Jack Crosland on ‘our next big thing’, friend of the site, Jamie Thomas and on others in past years who didn’t make the grade.
Jamie Thomas` fine form in front of goal for Bolton XI during the summer has lead to a small, but very passionate, Jamie Thomas fan club. His strong start to the season for the development squad has served to convince his fans that the Wales Under-19 International is ready to light up the Sky Bet Championship. His inclusion in the match day squad for Saturday`s tussle with Dougie`s Nottingham Forest sparked euphoria on Twitter amongst Thomas` dedicated fan base with Bolton Central sure to be swarmed with customers searching for a ‘Thomas 40` home strip.
Whilst Wanderers fans will be hopeful Thomas will soon follow in the footsteps of Zach Clough and Josh Vela into the first team, that final hurdle from wonderkid to first team regular is the one that previous youth prospects alike have stumbled on. We take a stroll down memory lane to see how these ex-Wanderer`s careers are looking after their time in BL9.
Johann Smith
First up is American Johann Smith. He was brought across the Atlantic in 2006 by Bolton scouts raving about the 19 year old hare footed attacker. Boasting a record of running the 100m in 10.5 seconds there was considerable interest from Wanderers fans in how Smith would fare in a white shirt. Despite representing Bolton at Old Trafford in the Premier League and a fairly promising loan spell at Carlisle, an injury curtailed his progress. Smith was cast out on loan before Gary Megson, in his infinite wisdom, relieved him of his Wanderers duties and released him. ‘Ginger Mourinho` in this case, at least, was proved correct as ‘Johann Smith` hasn`t gone on to become a household name. Returning to America he spent an unsuccessful time with Toronto FC before moving to Croatia`s Rijeka FC. Brief stints in Sweden, Finland, and Australia followed and Smith now finds himself in Canada representing FC Edmonton. He has never made more than 14 appearances for a club despite now being 28 years old. Not Bolton`s scouting system`s finest move.
Danny Ward
Ward was snapped up from Leeds United as an exciting prospect in 2007 and made his debut 2 years later, aged 19, in a Premier League clash with Sunderland. Ward impressed on loan at Swindon scoring 9 goals during the 2009/10 campaign and earned a new contract at Bolton with Owen Coyle promising big things for the Yorkshire born winger. As is the way with any Bolton player, Ward picked up an injury that stunted his progress and when Huddersfield Town offered £1m for his services he left Bolton with 2 appearances to his name. Ward has gone on to relative success and won promotion to the Championship with Huddersfield making over 100 appearances for the Terriers. Now, still in the Championship with Rotherham, Ward will line up against Wanderers this season. Despite the hype surrounding Ward as a youngster he never really kicked on for Wanderers and in Bolton`s current financial predicament, the £1m fee Huddersfield paid for Ward has probably been more useful than his services. It at least saved some parking space around the Macron.
Tope Obadeyi
Scoring for fun for Bolton reserves, 5 goals for England under 19s and one for the under 20s, Tope was seemingly destined to become a Wanderers legend. He was quite the opposite. A series of unsuccessful loan spells and limited first team opportunities however meant Obadeyi wasn`t offered a new contract in 2012 and sought pastures new in Portugal with Rio Ave. A year later he returned to Lancashire with Bury but didn`t impress and was released after a year. Obadeyi is now with Kilmarnock. Not the career the ex England Youth International was dreaming of during his time with Bolton.
For every Zach Clough success story there`s a Joe Riley, Chris Basham or Samni Odelusi ‘nearly-man` tale. The tale of Jamie Thomas is yet to be told but here`s hoping Jamie has it in him to jump that extra hurdle that has tripped so many promising Wanderers starlets.