WANDERERS relied on the steadying presence of Jussi Jaaskelainen for more than a decade in their Premier League heyday but life after the Big Finn has not always been easy.
Over the past 10 years, 12 different goalkeepers have tried to make the position their own and arguably it was not until James Trafford came to the club on loan from Manchester City last January did anyone truly succeed.
Ian Evatt will be looking for two new goalkeepers this summer as Trafford returned to his parent club and Joel Dixon was released.
Here we look at the succession line of stoppers and how the club’s differing fortunes impacted on their efforts to keep a hold on the number one spot.
Adam Bogdan
Bogdan had been with Bolton for nearly five years by the time he succeeded Jaaskelainen in the second half of the 2011/12 season.
The Hungary international was given the club’s player of the year award as they dropped out of the Premier League and was largely regarded as first choice for the next three seasons.
Bogdan’s finest hour came in an FA Cup draw at Liverpool – a performance which arguably earned him a move to Anfield several months later.
He played 120 times for Wanderers and kept 25 clean sheets. After Liverpool he played at Hibernian in Scotland and then Ferencvaros in Hungary. This summer he has been strongly linked with a move to DAC in Slovakia at the age of 36.
Andy Lonergan
‘Lonners’ was one of Owen Coyle’s first signings after relegation from the Premier League, a reported fee of £1million bringing him from Leeds United.
For three seasons the former Preston man competed against Bogdan for the number one spot, getting most traction in 2014/15 with Wanderers then under the management of Dougie Freedman.
He made 62 appearances in total, keeping 15 clean sheets. Lonergan signed for Fulham in 2015 and has since had spells with Wolves, Middlesbrough, Liverpool, Stoke, West Brom and Everton.
Ben Amos
Signed from Manchester United on loan in January 2015, Amos impressed enough to become Neil Lennon’s number one target the following summer.
Bolton beat off competition to secure him on a four-year deal but when financial issues hit home, that same contract became a bone of contention for the new ownership.
Amos had struggled to replicate his form from the previous season and was eventually shipped out on a series of loans to Cardiff, Charlton and Millwall. He made 53 appearances in all for Bolton, keeping 11 clean sheets.
He signed for Charlton and then moved to Wigan Athletic in June 2021.
Paul Rachubka
Another former Manchester United stopper, signed as cover for Amos, who made eight appearances in a forgettable 2015/16 campaign under Neil Lennon.
Wanderers dropped out of the Championship after a messy takeover with Rachubka taking over from Amos for a short spell in March and April, which ended in an embarrassing 6-0 defeat at Bristol City.
Since leaving Bolton in 2016 Rachubka played at Bury and in India with Kerala Blasters. He is now an accountant and based in the North West.
Ben Alnwick
Signed by Phil Parkinson from Peterborough United, Alnwick experienced plenty of highs and lows in his three years with Wanderers.
Pitched against Mark Howard in his first season, the former Sunderland and Tottenham man would eventually make the number one spot his own and won player of the year as Bolton’s stayed in the Championship with a last-day win against Nottingham Forest.
Bad times were just around the corner, however, and the keeper spoke publicly about the toll taken on players’ mental health after going months without pay from the club.
Alnwick eventually left the club my mutual consent in December 2019 and has not played professionally since. He played 95 times for Bolton and kept 22 clean sheets.
Mark Howard
Signed from Sheffield United at the start of 2016/17 in League One, Howard would contest the number one spot with Alnwick throughout the promotion winning season.
Howard arrived with a reputation as a penalty specialist and saved the only one he faced in a Bolton shirt, against MK Dons.
Although Alnwick got more game time the following season in the Championship, Howard finished up with 39 appearances for the club and 15 clean sheets.
He has since had spells with Blackpool, Scunthorpe and Carlisle, and last season helped Wrexham back into the Football League.
Remi Matthews
Initially signed on loan from Norwich City as cover for Alnwick, Matthews went on to become first choice in the second half of a troubled 2018/19 Championship season.
He became a permanent member of the squad in January but did so as the financial problems started to stack up, prompting a full-on first team strike which postponed a game against Brentford in April 2019.
After the club went into administration, a bid for Matthews from Crystal Palace was rejected, and he was one of a handful of senior players who started the 2019/20 campaign at Wycombe.
After Football Ventures’ takeover was complete, Matthews saw out the season as first choice, taking his tally to 58 appearances and 10 clean sheets.
He signed for Palace on a free transfer and spent last year on loan at St Johnstone in Scotland.
Matty Alexander
Few Bolton fans will forget Alexander’s debut, a goalless draw against eventual League One winners Coventry City. Wanderers’ senior players – unpaid by the club for months – had refused to play, leaving the youth team coach, Nicky Spooner, to name the youngest line-up in the club’s history.
The ‘Junior Whites’ went on the record a result which will be forever remembered. Alexander was serenaded by the 9,000 home fans and made a second appearance against Bradford City in the Leasing.com Trophy.
Alexander left Wanderers last summer and was on the books at Blyth Spartans but finished the campaign with Alnwick Town in the Northern Alliance Premier.
Billy Crellin
Brought in on loan from Fleetwood Town as first choice when football restarted in the pandemic – the Blackpool-born keeper had a tough time from the start in a team that struggled to gel.
Crellin dropped out of the team by November after a string of error-strewn performances, one of which sparked a press outcry when Evatt said in a post-match interview that his young keeper had to “man up” and stop the mistakes. The Bolton boss later apologised for the wording of the comment – which was quickly seized upon by the national media after a social media clip went viral.
In all, Crellin made 16 appearances for Wanderers and kept two clean sheets, conceding 29 times. He returned to Fleetwood but then got a move to Everton, where he has played in their Under-23s.
Matt Gilks
Came to Bolton as goalkeeper coach in the summer of 2020 and though registered as a player, he had expected to be used only in emergencies.
Wanderers’ flagging form in League Two convinced Evatt that a change was needed and Gilks made his Whites debut in a 2-0 win against Salford City, televised on Sky Sports.
His communication skills proved invaluable in a new squad, playing in unfamiliar empty lockdown stadia, and Gilks did as much as anyone to turn the season around. He made 39 appearances, including a handful the following year, and kept 16 clean sheets. Gilks now works as full-time keeper coach.
Joel Dixon
Well-known to Evatt having played under him at Barrow in the National League, the Cumbrian keeper took on the number one role from Gilks at the start of the 2021/22 campaign.
There were a few good moments – including a penalty shootout win against then-Championship Barnsley – but the club’s wobbling form sapped his confidence, culminating in an error at Hartlepool which ended the Papa Johns Trophy run that year.
Dixon played 36 times in all and kept seven clean sheets. He was released this summer and, somewhat ironically, has signed with Pool in League Two.
James Trafford
There may have been a few eyebrows raised when Wanderers reached for a relatively untested 19-year-old on loan from Manchester City in January 2022 but any doubters quickly disappeared.
Trafford became the first Bolton keeper ever to keep a clean sheet in his first four appearances for the club and combining his two spells amassed 33 in total over 74 games.
Replacing those kind of numbers this summer will not be a simple task.
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