Bolton Wanderers F.C. Reserves and Academy

Bolton Wanderers B Team

Full name	Bolton Wanderers F.C. under 21 team
Nicknames	The Trotters, Junior Whites
Founded	1921
Ground	Eddie Davies Academy Bolton
Manager	Julian Darby (under-21s) Daniel Clarke (under-18s)
League	The Central League (B team) EFL Youth Alliance North (under-18s)
2025–2026	The Central League 3rd of 10 (B team) EFL Youth Alliance North, 3rd of 12 (under-18s)
Home colours Away colours

Bolton Wanderers under 21 team play their home games at the Eddie Davies Academy in Bolton.

Notable graduates of the squad include former captain Kevin Nolan, Republic of Ireland international Joey O'Brien and eventual first team regulars such as Nicky Hunt, Ricardo Vaz-Te, Josh Vela, Zach Clough, and Rob Holding.

Of the current squad, graduate Max Conway has featured most often at senior level, whilst Luke Hutchinson, Sam Inwood, Conor Lewis, David Abimbola, Daeshon Lawrence, Harrison Rice, Oliver Smith, Harley Irwin, and Toby Ritchie have also made appearances for the first team squad.

History

Bolton’s first ever reserve team was set up in 1921.^[1]

They have won the Central League twice in 1955 and 1995. Their most recent success came in the FA Premier Reserve league in 2007.

Previous years have seen the club compete in the Avon Insurance Premier League, FA Premier League North and Professional Development League 2.

They also participated in the Manchester Senior Cup and Lancashire Senior Cup in previous years, winning their third Manchester Senior Cup as recently as 2015 and winning the Lancashire Senior Cup twelve times, the last occasion coming in 1990–91 season.

In August 2016, the U21 side was renamed as the U23 side, after a consultation involving all 31 clubs in the Professional Development League 2, voted in favour of the new age parameters.^[2]

Grounds

Previous reserve grounds at Bolton include their old home at Burnden Park, Hilton Park the former home of Leigh Centurions, Bury's ground at Gigg Lane, Spotland Stadium, home of Rochdale and Rochdale Hornets and County Ground (Leyland).

Since re-forming in 2021, the reserve team play at the Eddie Davies Academy in Lostock.

Occasionally matches are played at the first team ground at the University of Bolton Stadium.

The Academy

The Bolton Wanderers Academy was established in 1998 and is based at the club and the main training ground. It replaced the older, more informal youth system, and enabled the club to focus their youth development and scouting, employing new techniques and FA standards.

It is currently overseen by Dave Gardiner. It provides a stepping stone for youngsters to progress to the highest levels of football at Bolton Wanderers.

Scouts attend many local youth matches looking for talented boys. A boy will then be invited to attend training sessions at the academy. They are taken in as young as the age of eight. At this age, the boys start by simply attending after-school training sessions, but as they reach their middle-teens, their academic needs will be taken over by the academy if they are deemed athletically talented enough.

Between the ages of eight and twelve the boys play in eight-a-side games of three twenty-minute periods. It allows the boys to play as defenders or as attackers in small groups within a system and is not as physically demanding as playing eleven-a-side matches.

The first player to graduate from the academy to the first team was the former club captain, Kevin Nolan who had previously been on the youth books of Liverpool. He has since been followed into the first team by Joey O'Brien, Ricardo Vaz Tê, Nicky Hunt. Josh Vela, Zach Clough and Rob Holding amongst others.

In December 2012, the Bolton Academy was awarded Elite status by the Premier League.^[9]

In June 2015, it was announced that the club had sought to downgrade from a Category One status in order to save money.^[10] In March 2020, the club announced it would down grade to Category Three.^[3]

Players

Academy (Under-18s)

As of July 2026.

Name	Position	Scholarship Level	Nationality
James Shillinglaw	Goalkeeper	1st Year
Rowan Baucutt	Centre-Back	1st Year
Louis Evans	Centre-Back	1st Year
Levi Kendrick	Full-Back	1st Year
Charlie Quirk	Centre-Back	1st Year
Jack Sixsmith	Centre-Back	2nd Year
Xander Taylor	Full-Back	2nd Year
Oliver Best	Centre Midfielder	1st Year
Denver Clement	Attacking Midfielder	1st Year
Quines Fakhy	Winger	1st Year
Alfie Healy	Winger	1st Year
Sam Hopkinson	Centre Midfielder	1st Year
Latrell Lewis	Centre Forward	2nd Year
Corey Nuttall	Centre Forward	2nd Year
Daniel Ogburu	Centre Forward	1st Year
Corey Thomas	Centre Forward	2nd Year

Managerial History

Staff

• Senior Professional Development Phase Coach.: Julian Darby
• Player/Coach: Andrew Tutte
• Head of Academy: Dave Gardiner
• Academy Lead Professional Development Phase Coach: Daniel Clarke
• Academy Lead Youth Development Coach: Andy Parrish
• Academy Lead Goalkeeping Coach: Andy Fairman
• Academy Video Analyst: Matt Stephens
• Academy Strength & Conditioning Coach: James Welsh
• Academy Physiotherapist: David Newbold
• Academy Physiotherapist: Matt Pearce
• Head of Academy Education: Alex Norwood

In addition, the academy employ staff from the first-team.

Graduates

The following players have been associated with the Bolton Wanderers Academy and have gone on to play league football for Bolton or other clubs since the academy was founded in 1998.

Academy Graduates who have made at least one senior appearance for the Bolton Wanderers first team.

Other players associated with the academy who have made at least one senior appearance for league clubs in Britain or abroad.

Notes

External links

• Bolton Wanderers FC Official Website
  • The Academy
  • Team/Reserves Squad Profiles
  • Reserves Fixtures and Results
  • Under-18s Fixtures and Results