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They grew up separated by just a few Bolton streets, and now two proud Boltonians are back together, toiling away to help their home town club enjoy a successful rebirth.
Keith Hill and David Flitcroft enjoyed great success at Rochdale, twice taking Wanderers’ near neighbours to a League Two play-off final, eventually earning automatic promotion two years later.
They parted company when Flitcroft – who had gone to Barnsley with Hill – took the reins following the manager’s Oakwell departure in 2012.
Now, though, the two old pals are reunited, and Hill says now the band is back together, they are once again singing from the same hymn sheet.
“It’s been brilliant working with David again, amazing,” Hill told The Bolton News ahead of their first game together in the Wanderers dug-out.
“We spoke with each other a lot since we’ve gone our separate ways.
“We haven’t gone our separate ways with respect to our footballing ethos and the way that we want to play the game though, the communication between myself and David has been constant, we helped one another and supported one another from a distance, and when we knew this opportunity was here we wanted to come back together, and put our footballing methods into practice.
“As two Boltonians, we’re really looking forward to working for Bolton Wanderers, but it’s been seamless, there’s been no transitional period with respect to myself and David, today’s been the first time that we’ve travelled in separately – and I missed him.
“It’s only a 10-minute journey but I gave him a ring as I was travelling in!
“We do bounce off each other superbly well, we’ve always done that. When we came together as players at Rochdale it was an instant friendship.
“We grew up with each other, just a stone’s throw away, a few streets away and as families the Hills and the Flitcrofts have always been friends from a distance.
“Sometimes it’s just natural, that friendship, but the way that we bounce and we support one another, our footballing mentality, we want players to enjoy themselves, we enjoy the game.
“I’ve got a massive passion for the game of football, for developing players and winning football matches and I think we both have that mentality.”
Hill, with 12 years as a manager under his belt, has now come full circle in his coaching career, having taken his first step on the ladder coaching Bolton’s under-nine team.
The former Blackburn, Plymouth and Dale defender, who ended his playing days with Morecambe, worked with youngsters including Oskar Threlfall, Josh Vela and Andy Kelly in a spell he remembers fondly, not least for his young charges’ enthusiasm and willingness to learn.
“I was invited down to start with the under-nines and I really enjoyed it,” he said. “With them I was putting into practice things that I would have used on 18 to 20 established professionals.
“You introduce a training programme or a session and the thing with kids of that age is that they might not get it right first time but we revisit it and they’re like sponges, they’re brilliant at taking on information.
“It was unbelievably satisfying and I really enjoyed it but then the youth-team opportunity came up at Rochdale to go that step further into full-time football.”
Rightly revered at Rochdale after more than a decade’s service in his two spells at Spotland, Hill has returned home, determined to spark some good times for a Wanderers fanbase that has, in recent years, been put through the grinder.
Thankful that they still have their club, more so having seen the terrible fate that Bury suffered, Bolton’s supporters have already guaranteed tremendous vocal backing from the away end at Rotherham United, the entire allocation snapped up by fans eager to see what Hill has managed to put together in double-quick time.
And their new-found optimism, married to Hill’s evident enthusiasm, could yet see Wanderers to their target of staying in the division.
“We both care massively about the club,” added Hill. “It’s going to be important that we have Bolton people at the heart of the club, it’ll be a journey where we’re going to need support from the communities, whether it’s Bromley Cross, Sharples, Lostock, Deane or Harwood, we know people that are going to look after us and we’ll look after them, all over the Bolton community.
“We are part of that community, we grew up in it and we live in that community, we are feeling the difference in the community since the club has been saved by brilliant ownership.
“The supporters will get rewarded. They’ve already been rewarded with the takeover by brilliant owners because the security of the football club now will be way beyond my lifetime because of the people that have taken over, they’ve got a clear, progressive plan to make sure that we rebuild this club.
“There’s a lot of enthusiasm and we’re going to build on that. But the ownership of any football club is your supporters, they’ll buy into our identity and they’ll love supporting Bolton Wanderers again.”
