IAN Evatt has explained his decision to switch captains at Wanderers six games into the new season.

George Thomason was handed the armband for Saturday’s 5-2 victory against Reading, taking on the role from centre-back Ricardo Santos.

The Bolton boss said he was trying to reduce the load of Santos’s shoulders in an effort to help him recapture his best form once again, and he turned to 22-year-old midfielder Thomason as the perfect man for the job.

“I just wanted to take some pressure off Ricardo,” he said. “I think Ricardo has been absolutely unbelievable for me and this football club, he has been in team of the year three years in a row, voted by his peers, and that doesn’t happen lightly, in fact I don’t remember anyone who has achieved that, so it shows how good everyone thinks he is, including myself.

“I just felt the time was right to change it and share the pressure. This is a huge pressure environment and Ricardo being the captain of this club has taken a huge amount of criticism and some of it has been personal and way over the line.

“I wanted to let him focus on being him, focus on his performances and what he does best, which is be a fantastic player for this club.

“George is a young man who can take on and share that pressure. He doesn’t feel it, he is a different mind and mentality to other players and is very strong. He will grow into the role.”

Santos took the captain’s job in October 2021 after the controversial sale of Antoni Sarcevic to Stockport County.

He lifted the Papa Johns Trophy in April 2023 and led the team out at Wembley again in May for the play-off final against Oxford United.

But the 29-year-old has found himself increasingly under the spotlight since the turn of the year having struggled to overcome a calf injury at the end of last season, playing with painkilling injections, and being involved in the Whites’ inconsistent start to the current campaign.

Despite his tender age, Thomason is actually the longest-serving player at the club, having been recruited from non-league Longridge Town by former Bolton boss, Keith Hill, in January 2020.