Wanderers' new multi-million pound youth academy may be built in Chorley if Bolton Council fail to act quickly enough.

Reebok chairman Phil Gartside has told the two towns' councils that the first to come up with a location will get the state-of-the-art academy in their town.

The club's home ground has already been moved six miles from the town centre to the border with Horwich (although it remains within the metropolitan borough of Bolton) and the club's training ground is in Chorley. Now another big part of the football club could be on its way out of town if Chorley beat Bolton in offering Wanderers a site to build a new academy.

Wanderers have been given the money to build the academy and they are desperate to get it up and running to improve the development of young talent.

It will cost the club between £700,000 and £900,000 a year to run but it is a price they are more than willing to pay.

With Wanderers never going to be able to compete with most of the big clubs in the transfer market their best hope of living with them in the Premiership is to grow their own talent.

The new academy will play a major part in that strategy but they need somewhere to put it first.

Gartside said: "We are currently sitting on a very generous donation to build a soccer school and all we are looking for is a location.

"As far as I am concerned it is a race between Chorley and Bolton and whoever gets in first will have a fantastic academy in their town."

Kevin Nolan's emergence in the first team is living proof of the importance of a youth set-up within the club. The 19-year-old has been a revelation during the last two seasons in which he has helped Wanderers to promotion from the First Division and get the side to mid table in the Premiership with the season's half way point approaching.

"Sam Allardyce has done more for youth at this club in two years than had been done in the previous 10 years," added Gartside.

"We have made a long term commitment to developing youth."

Allardyce said: "To get another player like Kevin Nolan takes a lot of time but the long term strategy of the club has been put in place."