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Tom White has described his six months on loan with Bolton Wanderers as “probably the worst of his career”.
The 23-year-old midfielder saw his spell at the University of Bolton Stadium officially cut short last week, although in reality, he returned to train with his parent club Blackburn Rovers in mid-January.
White has since been loaned out to National League promotion hopefuls Hartlepool United, a move which he hopes will bring more first team football.
Although White started the season in Ian Evatt’s side he quickly fell out of favour and made just 14 appearances before leaving the club.
Speaking to the Hartlepool Mail, the youngster said he was happy to return to his native North East to play under ex-Bury defender Dave Challinor, revealing he had a chance to play for Pools after leaving Gateshead in 2019.
“I’ve had interest previously from Hartlepool – a few years ago I nearly signed for Craig Hignett,” White admitted.
"It was a long summer, I ended up signing for Blackburn. I’d met the manager and the club didn’t need to sell itself to me, I know all about Pools but I just had an opportunity at that time to go to Blackburn which I couldn’t really turn down.
"I was considering the offer at Hartlepool because I knew how big the club is for this league but in the end Blackburn was just something I had to try signing for a Championship club, former Premier League winners too.
“So [Hartlepool] is always a club I’ve looked at and it’s probably been the worst six months of my career at Bolton so when there was contact from Hartlepool around December time, I told my agent it was something I wanted to get done.”
A return to Rovers also looks unlikely for White, who is out of contract at Ewood Park this summer.
He is yet to make an appearance for the Championship side, spending his time out on loan with Barrow – where he first played under Bolton boss Ian Evatt – Wanderers and now Hartlepool.
“It’s been frustrating so far to be honest, Blackburn is a brilliant football club and I knew it was always going to be tough but I was going there with maybe an outside chance of getting a sniff at the first team,” he said.
"So far, I haven’t really found a pathway into that or had an opportunity to impress in training. They’ve been nothing but good to me and they’ve let me go out and play football which has given me a good platform and helped build my reputation up.
"It’s been a good experience but in terms of opportunities there I don’t think I’ve had the chance to have a real go at things yet.”
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The 23-year-old midfielder saw his spell at the University of Bolton Stadium officially cut short last week, although in reality, he returned to train with his parent club Blackburn Rovers in mid-January.
White has since been loaned out to National League promotion hopefuls Hartlepool United, a move which he hopes will bring more first team football.
Although White started the season in Ian Evatt’s side he quickly fell out of favour and made just 14 appearances before leaving the club.
Speaking to the Hartlepool Mail, the youngster said he was happy to return to his native North East to play under ex-Bury defender Dave Challinor, revealing he had a chance to play for Pools after leaving Gateshead in 2019.
“I’ve had interest previously from Hartlepool – a few years ago I nearly signed for Craig Hignett,” White admitted.
"It was a long summer, I ended up signing for Blackburn. I’d met the manager and the club didn’t need to sell itself to me, I know all about Pools but I just had an opportunity at that time to go to Blackburn which I couldn’t really turn down.
"I was considering the offer at Hartlepool because I knew how big the club is for this league but in the end Blackburn was just something I had to try signing for a Championship club, former Premier League winners too.
“So [Hartlepool] is always a club I’ve looked at and it’s probably been the worst six months of my career at Bolton so when there was contact from Hartlepool around December time, I told my agent it was something I wanted to get done.”
A return to Rovers also looks unlikely for White, who is out of contract at Ewood Park this summer.
He is yet to make an appearance for the Championship side, spending his time out on loan with Barrow – where he first played under Bolton boss Ian Evatt – Wanderers and now Hartlepool.
“It’s been frustrating so far to be honest, Blackburn is a brilliant football club and I knew it was always going to be tough but I was going there with maybe an outside chance of getting a sniff at the first team,” he said.
"So far, I haven’t really found a pathway into that or had an opportunity to impress in training. They’ve been nothing but good to me and they’ve let me go out and play football which has given me a good platform and helped build my reputation up.
"It’s been a good experience but in terms of opportunities there I don’t think I’ve had the chance to have a real go at things yet.”
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