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Ryan Delaney’s Bolton Wanderers career had barely got off the ground by the time lockdown arrived.
Yet to play a minute of football at the University of Bolton Stadium, the Irishman had only just forced his way into the first team during four away games when League One was put on ice back in March.
Now, five months after he scored against Burton in what proved the Whites’ last game in League One, Delaney is ready to start all over again.
For those who endured the slow walk towards inevitable relegation from January onwards, the current mood of optimism around Lostock must be a breath of fresh air.
A new squad led by a bright young coach in Ian Evatt, backed by a big fanbase desperate to put misery behind them, and, reasons Delaney, a chance to show he can be a part of Bolton’s future.
“Everything feels different about the place,” he told The Bolton News. “It was tough before last season finished. I’d just got into the team and things weren’t going so great but it’s all changed now.
“I was happy I got those games before the season ended because it could have felt like I was coming completely into the unknown. But I felt I finished quite well so I want to push forward now.
“There’s been a lot of new players through the door and a lot of different staff too, so it feels a little bit like starting over.
“Since I signed at Bolton there has been a real influx of players and I suppose in the coming weeks there will be more as well, but it’s exciting. Competition is good for the team and everyone will be challenging for places trying to make us push.”
Delaney was one of the few players who arrived at the club last season signed with any degree of longevity in mind. Handed an 18-month contract in January, he had the luxury of knowing he could return to Bolton – whatever the division – to continue his career.
But the former Rochdale man accepts he will have to prove he has the attributes to be a part of Evatt’s grand plan, and a more expansive brand of football that he and others will not have sampled before.
“Football is one of those jobs, you are learning all the time,” he said. “I don’t think you can ever keep to the one mindset you have to be open-minded.
“If you don’t want to learn you won’t improve. So, for me, I want to try and take in as much information as possible. If not, you won’t be playing for Bolton Wanderers next season.
“it’s an important time now because the manager has come in with a new style of play that we’ll need to get used to and settle down but also the simple things like getting to know the new lads who have come in. You need to know these lads, to bond with them, so that when it comes to a matchday you are all on the same wavelength.”
At 6ft 5ins, the 23-year-old Delaney is at least in good company with some of the other defensive giants who have walked – and possibly ducked – through the Unibol front doors this summer.
Ricardo Santos, Reiss Greenidge and George Taft make up one of the division’s most imposing back lines and Delaney feels they have an important part to play.
“There’s certainly a bit of size between the lads,” he laughed. “I think we know playing in League Two that we’ll have to get those basics right, to manage games and make sure you cope with the physical stuff that might come along.
“You need to get those simple things right and keep high standards to let you play the sort of football that the manager wants to play.
“They always say you have to earn the right to play football and that happens in every game when you set your stall out and make sure you defend properly.
“There are lads who have all the talent in the world on the ball – but they don’t get to show it unless you get the simple things right, the set pieces, the intensity of a game, you have to win your tackles and then we get to play the game the gaffer wants us to play.”
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Yet to play a minute of football at the University of Bolton Stadium, the Irishman had only just forced his way into the first team during four away games when League One was put on ice back in March.
Now, five months after he scored against Burton in what proved the Whites’ last game in League One, Delaney is ready to start all over again.
For those who endured the slow walk towards inevitable relegation from January onwards, the current mood of optimism around Lostock must be a breath of fresh air.
A new squad led by a bright young coach in Ian Evatt, backed by a big fanbase desperate to put misery behind them, and, reasons Delaney, a chance to show he can be a part of Bolton’s future.
“Everything feels different about the place,” he told The Bolton News. “It was tough before last season finished. I’d just got into the team and things weren’t going so great but it’s all changed now.
“I was happy I got those games before the season ended because it could have felt like I was coming completely into the unknown. But I felt I finished quite well so I want to push forward now.
“There’s been a lot of new players through the door and a lot of different staff too, so it feels a little bit like starting over.
“Since I signed at Bolton there has been a real influx of players and I suppose in the coming weeks there will be more as well, but it’s exciting. Competition is good for the team and everyone will be challenging for places trying to make us push.”
Delaney was one of the few players who arrived at the club last season signed with any degree of longevity in mind. Handed an 18-month contract in January, he had the luxury of knowing he could return to Bolton – whatever the division – to continue his career.
But the former Rochdale man accepts he will have to prove he has the attributes to be a part of Evatt’s grand plan, and a more expansive brand of football that he and others will not have sampled before.
“Football is one of those jobs, you are learning all the time,” he said. “I don’t think you can ever keep to the one mindset you have to be open-minded.
“If you don’t want to learn you won’t improve. So, for me, I want to try and take in as much information as possible. If not, you won’t be playing for Bolton Wanderers next season.
“it’s an important time now because the manager has come in with a new style of play that we’ll need to get used to and settle down but also the simple things like getting to know the new lads who have come in. You need to know these lads, to bond with them, so that when it comes to a matchday you are all on the same wavelength.”
At 6ft 5ins, the 23-year-old Delaney is at least in good company with some of the other defensive giants who have walked – and possibly ducked – through the Unibol front doors this summer.
Ricardo Santos, Reiss Greenidge and George Taft make up one of the division’s most imposing back lines and Delaney feels they have an important part to play.
“There’s certainly a bit of size between the lads,” he laughed. “I think we know playing in League Two that we’ll have to get those basics right, to manage games and make sure you cope with the physical stuff that might come along.
“You need to get those simple things right and keep high standards to let you play the sort of football that the manager wants to play.
“They always say you have to earn the right to play football and that happens in every game when you set your stall out and make sure you defend properly.
“There are lads who have all the talent in the world on the ball – but they don’t get to show it unless you get the simple things right, the set pieces, the intensity of a game, you have to win your tackles and then we get to play the game the gaffer wants us to play.”
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