IN what could be a landmark day for football in the town, Bolton Wanderers have confirmed that they are bringing their women’s first team completely under the club’s umbrella from the start of next season.

A semi-professional set-up will be relaunched in 2024/25 as part of “long-term plans to expand support for the women’s game in Bolton” it has been confirmed.

Wanderers will put their full weight behind the new side, which had previously been run by BWFC in the Community, giving increased exposure to fixtures, improved facilities, and the opportunity to boost revenues.

The decision was announced on International Women’s Day by chairman, Sharon Brittan, who hopes that by offering extra structure and support to the team, Wanderers can help improve the quality of the sport across the town.

“This is a huge moment for us as a club and on International Women’s Day, we are so proud to share this news with our supporters,” she said.

“We are one club, one community and one town and today’s announcement is a clear statement of our intent to give women’s football in Bolton the platform and support it deserves to progress and professionalise.

“With many incredible female staff members already working at the centre of our club operations, I am delighted this new move will see even more inspiring and ambitious women welcomed into the very heart of Bolton Wanderers.

“This process will be led by our CEO, Neil Hart, and the staff and team have my full support. I look forward to following their progress in the months and years ahead.”

Chief executive Hart said resources would be made available to the senior side which would help them to push further up the league pyramid.

“The integration of the Women’s First Team has been a goal for Bolton Wanderers for a number of years and we are thrilled to be in the position to now announce this exciting development in our club operations,” he said.

“We are full of ambition for the team and very serious in our intent to take Bolton Wanderers Women to the next level. Our aim is to semi-professionalise the squad and to deliver pragmatic progress over the coming years.

“For too long the Women’s team has been run outside of club operations and this will now change. We would also like to confirm our full support for the Girl’s Youth Development Squads which will continue to be operated by Bolton Wanderers in the Community.

“I would like to thank the BWitC team for their sterling work over recent years, including Phil Mason, Ben Lawton and Carl Halliwell who have dedicated so much to the Women’s team and worked incredibly hard to support the journey so far.

“We now look forward to taking this significant step forward, side by side with Bolton Wanderers Women and all our partners.”

The relationship between the club and their women’s first team has been a complicated one over recent years.

Bolton Wanderers Women Football Club was initially founded in 1983 and operated under several incarnations on an amateur basis, eventually being funded by the former Community Trust, who helped establish a junior set-up and build on the growing interest in the women’s game over the last decade.

The team was promoted to the FA Women’s National League for the first time in 2017 and its hierarchy spoke confidently about pushing towards the newly-established Super League but financial issues within the club led to disagreements and the senior set-up split in 2020, citing a desire to pursue their own commercial development. They also reverted to the name Bolton Ladies, which was incorporated in 1989.

The Trust – now Bolton Wanderers in the Community - continued to operate at junior level and expanded their reach to Under-18s after the senior side’s departure, an operation which has thrived in recent years with record numbers of girls participating.

Playing at Atherton Colls, Bolton Ladies struggled to build on initial momentum, folding after the pandemic and officially withdrawing from the National League in 2021, a touted move to Atherton LR never getting off the ground.

The boom in women’s football helped Wanderers in the Community revive a competitive team which won the Lancashire County Premier Division in May 2022, giving them promotion to step six of the women’s football pyramid, the North West Regional League Division One North, where they currently sit in sixth place.