DAVID Wheater is waiting to hear if he has got the Wanderers captaincy full time – and admits it would be one of the biggest honours of his career.

The centre-back picked up the armband from Darren Pratley this summer and wore it at West Brom on the opening day of the season.

It is understood the official decision has not yet been made by Phil Parkinson and his staff over who will be captain and vice-captain, but Wheater would be proud to walk in the footsteps of some Bolton greats if he joins the list.

“I’ll certainly take it,” he told The Bolton News. “It’s a great honour. Some top players have had it.

“I do love the club. I don’t need it because I’d play my heart out every week no matter if I had the armband or not. Fans seems to appreciate what I do and I have always appreciated the support they have given me, even when I have a bad game. Thankfully that’s not often.

“It’s a tremendous honour and I talk to people like Kevin Davies and he’s been the Bolton captain, so to follow someone like that isn’t bad, is it?”

Wheater was one of Wanderers’ key players in last weekend’s win against West Brom and reckons one of the main reasons Parkinson’s side have made such an impressive start is the amount of work done on the training ground over the summer.

Nick Allamby and his sports science staff have been able to work with a relatively injury-free squad over the past couple of months, leaving Wheater feeling better than ever.

“This is the first full pre-season I’ve had in seven years,” he told The Bolton News. “Even last year I missed about week because I had a sore back from actually working too hard when I was off. I swear, that’s the truth!

“It has been a great pre-season and even when we missed that game at St Mirren we worked hard for the full week. We didn’t sit back and have days off.

“I think it shows. We look a fit team.”

Parkinson was unable to add anyone else on a permanent basis on yesterday’s transfer deadline day while Bristol City brought in Chelsea full-back Jay DaSilva. The Robins have spent more than £10m but lost big names like Aiden Flint and Bobby Reid.

“They have sold a few of their decent players, which is good for us, I suppose,” said Wheater. “We’ve got confidence to go into that one and get a victory.”