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Thirty-five years ago to the day, just 4,375 people gathered at Burnden Park to witness the electrician – still a part-timer – bury five goals past Walsall in a record-equalling 8-1 win in the old Third Division.
Hooligan-infested football in Margaret Thatcher’s Britain was on its knees in 1983 and Wanderers’ financial problems were symptomatic of the general decay.
John McGovern’s side had dropped out of Division Two dead last and been forced to rush through a stream of young apprentices after selling their established stars to balance the books. One of the gambles taken was to invest £2,000 in a 25-year-old striker who had been getting rave reviews at Horwich RMI.
“I’d actually had trials at Leeds United who were in the First Division back then,” Caldwell told The Bolton News. “John McGovern came to watch me at a reserve game and offered me something. I figured I’d got more chance of playing at Bolton and so it went from there.
“I’d been playing Saturday and Sunday locally, then Monday and Wednesday for Horwich and five-a-side on a Thursday. Stepping up to play for Bolton was like a dream, though, I couldn’t believe my luck.
“I might not have been in the team at all had Wayne Foster not got injured. But I played against Wimbledon and got a couple of goals against Chester and then the Walsall game… Which was just crazy.”
Five goals in a single game is virtually unheard of in Bolton’s long and distinguished history. In fact, only two other players, Billy Struthers and James Cassidy, had ever matched Caldwell’s achievement, and that had been in the amateur days a century earlier.
But should it have been more on the day?
“I scored two quite early on and then got put through on the keeper for my hat-trick but my legs felt like lead – I couldn’t get there,” he said. “I’d only played five games, I think, for Bolton before then so I was still getting used to it. It was only in the second half that I got a few more chances and managed to take some of them.
“People still stop and talk to me about the five goals. And it’s strange how many people reckon they were there. I didn’t realise the crowds were that big!”
Caldwell’s career changed thereafter.
“I didn’t need to buy a drink after the Walsall game, put it that way,” he said. “We went into the King William across the road and then on to Benny’s in Radcliffe, which was the place to be back then.
“Everything took off for me. The club was on a bit of a down-slope and the time and they were slowly getting rid of the big names. We had apprentices like Simon Rudge, Warren Joyce and Steve Saunders come through and even though they were 17 or 18 at the time they did well.”
The return game at Walsall a few months later was a different story for Caldwell.
Saddlers boss Alan Buckley had already ensured Wanderers did not get the welcome mat rolled out, offering deflated balls in the warm-up and neglecting to turn on the heating in the away dressing room on a chilly January afternoon.
“There was a lot of intimidation,” Caldwell said. “Elbows were flying everywhere and eventually I just snapped.
“The centre-half had done it one too many times and I kicked out at him and ended up getting sent off... You can take a lad out of Salford!”
Wanderers lost that game 1-0 but finished a fairly respectable 10th considering the upheaval. Caldwell ended up with 23 goals in 38 games in all competitions and would finish his time at Bolton three seasons later with an extremely healthy 78 in 175 appearances.
Moving from non-league football to first team regular was not quite the physical leap it may be these days and Caldwell, now 60, concedes there were some teething problems.
“The day after that Walsall game I felt like an ironing board,” he said. “Fitness was the one big difference between what I was doing before and what I was going into.
“We didn’t get the sheets saying what to eat and what to drink. We were pretty much trusted with that.
“As soon as my first season finished John McGovern pulled me to one side and said he wanted me to come in with the apprentices on a Tuesday and Thursday over the summer to keep up my levels. It was pretty easy but then when the first team came back we went out running to the park down the road and I was ill. I couldn’t move after the first day and sat at home thinking ‘now I’ve got to do it all again tomorrow.’ It was hard for me.”
Caldwell will be taking an interest in Wanderers’ new signing, Christian Doidge, who had his first season at league level with Forest Green last year after working his way up the football pyramid.
“Nowadays it’s better in non-league,” he said. “I go watching Salford City quite a bit and what they do isn’t that far away from the professionals. It isn’t that big a jump these days.”
The success Caldwell enjoyed at Bolton was never quite replicated elsewhere and following spells at Bristol City, Chester, Grimsby and Stockport County but after football he bought and ran a newsagents for 10 years before working once again as an electrician.
These days Caldwell is the caretaker at Bridgewater School in Worsley, and looks back at his days at Bolton with great fondness.
“Being a footballer is what I wanted to do from being a kid, so to do it at a club like Bolton was a dream,” he said. “I only got £150 a week back in those days – so maybe I could be sat here retired if I’d have played a bit later but I wouldn’t trade what I did for the world. It was a great experience.”
