Christian Doidge joins Bolton Wanderers **OFFICIAL**

Bolton Wanderers are pleased to announce the signing of Christian Doidge on an initial loan from Forest Green Rovers with the deal set to become permanent in January.

Born in Newport, 26-year-old Doidge spent time in both Southampton’s and Bristol Rovers’ youth academies, before joining Cwmbran Celtic in 2009/10.

After spending time in the second tier of Welsh football, Doidge moved to Carmarthen Town in January 2013.

In his second game for the club, he helped them win back-to-back Welsh League Cups. This was the side’s first trophies in five years.

In his time with “Old Gold”, he scored 19 goals in 43 appearances and earned himself a place in the Welsh Premier League Team of the Year for 2013/14.

Following on from this, the frontman joined Dagenham and Redbridge and enjoyed a successful two year spell at Victoria Road.

He won both Player and Supporters’ Player of the Year in his time at the then League Two club, before signing for Forest Green Rovers in 2016.

In his first full season in the National League, Doidge lit up the league by scoring 25 goals that year.

Additionally, he grabbed a goal in the 2016/17 National League Play-off Final against Tranmere Rovers to secure Forest Green’s promotion to the Football League for the first time in the club’s history.

During the 2017/18 campaign in League Two, he found the back of the net 25 times in all competitions, whilst in the current campaign he has scored four goals in five appearances.

Manager Phil Parkinson added: “We are delighted with the signing of Christian Doidge. He’s a player who came into league football quite late and has met every challenge put in front of him.

"He’s someone who fits our profile of what we want in a player and he has the hunger and desire to be the best he can.

“Ken and Lee have worked very hard behind the scenes over a number of weeks to make this deal happen.

"It’s never easy to sign strikers as clubs are reluctant to let them go but their persistence has paid off and we are delighted."

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Speaking exclusively to bwfc.co.uk following his move to the club on Friday afternoon, Christian Doidge is a man who cannot wait to get his Bolton Wanderers career underway.

The 26-year-old striker linked up with the Whites on an initial loan from Forest Green Rovers, with the deal set to become permanent in January.

And reflecting on his switch to the University of Bolton Stadium, the frontman couldn’t hide his delight.

“I’m just buzzing to get the move done,” he said. “It’s been a stressful couple of days, but it’s an absolute dream to get it finally get it over the line.

“To have the opportunity to play Championship football for a massive club like Bolton Wanderers is what I’ve dreamt of and I can’t wait to get stuck in and learn from the other lads to hopefully do well for the club.

“I’m looking forward to the challenge ahead – I can’t wait to learn from the manager and his staff as I look to improve as much as I can.”

He continued: “It’s a step up in level, but I’m willing and determined to improve my game and make myself a better player.”

Doidge also offered up an overview of himself as a player for the Bolton faithful, with him adding, “I’m a striker who likes to play off the shoulder, but at the same time I enjoy playing off the diag and holding the ball up.

“I’m someone who works really hard for the team - defensively, I feel like I can contribute too, but I’m ultimately a striker that has scored a lot of goals recently so my confidence is sky high which I’ll be looking to take into my Bolton Wanderers career.”

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Debut goal tomorrow, another win. The whites are going up

Had to be registered for 12:30 (I think) to be able to play tomorrow

I genuinely believe we have a very good prospect here. I only hope he gets a fair crack of the whip, and makes a good impression.

Boggersbelief wrote:Debut goal tomorrow, another win. The whites are going up

You were almost right Boggers- he came from Forestieri Green Rovers

Boggers, what the fook happened to Victor?

Now we've got the next Jamie Vardy, we're going to piss this league.

BoltonTillIDie wrote:
Born in Newport, 26-year-old Doidge spent time in both Southampton’s and Bristol Rovers’ youth academies, before joining Cwmbran Celtic in 2009/10.

After spending time in the second tier of Welsh football, Doidge moved to Carmarthen Town in January 2013.

In his second game for the club, he helped them win back-to-back Welsh League Cups. This was the side’s first trophies in five years.

Some player that!

Wins two cups in one game.

On reflection, this signing is a huge gamble as Doidge was probably well down the list of preferences given the names previously mentioned, and after having an 800k bid knocked back and with the clock ticking down Anderson was forced to significantly up the bid at the death rather than end up with nobody. I guess FGR had the Andersons over a barrel. Given our financial position, it's a helluva lot of money to bet on someone who has never played near this level so I hope and pray he comes good and manages to stay fit. 
When he plays and in what system remains to be seen but it looks like he feeds off decent service in the box and that's something we've not managed to deliver for the most part this season playing so deep and having so little possession. Doidge himself says he prefers playing off another striker so it will be interesting to see under what circumstances Parky goes with two up top, but if Williams can give us a bit more steel in the middle it might be a more frequent option. Personally I'm quite excited to see how this pans out as it could go either way although I suspect Parky will use him in the same way he used ALF.

Apparently this guy was Ken and Phil's number one target the whole time. If that's true they kept it very deep under the radar. I've never heard of the lad so I took a peek at the FGR websites and it seems most of their fans are firmly of the opinion he should have been kept. A few of them even seem to believe he's good enough to play for Wales and that he's similar to Ian Wright (not as good) in that he came to professional football late in the day and is something of a hidden gem as a result. If that's the case then this might just turn out to be the best deal of the window. I hope so because we desperately need to improve our finishing.

This is turning into one of the most ridiculous signings in a recent history of ridiculous signings.

Why spend money for only the second time in 3 years on a striker you have no confidence in?

We have to get rid of Parky before the next transfer window, or we'll be wasting more money on players to warm the bench.

Agreed can't afford to spend money on players who don't get a game, Doidge needs to be in the team. Magennis didn't look fit yesterday and Donaldson was pretty awful when he came on. Let him show he can lead the line.

Agreed and even more worrying as Parky was allegedly playing 433 against Millwall