Ian Evatt gives his thoughts on Bolton’s new relationship with former striker

Bolton’s top scorer from last season was Eoin Doyle and this season he had six goals for Wanderers but departed the club in January to go home to Ireland and finish his career there. 

However, despite no longer being at Bolton, Doyle has continued to work with the club as a scout in Ireland.

Bolton boss Ian Evatt believes it is important his side are ahead of other teams in terms or recruitment and believes the relationship with his former player is working well as he told Bolton News: “I think it’s going okay, it’s going well. Eoin is settled back home again which is good for him, it’s what he wanted.

“Then there will be some hefty conversations in the summer about which players are ones to keep an eye on.

“How our system works is Chris [Markham, technical performance director] and his team will go away and do reports and analysis on these players, and then he’ll come to me with a shortlist and we’ll make final decisions.

“We have to be smart and ahead of the game and have a look everywhere. We’re not snobs, we don’t turn our nose up at the Irish leagues.

“We know there are very, very good players to come out of those leagues. We’ll keep our eyes on it and there is no better person than Eoin to do that for us.”

The Verdict:

This relationship is not one you often see between a club and its former player but clearly both parties have a good relationship with one another and one they wanted to continue.

It’s a clever move from Bolton as they’re able to get an insight into some of the top talent in Ireland where other team’s aren’t looking and almost having first pick to look at them.

Doyle is clearly happy back home in Ireland, where he wanted to return to but due to his good relationship with the club is eager to help