Wanderers' future is looking to be in increasingly safe hands as the Burnden youth set-up goes from strength to strength.
Youth team coach Dean Crombie is finally seeing the fruits of his labour six seasons after returning to Burnden Park.
His youngsters' 2-0 victory over Lincoln City at Burnden on Monday night put them into the first round proper of the prestigious FA Youth Cup competition for the first time in five years.
Goals by Lee Potter and Noel Corrigan set up another home tie, this time against Derby County on Wednesday, November 20 (7pm kick off).
And ex-Wanderers defender Crombie believes the success story could have another chapter or two in store.
"The aim is to make sure that we don't have to pre-qualify for the first round again next year," he explained.
"That may mean us having to win another couple of games. Obviously we would like to win the competition but, while it's not beyond the realms of possibility, that ultimate target would be extremely difficult against the so-called big boys of the competition." From being relatively small fry when Crombie returned to Burnden after a successful six-month spell as assistant manager at Lincoln, in which he helped drag them off the bottom of the league to 12th spot, the Wanderers youth set-up has developed and expanded beyond recognition.
"When I started in the job we took lads just from Bolton and surrounding areas. We extended the network a couple of years ago to cover a far wider area including Scotland, Ireland and Wales.
"In fact we have three players who have represented Northern Ireland at youth level and two others who have represented Scotland. That's something we would never have had in the four previous years."
Crombie knows the acid test is converting potential into the finished article - and he is confident he has players under his wing who can go all the way into the first team. "Although he had no real chance of playing, Hasney Aljofree has been involved in the first team pool and Colin Todd doesn't do that lightly.
"We have one or two lads just behind him and I believe we have a number of players who have the potential to eventually play first team football. Hopefully we will see some fruition in a couple of years."
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article