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Wanderers are close to naming their next B Team boss, Ian Evatt has confirmed.
The club promoted Matt Craddock to the first team staff earlier this month following the departure of Sam Hird, leaving academy boss Dave Gardiner to step in temporarily.
That recruitment search also highlighted a few other options, which Evatt believes will make the job of naming Craddock’s successor a simpler task.
He also hopes to encourage talent within the club so that more coaches can progress through the system in a similar fashion.
“The good thing is that the process unearthed applicants that we feel could be a good fit for that role,” Evatt told The Bolton News.
“It could start a conveyor belt of coaching talent, and we’re having conversations now with some of the applicants behind the scenes on how they feel about the B Team position.
“We will allow internal candidates to apply too, because that is the way we want to work. We want to promote from within.
“But ultimately I want a good pool of coaching talent at this football club. It is the way the game is going, it is what I believe in, and I think we are in a good place with it all.
“Hopefully, we should have an announcement in the next couple of weeks on that.”
Evatt is keen for all the club’s teams to adopt the same playing style, and he has been encouraged by the performances of Julian Darby’s Under-18s, who face Derby County in the second round of the FA Youth Cup next Monday night, with a third-round tie against Manchester United at stake.
The B Team was introduced a couple of years ago as a bridge between the Under-18s and senior football, and while the project has taken time to settle, a handful of players have now pushed through to appear in cup competitions, the latest being Sonny Sharples-Ahmed.
Striker Conor Carty has also had success out on loan in Ireland and two other highly-rated talents, Nelson Khumbeni and Max Conway, have spent time in the National League with AFC Fylde and Rochdale.
Evatt now wants to appoint another coach who thinks along similar footballing lines to himself, ensuring the ‘Bolton brand’ continues long into the future.
“The biggest thing I – or anyone – wants to create at a football club is a legacy,” he said.
“And it might not be winning major trophies, or Premier League football, even though that is the ambition.
“But I want everyone to recognise that this is what Bolton stand for, this is the way they play. This is a brand, a philosophy, identity. I want that to run right the way through the club from the academy teams right up to the first team.
“I think we are heading in the right direction with all of those things.”
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