Ranking Bolton Wanderers’ 20 greatest players of all-time – Jussi Jaaskelainen = 5th | OneFootball

A list of Bolton Wanderers' 20 greatest players of all-time. Going from their historic side of 1920s to the modern day golden era of the 2000s.

Formed in 1874 as Christchurch, four-time FA Cup winners and one of the founding members of the Football League, Bolton Wanderers are one of the most storied clubs in English football.

From the glory days of the 1920s and then the 1950s through to the rollercoaster ride of the 90s and the noughties, Wanderers supporters have had some true gems to latch on to with legends of the game gracing the pitch at either Burnden Park or the Reebok Stadium, as well as an abundance of cult heroes.

Football League World has broken down the 20 greatest players to ever don the famous white shirt of Bolton Wanderers.

20 Gary Cahill

When Gary Cahill received his first England cap against Bulgaria in 2009, he became the first Bolton player to play for his country since Michael Ricketts in 2002 – but unlike one-cap wonder Ricketts, Cahill played 61 times for his nation and went to four tournaments.

After leaving Wanderers in January 2012, scoring the winning goal as captain against Everton his final game for the Trotters, Cahill went on to win everything with Chelsea with two Premier League titles, two FA Cups, a League Cup, the UEFA Champions League and two UEFA Europa League trophies.

He arrived at Bolton just after the days when they were pushing for the top four in the Premier League but he would have eased himself into those sides and still play four times in Europe for Bolton, a fulcrum of the defence that kept Atletico Madrid at bay over two legs in 2008.

19 Fernando Hierro

Fernando Hierro played just 35 games across all competitions in the 2004/05 campaign for Bolton but the former Real Madrid and Spain captain is still widely viewed as one of the best footballers to play for the club.

Deployed in both defence and defensive midfield by Sam Allardyce, Hierro was a key player for a Whites side that finished just three points outside of the top four and the UEFA Champions League spots in 2005.

Prior to joining Bolton, he had scored a remarkable 29 goals in 89 Spain caps as well as won five La Liga titles, a Copa del Rey, four Supercopa de Espana, three UEFA Champions League trophies, two Intercontinental Cups and a UEFA Super Cup.

18 Ivan Campo

Another man who joined Wanderers from Real Madrid in the same time period was Ivan Campo – known for his shaggy perm-like hairstyle to neutrals but to Bolton fans, he was a key player in their greatest team in the modern era.

Campo, who played for times for the Spanish national side as well as winning two UEFA Champions League trophies with Real Madrid, joined Wanderers on an initial loan deal in 2002 but soon became a fans’ favourite and stayed for another five seasons in Lancashire.

Again, capable of playing at centre-back and in midfield, Campo had a remarkable for a pass as well as for the odd goal, whilst, in typically Basque fashion, got properly stuck into the opposition – something that Bolton supporters adore him from the off.

17 Frank Worthington

Already having been an England player on eight occasions, scoring twice, before he moved to Burnden Park, Frank Worthington was a recognisable maverick footballer that produced utter magic whenever he stepped onto the park.

Perhaps responsible for the greatest goal in Bolton’s history against Ipswich Town, Worthington went on to score 35 goals in 84 appearances for the club, helping them win the second division title in 1978 before he then finished as top scorer in the top-flight in 1979, whilst with the club. He was dubbed “the working man’s George Best” by former Bolton boss, Ian Greaves.

Now we move back to the ‘Big Sam’s Galacticos’ era at Bolton in the early-to-mid-noughties with a French 1998 FIFA World Cup winner, Youri Djorkaeff, who joined the club in the summer of 2002, just a year after Bolton had gained promotion to the Premier League.

In his first season, he was utterly instrumental as Wanderers narrowly avoided relegation with a 16th place finish before then surviving in 17th on the final day of the 2002/03 campaign. In his final season, ‘Le God’, as he was nicknamed, notched nine goals in 27 appearances for the Whites as they finished eighth in the Premier League, missing out on a first ever European qualification by just three points.

Known for his touch and grace, Djorkaeff remains fondly remembers by Wanderers supporters and there is even a hint of disbelief that the former Paris Saint-Germain and Internazionale midfielder ever moved to the Reebok Stadium.

15 Alan Thompson

The next man on the list is from the nineties as we look at Newcastle-born midfielder Alan Thompson, who joined the club from Newcastle United in the summer of 1993.

Thompson was a key part of Bruce Rioch’s ‘White Hot’ team of the 1990s with famous cup victories against Arsenal and Liverpool, as well as reaching the 1995 League Cup final as a second-tier side, losing to Liverpool by two goals to one at Wembley with Thompson scoring the Bolton goal.

He helped Bolton twice gain promotion to the Premier League in the mid-90s, and was utterly sensational in the 1996/97 season as the Trotters earned 98 points and scored 100 goals as they won the First Division title.

He eventually moved on to Aston Villa for a £4.5 million fee in the summer of 1998 as he wanted to further his England aspirations but he did not earn his first and only cap for the Three Lions until 2004, whilst a Celtic player.

Anyone that wins a major international tournament whilst a Bolton Wanderers player would have to go down in folklore and former Greece international Stelios Giannakopoulos very much falls into that category.

UEFA EURO 2004 winner with Greece, Stelios joined Bolton in the summer of 2003 from Olympiakos and went on to make 177 appearances for the club, scoring some crucial goals from midfield.

A cult-hero, the Athenian attacking midfielder and occasional winger was an essential cog of the Allardyce era and is remembered very well by Bolton supporters to this day.

13 Nicolas Anelka

Quite a lot of Bolton supporters would have the next man on the list much higher and there would be a lot of fair and reasonable arguments to support that because Nicolas Anelka was frankly magnificent as a Bolton player.

Having been lampooned as ‘Le Sulk’ following his time with PSG, Arsenal, Real Madrid and Liverpool; Anelka began to reignite his career with both Manchester City and Fenerbahce before becoming Bolton’s club record signing in the summer of 2006 for a fee believed to be in the region of £8 million.

He took his time to get his first league goal for the club but eventually burst into life with a simply ridiculous brace against former club Arsenal in late-November and then scored 21 league goals in 40 appearances after a ten-game spell without a goal to start off with.

12 Kevin Nolan

Northampton Town boss Kevin Nolan is the next man on the list with the Liverpudlian a Bolton Wanderers academy graduate but also so much more than that to many after a remarkable nine-and-a-half-season spell as a Wanderers player.

He made his debut for the club towards the back end of the 1999/00 season and then established himself firmly within the first-team as Bolton gained promotion via the play-offs the following the season.

He went on to make 261 Premier League appearances for the club, becoming captain in November 2005, and providing Bolton supporters with some extremely fond memories, scoring some absolute pearlers.

He eventually departed for Newcastle United in January 2009 and went on to have his best scoring seasons with the Magpies and then West Ham United over the next few years before finishing up at Leyton Orient and Notts County.

11 Ted Vizard

Having looked at a key Bolton player from the modern era, we now go all the way back to the first-half of the 20th century with the next man on the list being former Wales international Ted Vizard.

An ‘outside-left’ as was the case in the 1910s and 1920s when he played for the Whites, Vizard was instrumental for Bolton as he helped them win three of their FA Cups in the 20s and also became the oldest player to play for the club in 1931, at the age of 41, until Peter Shilton broke that record in 1995.

Vizard scored 70 goals in 512 appearances for the Trotters and only six players played more games for the club with three of those in the top ten of this list.