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Nolan Profile
 
Bolton Wanderers Kevin Nolan celebrates scoring the third goal of the game

Kevin Nolan

Born: Liverpool, 24th June 1982

International Honours: England Yth, U21

Position: Midfielder

Squad Number: 4

Kevin signed youth academy forms for Bolton Wanderers in the summer of 1998 having previously played as a schoolboy with hometown club Liverpool. Initially he started out as a central defender but was converted to the centre of midfield upon the appointment of Sam Allardyce as Bolton manager in October 1999.

In January 2000 he signed a full time professional contract with the club and made his debut against Charlton Athletic two months later aged just 17. In debuting against the Addicks he became the first Academy scholar to make the first team since the Trotters gained Academy status in 1998.

Intermittant appearances from the substitutes bench came his way for the rest of the 1999-2000 season, but it was the following season when he really made his mark in the team as Bolton returned to the Premiership via the Play Offs. He played a huge part in that success and chipped in with a number of vital goals, including his first ever goal in a 4-1 demolition of Crewe Alexandra in December 2000.

His determined and energetic displays won him many admirers, and in turn this attracted the attention of the national selectors who included him in many of the youth squads.

Sadly he could not break into the England U21 set up on a regular basis as the then Three Lions coach David Platt prefered to name players with less first team experience than Nolan.

Nevertheless he adapted to Premiership football with relative ease, seemingly unfazed by more experienced and skillful players in the Division, this helped him to become a better player.

He hit eight league goals in the 2001-2002 season including an important equaliser against Bolton's arch rivals Manchester United in October 2001, a game which the Trotters went on to win 2-1, their first success in the Red half of Manchester for over 20 years.

A year later he repeated the same feat against the Red Devils, but this time it was the winning goal as opposed to an equaliser as Wanderers went on to win by a single goal and record back to back wins at Old Trafford. 2002-2003 was not a good season for Nolan, he was in and out of the side and suffered from loss of form.

However, after a lot of hard work,2003-2004 saw him bounce back to become the club's top scorer with 13 goals from an attacking midfield role alongside Nigerian superstar Jay-Jay Okocha. Sadly he was a member of the Bolton team which lost out to Middlesbrough in the League Cup final of February 2004 to disrupt an otherwise excellent season which saw Bolton record their best ever Premiership placing.

2004-2005 saw less goals but the same amount of effort and commitment which he had become renound for. A late winner against Birmingham City in January 2005 effectively turned around a dismal period in the season and the perfect reward was a 6th placed finish which guarenteed the Wanderers a place in the UEFA Cup for the first time in their history.

The following campaign saw him strongly linked with a call up to Sven Goran Eriksson's England squad but a selection to the senior squad was not forthcoming despite the fact that the energetic midfielder had improved his game further throughout the season.

He hit eleven goals from midfield including the winner in the clubs first ever away European game in Bulgaria against Lokomotiv Plovdiv and midway through 2005-2006 he was appointed as club captain at the expense of Jay-Jay Okocha.

His first full season as captain was a mixed one, he found the target in the away games against Arsenal in the FA Cup and Middlesbrough in the Premiership but the 2006-2007 campaign was more about creating goals and organising his team mates than scoring goals.

BOLTON RECORD: 243 appearances, 35 goals

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