WANDERERS have announced who will take charge of their relaunched women’s team this season.

Former Manchester United and West Ham coach Myles Smith will be tasked with managing the side, which has now been brought back under the club’s umbrella for the first time.

Smith will start his new post at the end of his contract in Saudi Arabia with Al-Ittihad, where he had been working with the club’s women’s team in the Saudi Premier League.

Carl Halliwell will also remain with Wanderers as an assistant coach, with the team now playing their home games at Atherton Colls’ Skuna Stadium in step six of the women’s football pyramid in the North West Regional League Division One North.

Smith said: “I’m absolutely delighted to join, in what is an exciting project for the football club,” he said.

“This is a massive club and with the men’s team making great strides to continually progress, it’s now time for us to start that same path with the women’s team.

“I’ve had a few different roles in my career which I think will stand me in good stead to take this head on. I’ve only seen positive things around the place since accepting the role, so I can’t wait to get going.

“The potential that the women’s team has is enormous, and that’s what excites me. I’ve got no doubt the club will help steer this part of the football club up the leagues and into a successful side and I’m looking forward to working with Carl Halliwell and all the players in achieving our goals.”

Myles Smith with Bolton Wanderers chief executive Neil Hart (Image: BWFC)

Chief executive Neil Hart said there had been more than 180 applications for the manager’s job but that Smith’s arrival is an important step forward in the team’s progress.

“We are absolutely delighted to welcome Myles to the club. He will have our full support as we begin the process of progressing Bolton Wanderers Women,” he said.

“This is an extremely exciting project in the infancy of its journey, and Myles demonstrated throughout the process that he has the necessary skills to lead the women’s side in its inaugural season as we (the club) lead its operations and future developments.

"We are also delighted that Carl Halliwell will be staying on as Assistant Coach. Carl is a brilliant person who has been in and around the Youth and Women’s Team at Wanderers for a number of years now.

“I’m also delighted to confirm that from the 2024/25 season, Wanderers Women will play their home matches at the Skuna Stadium, the home of Atherton Collieries and we’d like to extend our thanks to Paul Gregory and the team down at the Colls for working with us to establish this partnership.

“The 1,500-capacity stadium will provide ample opportunity for Wanderers’ fans to support the women’s team, with all fixtures communicated across club channels once released.”

Wanderers have confirmed that a new kit will be launched for the women's team and that it will be available in the club shop this summer.

The team will be semi-professional and have been set a target of gaining three promotions in the next five years.

That would put them in the FAWNL Northern Premier Division – step three – where the likes of Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest, Burnley and Wolves played last season.