A BOLTON Wanderers fan has quit his £38,500- a-year job in Australia so he can watch his beloved Whites at Wembley.

Sheet metal worker Ian Wagstaff was told by bosses Down Under he could not have time off to travel back to the UK for Wanderers’ crucial FA Cup semi final against Stoke City this Sunday.

So the no-nonsense northerner told his employers he was leaving in his $60,000 job at a manufacturing plant in Brisbane.

After serving his four weeks’ notice, “Waggy”, who has lived in Australia for the last 23 years, jetted more than 10,000 miles around the world to Manchester Airport, where best mate Chris Taylor met him with his ticket for the big match.

Including flights, travel and his ticket, the 50-yearold has forked out more than £1,000 to watch Wanderers at Wembley.

He said: “I’ve been a Wanderer all my life. I’ve watched them in every league apart from the Premier League.

“I told my boss I wanted to go, but he said we were too busy. I told him I was going anyway. It’s not every day you get the chance to watch Wanderers at Wembley.”

Mr Wagstaff, who has never watched the Whites at the Reebok, last saw a live game in 1994 at Burnden Park.

He considered coming back for the League Cup Final at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff in 2004, but his children, who are now aged 18, 19, and 24, were too young.

Mr Wagstaff is staying with pal Chris in Bury, and the pair, who grew up together in Radcliffe, are travelling down to Wembley together on Sunday.

Mr Taylor, aged 52, added: “Waggy is Wanderers mad.

We used to go together when we were teenagers and Ian Greaves was in charge.

“He follows Wanderers in Australia and he knows more about the team than I do. We went for a pint when he got back over here and he was even telling me about how the reserves were getting on.

“But even so, I was shocked when he told me he’d quit his job to come to the match.”

Mr Wagstaff is set to stay in the UK for two months before returning to Australia.