Gartside - Davies still committed

Gartside: Future looks bright

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Bolton chairman Phil Gartside believes club owner Eddie Davies is as committed as ever to the club's progress after 10 years at the Reebok Stadium.

Davies arrived in 1999 as a non-executive director and has provided significant funds for the club since his appointment, and Gartside has reassured Trotters fans they can expect further investment.

"He's still happy," Gartside told the club's official website. "Eddie has shown his further commitment this year because he was prepared to release funds for the January window and that was important to us.

"The other side is that we actually showed that we made a profit in the window and to see that probably gives Eddie a bit more comfort to see that we are actually running it on a business base."

Gartside was also quick to praise the job Jimmy Phillips has done with the club's academy - the Bolton Wanderers Eddie Davies Academy, which was launched in the summer.

Headed by Phillips, the academy has already seen players such as Chris Basham and Temitope Obadeyi break through to the first-team this season.

"Jimmy has done a similar job to when (manager) Gary (Megson) came in. He has now got to the stage where he's got his own people around him," said Gartside.

"He's set it up in a style and structure that he wants and we're hoping now that we're going to see the Academy progress.

"Even before Lostock was set up and opened last year we were spending towards £2million a year for the past few years.

"I'm not saying that we're looking for the best players but at the same time we've got to be mindful that we want home grown players.

"It's important that for a club like Bolton to have our own players in there through the Academy system."