Wanderers have produced 28 England internationals over the years, with many coming from the local area.

Nat Lofthouse is an obvious name that comes to mind - the 'Lion of Vienna' is the nation's seventh highest goalscorer of all time, having found the net 30 times in 33 caps.

Other internationals born in the Bolton or Farnworth region include Tommy Banks, Tommy Lawton, Alan Ball, Paul Mariner, David Jack, Harold Hassall and Jason Wilcox among others.

Lancashire is actually “the best county for English football”, according to a new study by footballticketpad.com.

The survey analysed the birth counties of all 1,271 players who have represented the men’s national team since its introduction.

Lancashire has supplied 218 of those, with the likes of Harvey Barnes and Sam Johnstone earning call-ups more recently.

This means that men from the North West county, in theory, have a 0.0145 per cent of representing the Three Lions when factoring in population size.

Northumberland is second on the list with a rate of 0.0116 per cent - having produced 37 England players in total including the likes of Bobby Charlton and Alan Shearer.

Durham also ranks highly with a figure of 0.0097 per cent, having supplied Paul Gascoigne and Bobby Robson among others.

Staffordshire and Warwickshire also make the five, with rates of 0.0075 per cent and 0.006 per cent respectively.

Meanwhile, Cheshire sits at the bottom of the list with a figure of 0.0029 per cent. The county has produced 31 England internationals over the years.

Here is a full list of the results

1. Lancashire, 218 internationals (0.0145%)

2. Northumberland, 37 internationals (0.0116%)

3. Durham, 84 internationals (0.0097%)

4. Staffordshire, 85 internationals (0.0075%)

5. Warwickshire, 34 internationals (0.006%)

6. Yorkshire, 103 internationals (0.0044%)

7. Derbyshire, 40 internationals (0.0038%)

8. Nottinghamshire, 43 internationals (0.0037%)

9. Shropshire, 17 internationals (0.0034%)

10. Cheshire, 31 internationals (0.0029%)

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