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Keith Hill and David Flitcroft enjoyed great success at Rochdale, twice taking Wanderers’ near neighbours to a League Two play-off final, eventually earning automatic promotion two years later.
They parted company when Flitcroft – who had gone to Barnsley with Hill – took the reins following the manager’s Oakwell departure in 2012.
Now, though, the two old pals are reunited, and Hill says now the band is back together, they are once again singing from the same hymn sheet.
“It’s been brilliant working with David again, amazing,” Hill told The Bolton News ahead of their first game together in the Wanderers dug-out.
“We spoke with each other a lot since we’ve gone our separate ways.
“We haven’t gone our separate ways with respect to our footballing ethos and the way that we want to play the game though, the communication between myself and David has been constant, we helped one another and supported one another from a distance, and when we knew this opportunity was here we wanted to come back together, and put our footballing methods into practice.
“As two Boltonians, we’re really looking forward to working for Bolton Wanderers, but it’s been seamless, there’s been no transitional period with respect to myself and David, today’s been the first time that we’ve travelled in separately – and I missed him.
“It’s only a 10-minute journey but I gave him a ring as I was travelling in!
“We do bounce off each other superbly well, we’ve always done that. When we came together as players at Rochdale it was an instant friendship.
“We grew up with each other, just a stone’s throw away, a few streets away and as families the Hills and the Flitcrofts have always been friends from a distance.
“Sometimes it’s just natural, that friendship, but the way that we bounce and we support one another, our footballing mentality, we want players to enjoy themselves, we enjoy the game.
“I’ve got a massive passion for the game of football, for developing players and winning football matches and I think we both have that mentality.”
Hill, with 12 years as a manager under his belt, has now come full circle in his coaching career, having taken his first step on the ladder coaching Bolton’s under-nine team.
The former Blackburn, Plymouth and Dale defender, who ended his playing days with Morecambe, worked with youngsters including Oskar Threlfall, Josh Vela and Andy Kelly in a spell he remembers fondly, not least for his young charges’ enthusiasm and willingness to learn.
“I was invited down to start with the under-nines and I really enjoyed it,” he said. “With them I was putting into practice things that I would have used on 18 to 20 established professionals.
“You introduce a training programme or a session and the thing with kids of that age is that they might not get it right first time but we revisit it and they’re like sponges, they’re brilliant at taking on information.
“It was unbelievably satisfying and I really enjoyed it but then the youth-team opportunity came up at Rochdale to go that step further into full-time football.”
Rightly revered at Rochdale after more than a decade’s service in his two spells at Spotland, Hill has returned home, determined to spark some good times for a Wanderers fanbase that has, in recent years, been put through the grinder.
Thankful that they still have their club, more so having seen the terrible fate that Bury suffered, Bolton’s supporters have already guaranteed tremendous vocal backing from the away end at Rotherham United, the entire allocation snapped up by fans eager to see what Hill has managed to put together in double-quick time.
And their new-found optimism, married to Hill’s evident enthusiasm, could yet see Wanderers to their target of staying in the division.
“We both care massively about the club,” added Hill. “It’s going to be important that we have Bolton people at the heart of the club, it’ll be a journey where we’re going to need support from the communities, whether it’s Bromley Cross, Sharples, Lostock, Deane or Harwood, we know people that are going to look after us and we’ll look after them, all over the Bolton community.
“We are part of that community, we grew up in it and we live in that community, we are feeling the difference in the community since the club has been saved by brilliant ownership.
“The supporters will get rewarded. They’ve already been rewarded with the takeover by brilliant owners because the security of the football club now will be way beyond my lifetime because of the people that have taken over, they’ve got a clear, progressive plan to make sure that we rebuild this club.
“There’s a lot of enthusiasm and we’re going to build on that. But the ownership of any football club is your supporters, they’ll buy into our identity and they’ll love supporting Bolton Wanderers again.”
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