A hectic close season
The old season seems to have just
ended yet a new one is about to begin
one which promises to be one of the
most exciting in the history of Bolton
Wanderers.
Last term the Wanderers retained their
Division One status and in the coming
months they will be hoping to consolidate
that position and aim for the game's top
honours in the process.
In just three months since the last
ball was kicked at Burnden Park, there
have been a great deal of changes to
the stadium and its facilities, to the
playing staff and to the all-important
coaching staff.
Manager Ian Greaves wasted no time
this summer in signing two quality players.
England International full-back Dave
Clement was his first summer signing,
joining Wanderers from Queens Park Ranger
for a £150,000 fee. The ink was barely
dry on the contracts when Mr Greaves
was in the market again, this time
smashing the club record transfer fee to
bring midfield ace Len Cantello to
Burnden from West Bromwich Albion
for £350,000.
Like Dave Clement, Len Cantello is
a class player, highly respected in first
division circles.
Both players have been given a trem
endous welcome and their arrival must
be a great boost to our hopes for the
coming season.
New signings apart, the manager has
had a busy summer negotiating new
contracts with many of his own players
happily with satisfactory results all round.
One player to leave the club this
summer though was local lad Brian Smith
who has left for Blackpool after many
happy seasons with Bolton. Our best wishes
go with Brian.
Looking to the future, Mr Greaves
signed up three local lads he had been
keeping an eye on for some time at school
boy and reserve team level. Mike Bennett,
Brian Atherton and Barry Taylor are all
names for the future and everyone at
Burnden has high hopes of them..
Mr Greave's latest signing brought former
Blackburn Rovers manager John Pickering
to Bolton as technical coach. John's job
will be to develop player's skills and tech
niques and his arrival gives Wanderers a
highly experienced and skilled coaching
staff with assistant manager Stan Anderson,
chief scout Jim Conway and youth coach
Walter Joyce forming a quite formidable
back-room team.
While the manager was giving the team
and his staff a facelift, the stadium itself
was being reshaped and modernised, in part
to meet the stringent safety standards now
demanded of first division clubs.
New crush barriers have been erected; the
perimeter fencing extended incorporating
emergency exits; the stands have been re
designed with wider gangways and new
emergency exits (which unfortunately has
meant less seats); there is improved acco
modation for the directors, the Executive
Club and the Press; and a new public address
system - one of the most advanced available
- is now linked to an intricate emergency
lighting system.
All at a cost approaching £200,000.
The police, St John Ambulance and the
public address controllers will be based in
the new building that has been erected at
the corner of the Manchester Road and
Embankment terraces.
Perhaps the most amazing new arrival
at Burnden is a brand new computer which
revolutionises crowd control. The computer
tells officials at a glance precisely how
many people are in any one section of the
ground and whether that section should
be closed off.
It is the nerve centre of the emergency
systems and will also stop unnecessary
queueing by fans outside the ground. Fans
will be quickly redirected to other turn
stiles when one section is full cutting waiting
time considerably.
These changes are necessary if Bolton is
to compete at the highest level as a first
class stadium.
Burnden Park is now geared up for
European soccer and with the developments
on the playing side that is the club's
ultimate aim.
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