Bwfc Uk

Former Wanderer and current ‘fan liaison officer’ Tony Kelly has a new column in the Bolton News. Here he talks about his first game in the new role:

What a fantastic result to celebrate my return to the club.

Saturday was always going to be a special day for me because it was the first game in my new role as fan liaison officer on top of the job I’ve got helping Jimmy Phillips at the Academy.

And it couldn’t have been a better match for me: two of my old clubs facing each other in the Premier League.

I was made up for the Stoke fans that they were watching their team in the Premiership for the first time but, once the game started I only wanted one team to win it – and I was dead chuffed that Bolton won it in the way they did.

When the Stoke players ran out I thought they’d brought a basketball team: 6ft 1, 6ft 2, 6ft 3 . . . scary. And the way they started meant that the lads had to defend brilliantly.

But you could see the team spirit from the start and, once they’d weathered the storm, their class told. Scoring three goals in the first game was all you could ask.

I was right behind Gretar Steinsson when he cracked in the first and I was punching the air when Kevin Davies and Johan Elmander scored.

For me, Davo sums up what Bolton Wanderers is all about and, take your hat off to Gary Megson and to the chairman, Phil Gartside, for making the money available, it looks like they’ve got a great lad in Elmander. Not only can he play, but he works his socks off, right in the Bolton mould.

It was a great all-round team performance and I thought the fans were briliant getting behind the team but, for me, Joey O’Brien, was the pick. He’s a bit of an unsung hero but he kept everything neat and tidy and ticking over nicely.

I think the lads would have been disappointed to concede that sloppy goal at the end, but it was a superb first game and the result made my day.

It’s a great honour for me to be back at the club. I had six great years here as a player and the supporters have always had a special place in my heart. So I’m so grateful to the chairman, the manager and Andrew Dean in the commercial department, for getting me back to the club and to Peter Farrell at the Academy for taking me under his wing. He’s a top bloke and a top coach.

But I feel like I’ve never really been away. Once you’ve been at Bolton, the club’s always in your heart.

That’s why I’m so proud to be representing the fans and getting a chance to give something back to them for all they’ve done for me.

If anybody has a problem they can come to me. We’ll be setting up a website and a dedicated phone line so that, if there are any issues people want to raise, they can let me know and I’ll take them up with the relevant departments.