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Whether he is ‘bonkers’ or not is up for debate - but James Trafford is definitely mad about Wanderers.
The Manchester City keeper rarely plays without a smile on his face and has become somewhat of a cult hero on the terraces at the UniBol, be it for cheerleading the home fans, or taking cheeky pot-shots at those following the opposition.
Ian Evatt says the teenager’s eccentricities remind him of coach, and last season’s promotion hero, Matt Gilks, when he was coming through as a young player – even dubbing Trafford “Mini Gillo” in deference.
But the Cumbrian stopper stuck up for the goalkeeper’s union, with tongue in cheek of course, as he talked about his successful start as a Bolton player.
“I just think goalkeepers are normal people, that’s my opinion,” he smiled.
“I’m just myself – it’s my personality and if he think I’m bonkers then so be it.
“I just like to have fun. Life is too short, and that is what my mum and dad have taught me for years, just as long as you enjoy yourself, that is what it is about.”
Trafford has only sampled defeat once since swapping a loan spell with Accrington for one on the opposite side of Lancashire in January.
When he first arrived, some questioned whether his lack of experience would be a problem at a club much closer to the relegation zone than the promotion picture.
But Trafford admits it has been easier to enjoy his football when results have flowed as well as they have for Evatt’s men over the last 11 games.
“When I came in I just thought ‘this is a good bunch, loads of quality, why the hell are we so low in the table?’ And my dad is the most optimistic bloke in the world, he reckoned we’d be going for automatic promotion, and I’m like ‘steady on!’ “Then he changed it to the play-offs – but he doesn’t know that much about football. We haven’t really thought about it too much but it is always better when you have something to aim at.
“Some March and April, if teams haven’t got anything to play for then I presume they would be counting down the days to the summer holidays.”
It isn’t just James Trafford Jnr who is loving life with the Whites. Up in Cockermouth, James Snr and those on the family farm have also seen the light.
“I don’t think there is a bigger Bolton fan in the world than my dad at the moment,” he explained.
“He watches every single press conference the gaffer does, tells me what he has said before I know what is happening. He goes through every report on every game.
“I don’t think he is getting much farm work done at the moment, he is just scrolling down his phone on Twitter. He finds out everything – I don’t know how he does it.
“All my family are so invested in the club because even after that first game my dad and the gaffer passed each other, and the gaffer stopped, took the time to speak to him. And that kind of thing really means a lot to us. All of them, and my mates, they just love it.”
No club in the division has scored more goals than Bolton since the turn of 2022, and barring a bad night in the mud at Burton, very little has gone wrong for Trafford since he walked through the doors.
More than 1,700 supporters will be travelling to Milton Keynes today hoping their side can take something to add to their late play-off run but Trafford says experienced heads like Gilks, Ricardo Santos, Gethin Jones, Alex Baptiste and MJ Williams are helping to keep the youngsters focussed.
“We are all confident, but we are not getting ahead of ourselves, away at MK will be difficult,” he said.
“Obviously we want to try and get into the play-offs but we can’t get too excited.
“The core of the squad know what it takes. They help lads like myself who haven’t been in this position before, going for a target at this point of the season.
“We are following their lead, a bit.
“They are on a good run, as we are, and they play decent football as well, as we try to.
“This league is just tough. Shrewsbury, Morecambe – they are hard games. And because of how unforgiving it is you can’t box games off and say ‘this one will be difficult, this one won’t,’ it is just hard to predict. You can only treat every game the same.”
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