into a team now to see how it can best serve the players.
“At Bradford we had a fair amount of success with less facilities than we have got here.
“It’s all about the work that we do – so as long as we have got the basic facilities to get it done, we’ll be okay.”
Source