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Hooligan-infested football in Margaret Thatcher’s Britain was on its knees in 1983 and Wanderers’ financial problems were symptomatic of the general decay.
John McGovern’s side had dropped out of Division Two dead last and been forced to rush through a stream of young apprentices after selling their established stars to balance the books. One of the gambles taken was to invest £2,000 in a 25-year-old striker who had been getting rave reviews at Horwich RMI.
“I’d actually had trials at Leeds United who were in the First Division back then,” Caldwell told The Bolton News. “John McGovern came to watch me at a reserve game and offered me something. I figured I’d got more chance of playing at Bolton and so it went from there.
“I’d been playing Saturday and Sunday locally, then Monday and Wednesday for Horwich and five-a-side on a Thursday. Stepping up to play for Bolton was like a dream, though, I couldn’t believe my luck.
“I might not have been in the team at all had Wayne Foster not got injured. But I played against Wimbledon and got a couple of goals against Chester and then the Walsall game… Which was just crazy.”
Five goals in a single game is virtually unheard of in Bolton’s long and distinguished history. In fact, only two other players, Billy Struthers and James Cassidy, had ever matched Caldwell’s achievement, and that had been in the amateur days a century earlier.
But should it have been more on the day?
“I scored two quite early on and then got put through on the keeper for my hat-trick but my legs felt like lead – I couldn’t get there,” he said. “I’d only played five games, I think, for Bolton before then so I was still getting used to it. It was only in the second half that I got a few more chances and managed to take some of them.
“People still stop and talk to me about the five goals. And it’s strange how many people reckon they were there. I didn’t realise the crowds were that big!”
Caldwell’s career changed thereafter.
“I didn’t need to buy a drink after the Walsall game, put it that way,” he said. “We went into the King William across the road and then on to Benny’s in Radcliffe, which was the place to be back then.
“Everything took off for me. The club was on a bit of a down-slope and the time and they were slowly getting rid of the big names. We had apprentices like Simon Rudge, Warren Joyce and Steve Saunders come through and even though they were 17 or 18 at the time they did well.”
The return game at Walsall a few months later was a different story for Caldwell.
Saddlers boss Alan Buckley had already ensured Wanderers did not get the welcome mat rolled out, offering deflated balls in the warm-up and neglecting to turn on the heating in the away dressing room on a chilly January afternoon.
“There was a lot of intimidation,” Caldwell said. “Elbows were flying everywhere and eventually I just snapped.
“The centre-half had done it one too many times and I kicked out at him and ended up getting sent off... You can take a lad out of Salford!”
Wanderers lost that game 1-0 but finished a fairly respectable 10th considering the upheaval. Caldwell ended up with 23 goals in 38 games in all competitions and would finish his time at Bolton three seasons later with an extremely healthy 78 in 175 appearances.
Moving from non-league football to first team regular was not quite the physical leap it may be these days and Caldwell, now 60, concedes there were some teething problems.
“The day after that Walsall game I felt like an ironing board,” he said. “Fitness was the one big difference between what I was doing before and what I was going into.
“We didn’t get the sheets saying what to eat and what to drink. We were pretty much trusted with that.
“As soon as my first season finished John McGovern pulled me to one side and said he wanted me to come in with the apprentices on a Tuesday and Thursday over the summer to keep up my levels. It was pretty easy but then when the first team came back we went out running to the park down the road and I was ill. I couldn’t move after the first day and sat at home thinking ‘now I’ve got to do it all again tomorrow.’ It was hard for me.”
Caldwell will be taking an interest in Wanderers’ new signing, Christian Doidge, who had his first season at league level with Forest Green last year after working his way up the football pyramid.
“Nowadays it’s better in non-league,” he said. “I go watching Salford City quite a bit and what they do isn’t that far away from the professionals. It isn’t that big a jump these days.”
The success Caldwell enjoyed at Bolton was never quite replicated elsewhere and following spells at Bristol City, Chester, Grimsby and Stockport County but after football he bought and ran a newsagents for 10 years before working once again as an electrician.
These days Caldwell is the caretaker at Bridgewater School in Worsley, and looks back at his days at Bolton with great fondness.
“Being a footballer is what I wanted to do from being a kid, so to do it at a club like Bolton was a dream,” he said. “I only got £150 a week back in those days – so maybe I could be sat here retired if I’d have played a bit later but I wouldn’t trade what I did for the world. It was a great experience.”
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