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Second chances do not always come along in life, let alone in football, and after jumping at his second opportunity to move to the Macron, Chris long is determined to bring success to Wanderers.
The Burnley striker has already had a significant taste of League One action, having spent the first half of the season with promotion rivals Fleetwood.
Should the pacy frontman help fire Phil Parkinson’s side back into the Championship this term it will mean for the second season running, he has been part of a promotion-winning squad, having played his part in the Clarets’ climb into the Premier league 12 months earlier.
The Whites’ boss narrowly missed out on the chance to bring 21-year-old Long to the Macron during the summer’s wheeling and dealing, as Sean Dyche elected to send his man west to Highbury, where he found the net four times in 15 league starts.
But there was no stopping former Everton trainee Long once his Cod Army spell had ended and Parkinson had launched a second bid for his services last month, eventually landing his man on a deal until the end of the season shortly before the window closed.
“Back in the summer Sean Dyche mentioned that Bolton had shown an interest in taking me on loan but I ended up going to Fleetwood,” recalls the Liverpudlian.
“When I heard they were back in for me last month, though, it was a no-brainer. Bolton are a massive club. It’s a massive confidence boost that the manager came back in for me.
“The history that comes with a move to Bolton is huge – I’ve known players like Matt Taylor, Lukas Jutkiewicz and Marvin Sordell who played here and I even played against Zach Clough when we were in the youth ranks at Bolton and Everton.
“It’s a shame we won’t get to play in the same team here. Tony Kelly is from the same area of Liverpool as me and it was nice to see him on my first day at the club too.”
Long’s stint at Fleetwood ended with him struggling to produce his best form in a squad-rotation system used by Uwe Rosler.
And their loss will surely be Bolton’s gain – Parkinson had to be pro-active in replacing Sammy Ameobi in January, despite the outside possibility existing that Newcastle would ratify a second spell out on loan, with Wanderers the only possibility, given he had played for both this season.
Despite his age, Long comes to Bolton with a good deal of experience on his CV, having had loan spells with MK Dons and Brentford as well as his 11 league and FA Cup outings for Dyche’s men last season.
And, although he only has one Everton appearance on his CV, there was no likelihood of him being eased in gently, as it was a substitute appearance in the Europa League, with his side chasing an equaliser in a home tie against Russian league side FK Krasnodar.
“People might look at my career and say that I have played for quite a few clubs with loans in there too, but as a young player you need to get out there any way you can,” he told The Bolton News. “I made my debut for Everton at 19 in the Europa League and I knew that I’d have to move on if I wanted to play week-in, week-out.”
He insists promotion back to the second tier is a distinct possibility, given the Whites’ position and the fact they have a game in hand on second-placed Scunthorpe and two on leaders Sheffield United.
But, like the rest of Parkinson’s squad, he continues to look no further than the next game, keeping focus firmly fixed on the here and now.
“We’re on the downward march towards the end of the season but our focus can’t come off the next match in front of us,” he said.
“It’s easy to talk about games in hand, but we need to win games of football to stand a chance of promotion.
“We need to worry about ourselves and hopefully, come the end of the season, it will have been enough.
“Personally, all I want to do is score goals. I’ll do anything for the team and hopefully that results in wins for Bolton Wanderers between now and April 30.”
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The Burnley striker has already had a significant taste of League One action, having spent the first half of the season with promotion rivals Fleetwood.
Should the pacy frontman help fire Phil Parkinson’s side back into the Championship this term it will mean for the second season running, he has been part of a promotion-winning squad, having played his part in the Clarets’ climb into the Premier league 12 months earlier.
The Whites’ boss narrowly missed out on the chance to bring 21-year-old Long to the Macron during the summer’s wheeling and dealing, as Sean Dyche elected to send his man west to Highbury, where he found the net four times in 15 league starts.
But there was no stopping former Everton trainee Long once his Cod Army spell had ended and Parkinson had launched a second bid for his services last month, eventually landing his man on a deal until the end of the season shortly before the window closed.
“Back in the summer Sean Dyche mentioned that Bolton had shown an interest in taking me on loan but I ended up going to Fleetwood,” recalls the Liverpudlian.
“When I heard they were back in for me last month, though, it was a no-brainer. Bolton are a massive club. It’s a massive confidence boost that the manager came back in for me.
“The history that comes with a move to Bolton is huge – I’ve known players like Matt Taylor, Lukas Jutkiewicz and Marvin Sordell who played here and I even played against Zach Clough when we were in the youth ranks at Bolton and Everton.
“It’s a shame we won’t get to play in the same team here. Tony Kelly is from the same area of Liverpool as me and it was nice to see him on my first day at the club too.”
Long’s stint at Fleetwood ended with him struggling to produce his best form in a squad-rotation system used by Uwe Rosler.
And their loss will surely be Bolton’s gain – Parkinson had to be pro-active in replacing Sammy Ameobi in January, despite the outside possibility existing that Newcastle would ratify a second spell out on loan, with Wanderers the only possibility, given he had played for both this season.
Despite his age, Long comes to Bolton with a good deal of experience on his CV, having had loan spells with MK Dons and Brentford as well as his 11 league and FA Cup outings for Dyche’s men last season.
And, although he only has one Everton appearance on his CV, there was no likelihood of him being eased in gently, as it was a substitute appearance in the Europa League, with his side chasing an equaliser in a home tie against Russian league side FK Krasnodar.
“People might look at my career and say that I have played for quite a few clubs with loans in there too, but as a young player you need to get out there any way you can,” he told The Bolton News. “I made my debut for Everton at 19 in the Europa League and I knew that I’d have to move on if I wanted to play week-in, week-out.”
He insists promotion back to the second tier is a distinct possibility, given the Whites’ position and the fact they have a game in hand on second-placed Scunthorpe and two on leaders Sheffield United.
But, like the rest of Parkinson’s squad, he continues to look no further than the next game, keeping focus firmly fixed on the here and now.
“We’re on the downward march towards the end of the season but our focus can’t come off the next match in front of us,” he said.
“It’s easy to talk about games in hand, but we need to win games of football to stand a chance of promotion.
“We need to worry about ourselves and hopefully, come the end of the season, it will have been enough.
“Personally, all I want to do is score goals. I’ll do anything for the team and hopefully that results in wins for Bolton Wanderers between now and April 30.”
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