Nat Lofthouse memorabilia unveiled at Bolton Museum

A collection of Bolton Wanderers and England footballer Nat Lofthouse's memorabilia is to go on public display.

Medals, trophies and other keepsakes bought at auction last month will be unveiled at Bolton Museum in a display at its Bolton Lives gallery.

It includes his 1958 FA Cup Winners medal and match ball and the England Cap from the 1952 Austria game when he was nicknamed the Lion of Vienna.

The items were sold by the late player's son and daughter.

Bolton Council acquired the collection for £75,427 with the help of a consortium made up of the Friends of Bolton Museum and Art Gallery, National Car Parks (NCP) and Bolton at Home.

Bolton Wanderers joined the consortium after the auction.

Lofthouse, who died two years ago aged 85, played more than 500 games for Bolton and won 33 England caps. tue of Lofthouse was unveiled outside the Reebok Stadium in Bolton.

He scored a total of 255 league goals as well as 30 goals for England.

Bolton Council's cabinet member for culture, councillor Anthony Connell, said: "We were fortunate to be able to secure some of the collection at auction and appreciated the support shown by members of the consortium.

"Nat was clearly a popular sportsman on and off the pitch, demonstrated by the thousands of visitors we had to a commemorative exhibition soon after his death in 2011."

He added: "These 19 items are a snapshot of his success and I hope fans from far and wide will come to the museum once again to see his achievements. They are in his hometown, where they belong, and for the pleasure of the public."

In August, a 9ft (2.7m) bronze statue of Lofthouse was unveiled outside the Reebok Stadium in Bolton.

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Bolton Wanderers joined the consortium after the auction.

Bloody cheapskates. They are happy to give Knight & Ngog £15k per week to be shit, but can't shell out some cash for a bit of history.

Shameful.

Just shows how much the club really gives a shit.

It will only get worse when we get bought out by some Arab who will have the club as a toy and change the name to Bolton Tigers.

karlypants wrote:Just shows how much the club really gives a shit.

It will only get worse when we get bought out by some Arab who will have the club as a toy and change the name to Bolton Tigers.

I doubt even the dimmest Sheikh would want us. Why bother when he could buy a club where the fans spend all their time denigrating the team they "support" and criticising the manager every chance they get without ever giving credit when they get something right. 

That said in THIS case I'm completely with Nat; the club SHOULD have bought this stuff themselves; the fact they waited until AFTER the auction and chipped in a few quid sucks; that medal and all the rest could and should have formed a permanent display at The Reebok itself for visitors and fans to enjoy.

I agree, I think its disgusting that the club 'conveniently' missed the bidding deadline... 

Wankers. I hope somebody has the bottle to bring it up at the next fans forum. 

A massive part of the history of our beloved club and they couldn't be arsed chipping in a couple of players weekly wage to buy it and put it were it belongs - the place nat would have been proud to see it in, HIS clubs ground. 

At least the most important stuff stays in Bolton.

Bolton cheapskate fraud bastards.