Is Bolton`s Academy Falling Apart?

Over the past week there has been much talk of Jack Sampson, a fifteen year old Bolton striker who is interesting Manchester City, Manchester United, Spurs and Newcastle, if stories are to be believed. Of course, talk is all it may be. It`s worth pointing out that the player`s agent is Peter Harrison, a man with a fondness of doing his business via the media. However, should Sampson leave the club, then he will be the fourth youngster to do so of his own volition in just over a year. Kyle Bartley joined Arsenal and Blazej Augustyn and Kevin Wolze returned home to Poland and Germany respectively. Just what is going wrong with Bolton`s youth system?

Things looked bright at the end of the 2006-7 season. The reserve team, composed in the main, of players aged nineteen and under, won the Northern Premier League title, often coming up trumps against much more experienced players. They also reached the final of the Lancashire Cup and there seemed to be a great spirit in the squad.

The following campaign was disappointing. Results aren`t that important at reserve level, but performances and progress are. On both counts the team fell short. The tactics were odd as well. Despite having a side stuffed full of pace, the long ball game was preferred. Only at the end of the season, did they revert to the passing routine which had served them well previously and results improved, culminating in an appearance at Old Trafford in the Manchester Senior Cup final, where they outplayed Manchester United for an hour before going down 2-0.

Prior to this season, Scott Jamieson, Leslie Thompson, Matt Cassidy, Mark Ellis and Johann Smith were released. All of them had shown promise at some point. The treatment of Cassidy was bizarre. After being one of the best performers in the title winning team, he was frozen out, from the start of the following season. Jamieson has since received a full international call up for his native Australia.

Things don`t look good this time round either. Last week`s home defeat to Manchester United was a case in point. Individually, Bolton had the players to more than compete. As a team they were significantly inferior. The habit of playing men out of position doesn`t help either. Chris Basham was a holding midfielder. He now plays at centre-half. The best feature of Zoltan Harsanyi`s game is his movement and positional awareness. So he`s played on the wing, where those attributes are least effective. James Sinclair is a right sided striker cum full back, so he appears at left back, whilst Matt Carlisle, who has shown so much promise in that position doesn`t get a game.

Things aren`t all black. Basham, Sinclair, Rob Sissons, Nathan Woolfe and Jaroslaw Fojut have secured pro-contracts after progressing through the academy. All have potential. Whether they can develop into first team contenders remains to be seen.

Of the first team squad Kevin Nolan, Nicky Hunt, Ricardo Vaz Te and Joey O`Brien are academy graduates. Yet it has been three years since the last of those made the breakthrough.

This Saturday marks the official opening of the new academy site, a forty-acre complex, complete with state of the art facilities, close to the Reebok Stadium. The investment is commendable and probably essential if the Wanderers are to have a long-term future as a top-flight club. Now it needs to produce results, and that means at least one new player a season who can press for a first team place. There is much work to do.