Sarcevic leaves Bolton CONFIRMED

Bolton Wanderers can confirm that Antoni Sarcevic has left the club to join Stockport County.

Sarcevic, who was in the final year of his contract at the University of Bolton Stadium, has signed a two-and-a-half-year deal with County.

With no transfer window system in place in the National League, the midfielder is able to join the Hatters straight away and could figure in their game at Notts County on Saturday.


Sarcevic’s move to Edgeley Park ends a 15-month stay at Wanderers, where he was made club captain following his arrival from Plymouth Argyle in July, 2020.

The attacking midfielder made 52 appearances for Ian Evatt’s side, scoring 11 goals in all competitions, and played a key role in helping the Whites win promotion from League Two last season.

“He did a terrific job to help us secure promotion and then gain an early foothold in League One this time around,” said Bolton boss Evatt.

“This is a new challenge for him we wish him every success in the future.

“We believe we still have excellent competition for places in the midfield area and this also allows us to look ahead and potentially strengthen the squad in January where we feel necessary if we can.”

Sarcevic – who has also had spells with Crewe, Chester, Fleetwood and Shrewsbury – had been involved in all of Wanderers’ League One games so far this season.

But the 29-year-old started on the bench at former club Plymouth on Tuesday night, with the captain’s armband taken by defender George Johnston.

Ricardo Almeida Santos will now take over as captain as he returns from suspension to face Gillingham on Saturday.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Just seen this on the BWFC website, crazy if you ask me!

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Twitter has gone into meltdown and now rumours one more (Doyle by the sounds) is off as well! It never boring at Bolton is it? 

Norpig wrote:Twitter has gone into meltdown and now rumours one more (Doyle by the sounds) is off as well! It never boring at Bolton is it? 

Meanwhile Mrs Doyle is quoted as saying:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

It's not good if there is now infighting going on behind the scenes with players leaving. Evatt could get the push...

If he's decided to jump ship after being dropped (which I doubt, but thats whats being claimed) then it's ridiculous from Sarcevic. I suspect Evatt had a go at a few players after the Wigan defeat and Sarc took exception to that, was dropped for the Plymouth game and then spat his dummy out.

Bloody hell pre Sheff Wednesday all is well, Then Boom didn't see this coming.

People (players included) forget how horrible the first half of last season was, and the turnaround we accomplished to get promoted. A decent start to League One means we have a better springboard from which to attack a potential promotion push. This isn't a time to panic.

I’m actually not particularly bothered about Sarce going, I can’t say that I ever really took to him and think he’s been average at best this season, although I accept he was instrumental in our promotion last year. We don’t know what the circumstances were around him leaving but if it is because he was dropped at Plymouth, I’m glad to see the back of him. More concerning for me is the effect things like this have on others. There are talks of Doyle also being involved and possibly also departing, although the club seems to have denied that. Sarce as captain was presumably prominent in the dressing room and will have allies and I’d worry about the effect on those players. We know IE has a temper which he finds difficult to control from what we’ve seen on the touch line, so if he’s like that behind the scenes too you can imagine some reacting.

We don’t know what happened and the truth will probably never come out officially but on the field I’d like to see IE think a bit more adventurously who replaces him rather than just sticking Sheehan there instead. Maybe we could try Dapo in the No10 role alongside Doyle where I think he’d get less marking than on the wing and when he’s fit, try Amaechi wide left coming in on his right foot as Dapo does now. It will be interesting to see what happens now but a good win on Saturday would do wonders to settle everyone down.

That really is a rubbish press release from the club. No mention of why they're letting their captain go to a non-league club in October.

Where's Ken when you need him? He'd have had a few words to say about Sarc in his "Chairman's Notes".

I popped in here with high hopes for tomorrow and then saw this. Wtaf? 

Who let's a player who had played every game of the season just suddenly go? And the captain no less. And not a move to Manchester City... But to the national league? Again. What?

My suspicion is he shagged Ian's wife......that's the only reason I will accept.

Kiss the promotion push goodbye now IMO - not that one player makes the difference but it seems like trouble in the dressing room.

Who in the right mind drops to non-league at this point ---- probably less wages to boot.

Also in BWFC fashion apparently we didn't even make a fiver on a well established player.

Also how is it possible for stockport to just sign a player willy nilly but we have to wait till the transfer window...

I could go on ......

Jaysus.

So I heard that the issue between Evatt and Sarce was that the manager blamed his captain and other senior players for not implementing the instruction to change their approach to the game against Plymouth which had also been addressed as an issue against Wigan. They got instructions from the bench in both games and didn't enforce it on the pitch. One of his coaches was also held to account.

Things escalated and apparently, Sarce said or did something that was basically a sackable offence and it wasn't even Evatt's decision to let him go. He just wouldn't have played for BWFC again so they took the decision to terminate his contract.

finlaymcdanger wrote:So I heard that the issue between Evatt and Sarce was that the manager blamed his captain and other senior players for not implementing the instruction to change their approach to the game against Plymouth which had also been addressed as an issue against Wigan. They got instructions from the bench in both games and didn't enforce it on the pitch. One of his coaches was also held to account.

Things escalated and apparently, Sarce said or did something that was basically a sackable offence and it wasn't even Evatt's decision to let him go. He just wouldn't have played for BWFC again so they took the decision to terminate his contract.

I heard that too. Fisty cuffs?

Biggie wrote:
I heard that too. Fisty cuffs?

I didn't hear that specifically but I guess there is no way back from that in the workplace these days so could make sense

I'm sad it came to that. Sarce was an inspiration last season and only recently he scored a beauty for us - but if he overstepped the mark there's a suggestion he thought himself indispensable.

It also sends a message to the rest of the team about who is in charge.

Is there an official club statement about Sarce leaving or are they keeping quiet?