STEVEN Schumacher wants to put his foot down on recruitment to ensure Wanderers have the best possible pick of the bargains this summer.
After meeting with players over the last several days and confirming his own retained list, Bolton’s manager will begin to make definite arrangements with sporting director Fergal Harkin to bring in some of the best available free agents to bolster next season’s squad.
Wanderers are expected to hire at least one more member of staff to aid with recruitment in the coming weeks, with the hope of attracting players of Schumacher’s calibre and character.
And, while the club missed out on the play-offs, the bright side is that work on new arrivals can now begin immediately, giving Bolton a chance to avoid the issues that plagued them last summer.
Under Ian Evatt a year ago, post-play-off final hesitation lost the club valuable time, and some crucial signings were not in place by the time the players returned for pre-season, leaving a planned tactical overhaul unpracticed when League One began in August.
Though Schumacher recognizes that there are no assurances in the transfer market, he will be determined to start things going as soon as feasible.
“We have talked before about having two lists, depending on which division we were going to be in, but now we’re looking at one, so it narrows down the field,” he told the newspaper.
“The task is a little easier. We’ve been able to speak with players that we believe might be interested elsewhere, and we’ve told them about our goal, what we want to attempt and achieve next season, and whether they want to be a part of it.
“We’ve started those conversations, and ideally we can make moves as soon as possible because I always believe that the sooner you have the players you want in, the better and easier it is to plan.
“It isn’t always possible, sometimes you have to work the best you can, but we will be ready to compete again when the season starts, I know that.”
Schumacher is focusing his short-term efforts on free agents and has not specified how much money he may have available to upgrade his squad.
However, with Harkin taking over later this month and the board indicating that investment will be forthcoming, the Bolton manager is hoping that a bleak end to the season can now give way to some optimism for future.
“I don’t really get involved in budgets and that side of things, it isn’t my responsibility,” he informed us. “That is more for Fergal to sort out. But I’ve spoken to Nick (Luckock), Sharon (Brittan), and Fergal on a regular basis, and we’ve all been repeating over the past few weeks that we just need to get through this difficult time.
“It’s been tough; harsh results have gone against us, there have been a lot of injuries, and we’ve got to try to stay positive through it all and grab anything we can out of it, anything to give us a little optimism.
“We’ve had several young players get experience, which has been excellent. Yeah, we’ve had 12, 13 players out, but we’ve been able to give young kids a chance to play in the Football League, which is good for everyone.”
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