Home
Wanderers threw open their doors at Lostock yesterday, holding an open trial to find players for their forthcoming B Team.
Players from Category One clubs – including Manchester United, Tottenham and Chelsea – took part in a specially arranged game to try and impress the watching Bolton staff, including Ian Evatt.
From next season, the Whites will operate an independent reserve team in the Central League, supplemented with a programme of friendly games.
The squad is likely to include a handful of the younger professionals and current scholars, including Adam Senior, Max Conway and Finlay Lockett, with others added as the summer progresses.
“We have had them in training all week and we have seen little flickers from them, things we require from our players, position specifics,” Evatt explained. “There were three or four which took the eye, and we will see how things progress – but it was a good day, it was really interesting.”
Wanderers expect to cast their eye over more young players released by Premier League clubs in at least one more friendly to be staged at the training ground in the coming weeks but Evatt says he has not limited himself to those in an academy set-up.
“There was a mixture of players,” he said. “Some were from big category one clubs and others have come in and have been playing in the non-league pyramid.
“We are open minded about who and what we recruit, where they have come from, we just want the best people to progress.
“We are new to this, and we will get some things right, some things wrong. It is a completely different experience for me because I have only ever known the first team, and it will always be my priority. It is nice to look at ‘what if’ and what might develop with a different cap on.
“The game was highly competitive and there were some stand outs.”
Evatt wants players who will be comfortable playing the same style of football as the first team – and also a B Team manager who will be able to coach the possession-based style he has embedded at first team level.
“There has to be a good relationship because we are trying to develop players so we don’t have to go out and buy them from elsewhere and buy other people’s.
“There has to be the same detail, so it is not easy to recruit that type of coach but we are looking forward to doing it.
“We are trying to build something which gives us the best chance of sustained success.
“I believe that playing the way we do gives us the best possible success not only in this division but in the one above as well.
“You look at the teams getting out of the Championship and they are largely possession-based teams who play a similar style to the one we do.
“It is more difficult to get right and there will be ups and downs, as we have had this season, but we are developing it and there is more to come.”
Source