Bolton Wanderers took West Ham transfer punt off Birmingham City evidence - it fell flat | OneFootball

The 2013 move is not one the Trotters will look back on fondly

Bolton Wanderers’ transfer gamble on winger Rob Hall did not prove to be a success.

The former West Ham academy prospect had impressed on loan at Birmingham City, which prompted Bolton to explore the deal.

Once at the club, however, he struggled to make much of an impact in the Championship, and was later moved on to MK Dons.

Although he carved out a decent EFL and non-league career, his career from Bolton onwards suggests the second tier may just have been a little beyond his level.

Rob Hall looked a promising signing for Bolton Wanderers after Birmingham City loan

Rising through the academy ranks, Hall was catching attention for his contributions in youth football, particularly in the 2012/13 season, when he notched five goals and six assists in the U21 Premier League for the Hammers.

It followed loan spells with MK Dons and Oxford United, the latter of which saw him register seven League Two goal involvements.

It was clear, at this point, that Hall needed to get back to senior football, and a loan move to Birmingham was arranged.

That went well, too, with Hall providing seven assists in just 13 appearances for the Blues in the Championship. Not only that, he also showed an adaptability that has always been favoured by managers, splitting those outings between both wings and also playing through the middle.

He kicked off that spell winning a penalty against Derby County which Marlon King converted to level the game (albeit the Blues lost 3-2 in the end) and after a handful of games, went on a three-game streak where he provided four assists, against Crystal Palace, Burnley and, most notably, Barnsley, where he set up two in one game, both for centre-back Curtis Davies.

That he was destined for big things seemed in little doubt based on that Birmingham evidence, with the forward just 19 years old at the time, and so when the opportunity came up for Bolton to sign him, it made perfect sense.

Bolton Wanderers never saw the best of Rob Hall

The two parties first linked up in a loan deal towards the end of the 2012/13 season, which produced just one Championship cameo, but the Greater Manchester side were suitably impressed and agreed a permanent deal which, as decided by tribunal, was initially set at £450,000, rising to £1.5m with additional clauses.

Manager at the time Dougie Freedman suggested Hall would become one of the best players outside of the Premier League, but that’s not quite how it transpired.

He made 22 Championship appearances in that first season, but was restricted to just one goal and one assist, and at points in the season dropped back down into youth football.

The same was true of the season after, only this time his second-tier outings has dropped to just nine, with no goal contributions to speak of.

Freedman openly admitted that Hall simply wasn't doing enough to fit for a spot in that Bolton side. "Rob needs to show a little bit more to push himself into the first team," Freedman told The Bolton News in 2014.

"In Rob’s personal case he needs to understand and learn that he needs to fight for his position. He’s still developing and learning.

"Where we have been recently isn’t a great place to develop, and I think it has been better to work away on his game on the training ground, get a little bit stronger and fitter."

Hall was, at the point Freedman made those comments, 20 years old, and that he made a point of referencing his fitness rather than his ability, which was clearly on show at Birmingham, hints that the then-Bolton boss perhaps wasn't happy with his application.

Freedman himself would only last a couple of weeks longer in the job, and after he was replaced by Neil Lennon, Hall found more first-team opportunities. But his problems did not seem to be coach-specific, as after a run of outings in November and December that year, he faded back out of the team, and would spend the end of that campaign elsewhere.

That, in a nutshell, was Hall’s entire Bolton career – it just simply didn’t work out.

He dropped to League One with MK Dons, helping their promotion push and eventually appearing for the club in the Championship, before moving on a free transfer to Oxford United, back in the third tier.

There, Hall was somewhere back to his best, netting six goals and providing six assists in just 26 League One games in the 2016/17 season, and making 111 appearances for the club in total.

He stayed there until 2021, when he dropped down into the National League with Barnet and, most recently, sixth-tiered Hampton & Richmond Borough.

It’s a far cry from the best-of-the-rest projection put on the winger by Freedman all those years ago, but it is nonetheless a solid EFL and non-league career – it’s just not a move that will be remembered well in Bolton.