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Life with Wanderers has been a series of challenges for George Thomason – and he sees no reason why the upcoming season should be any different.
In the three-and-a-half years since he signed his first professional deal with the club, more than 100 different players have passed by him in the dressing room.
Thomason has shared a pitch with 61 of them, slowly making the transition from a raw young talent into someone with genuine first team ambition under Ian Evatt.
There are those who feel the midfielder still has something to prove and Thomason – a young man with awareness well beyond his years – counts himself among them. But for the second pre-season running he has returned as a player in recognisable form and one who is commanding more respect from those around him to boot.
At Chester last weekend he took the captain’s armband from Gethin Jones and put in a goal-scoring performance that arguably spared his team’s blushes on an awkward afternoon.
But with Wanderers harbouring promotion ambition, new signings on the way and a manager who has shown he will not allow sentiment to get in the way of progress, Thomason knows he cannot afford to get wrapped up in any praise that comes his way.
“I take nothing for granted, especially in my football career,” he told The Bolton News. “I know how tough it was to get my break here and I always say to myself ‘you have to stay in, you have to stick it out,’ and the only way you can do that is never to switch off, give it your best in every aspect whether that’s on the pitch, away from it, in the gym.
“I really try to be a model professional and so long as you can look at yourself and say you have done everything then most of the time it is enough to carry on going and improving.”
Thomason’s rise from non-league football with Longridge Town, where he found himself after being released by Blackpool at 16, to playing at Wembley in a Papa Johns Trophy final is one to melt the coldest heart.
But in a profession which can often come with a degree of entitlement, the 22-year-old knows that if Bolton are to improve, so will the quality of player who is competing for his spot.
“If the team is going to progress and evolve you always have to expect new signings and more competition because, naturally, they are here to raise the levels of the squad and push us towards a common goal, which is to win football matches, win promotion and be a successful club,” he said.
“You can’t get downbeat, you have to take it in your stride. You have to show everyone your own capability, push yourself and push your teammates to be better and make sure you are in the team when it gets announced at the start of the season.
“I am very grateful to have been here as long as I have. We talk about a journey quite a lot as part of a squad and as a team, and I am happy to have been a part of that.
“Everyone knows me, Rico and Gethin have been here since day one and we have all tried to take in the ideas and improve as much as possible every day. I really do feel in a good place and as much as there has been a big turnover of players since I have been here, for me, it is only about trying to make that improvement and being good enough to stay in the mix.
“I want to challenge not only to play but to be part of a winning side.”
Thomason was given his big break by Keith Hill and David Flitcroft back in those troubled pre-pandemic days when Wanderers were fresh out of administration. He spent a few months training with a team that were effectively resigned to their relegation fate in early 2020 but then resurfaced at the other side of lockdown with a new manager in Ian Evatt, and a completely fresh challenge in League Two.
From his debut as a substitute against Newcastle United’s Under-21s in the EFL Trophy or his first start – a crazy 6-3 home defeat to Port Vale in League Two a couple of weeks later – the midfielder has split opinion among the Bolton fans, as so many youngsters tend to do.
But, again, Thomason is worldly wise enough to know that as a player with three-and-a-half seasons under his belt at Bolton, he may no longer be granted the inconsistency of performance he had earlier in his time with the club.
“You probably get a bit of leniency as a younger player,” he said. “You test the waters a little bit with the games you play in.
“I wouldn’t say I am an established professional yet but I am definitely not a young newcomer any more. I feel like I am part of the core and solid group of the squad and almost one of the players who can be a leader and drive the standards of those around me. I want to be someone that players can look at and say: ‘He does things right.’ “If I am playing or if I am not playing then I want people to know they can rely on me.”
At the start of last season Thomason’s Wanderers career appeared to have shifted up a gear, with manager Evatt admitting he was “un-droppable” in September 2022.
Although his form did plateau – he kept firmly around the first team picture for a few months before a nasty knee injury against Bristol Rovers appeared to have ended his season completely.
He recovered ahead of schedule and did feature at Wembley as a substitute, making several more appearances during the run-in and a start at Barnsley in the play-off semi-final second leg.
Thomason felt that he had not yet returned to top form but after a few eye-catching performances in Bolton’s recent friendlies he is confident his best football is on its way again.
“Post injury this is probably the best I have felt,” he said. “Obviously, I knew it was going to take a while to get going again. Coming back into the team, trying to break back in, the team had done so well when I was injured, naturally it took a while to gain my confidence and get back into the rhythm of things again.
“When you get an off-season, or a pre-season, it is always a good time to get back into it. I wouldn’t say it is a fresh slate because everyone has something to prove and I have been here a long time, I know what is required.
“But I am trying to get back to my own levels and since I got injured this is the best I have played and felt in comparison with before the injury happened.”
Wanderers are aiming high in League One and Thomason hopes to see things sharpen up over the next few friendlies.
“It is always an exciting time,” he said. “I suppose the last few games in pre-season have been about gaining fitness and trying to implement new ideas that the manager has planned. You want to win games, of course, but I don’t think we can keep having that conversation about putting teams to bed.
“We need to touch up on the little one per cents but I have no doubt that it will be an exciting campaign.”
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