Wanderers players will be dwarfed next season - to fit in toy boxes.

Buckinghamshire model-making company Corinthian are set to extend their popular line of model figures to include Bolton players again.

Now that the team are back in the full glare of publicity at the end of their record-breaking championship-winning season, Corinthian have responded with an announcement that miniatures of Burnden Park favourites will soon be back in the shops.

John McGinlay, Keith Branagan, Alan Stubbs and Alan Thompson were miniaturised for season 1995-6, the last time Wanderers were in the Premiership.

Now players including Nathan Blake, Scott Sellars, Chris Fairclough and Gerry Taggart are on the short list for model status this time.

The models, tiny versions of the stars from a range of top clubs, were the third biggest-selling toys in the UK last Christmas.

Retailing at £2.25, more than 10 million of the seven centimetre tall figurines have been sold since their launch in September 1995. Corinthian do not have a licence to make models of Nationwide League players. And at £1,000 per player in development and production costs, the choice of which players to model is a risky one.

Once a figurine has been commissioned, a production process of at least six months will follow before a particular player appears in the shops.

This is more than enough time for careers to decline or change, Corinthian produced a batch of 5,000 Kevin Keegan figures just before he left Newcastle.

Demand plummets for models of players from teams which are relegated from the Premiership.

Because of the poor survival record of many new arrivals in the top flight, Corinthian did not commission any models for Premiership sides Derby County, Leicester City or Sunderland for this season, the first season following promotion for all three clubs. But with their decision to produce Wanderers models for their return to the Premiership, Corinthian have shown great confidence in the team's ability!

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