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Wanderers have cancelled a planned pre-season training camp in Scotland as a result of the recent travel ban.
Ian Evatt’s side were due to travel this weekend to a base just outside Edinburgh for several days but have now officially called off the trip.
As elite sportsmen, the team were able to travel north of the border, with training deemed ‘essential’ under the guidelines announced by Scotland’s First Minister Nicolas Sturgeon in May.
The club had encountered problems getting permission for ancillary staff to travel, however, which led manager Evatt to call off the camp altogether.
“We decided to cancel the trip,” he told The Bolton News. “It is going to cost the board a hell of a lot of money and when we were only told on Wednesday that the restrictions were going to be lifted it was just too late.
“Also, we don’t want to go there and become a political tool. I’d rather just go under the radar and get on with our own work.
“We’ve decided against the trip and made alternative plans.
“It is what it is but we’re delighted with where the players are right now.”
Wanderers will stay at Lostock next week as they prepare for the first pre-season friendly at Longridge Town on July 10.
Evatt is impressed by how his new signings have fared in the last week, claiming the were “miles ahead” of the levels he encountered in the middle of the pandemic 12 months ago.
Celebrating his first anniversary at Bolton manager, Evatt hopes the remaining restrictions will soon be removed in England, allowing both he and the majority of his players their first chance to play at the UniBol with a crowd.
“We were starting from scratch last season,” he said. “There were one or two players who had been here but everyone else was brand new so they had never played with anyone in that stadium, and it was difficult at times. But the end of the season, the way we connected with the fans again, connected with the fans, it’s exactly what we wanted to create.
“Season ticket sales have been great. Fingers crossed once we hit that July 19 date and stadiums are fully open again then it will give even more people confidence to come and buy more tickets because we need their support.”
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