THERE is no substitute for experience, and there was plenty of that around the table as some of Wanderers’ longest-serving supporters were treated to a leisurely trip down memory lane.

An 11-strong collection of season-ticket holders, totalling more than 900 years between them, descended on the UniBol to enjoy a meal with some of the club’s heroes of yesteryear.

The community trust event saw terrace favourites Roy Greaves, Peter Nicholson, John Thomas and Tony Kelly spend the afternoon sharing their best anecdotes with the group who have supported their local team through thick and thin.

Over three courses the quality quartet, who have more than 1,000 appearances in the famous white shirt between them, treated those offering their unwavering support to stories from their playing days. Also attending were CEO Emma Beaugeard and recently-appointed head of football operations Tobias Phoenix.

And it was an afternoon to remember for the fans, as chaplain Phil Mason – who acted as compere for the afternoon – told The Bolton News.

“The original idea came from the hotel manager Suzanne [Speak], who thought it would be quite nice to put on a meal for people who have been loyally supporting the club for many years.

“So we had a conversation with Emma and she said that would be a great idea, and then we had to research and find out who were the oldest season-ticket holders. The oldest is actually a lady who is 96 who isn’t able to attend, and the youngest here is 85 so around the table we had a combined age of 900 across 11 or 12 people.

“It is incredible when you think about the part that Bolton Wanderers has played in the history of English football over the years, it’s quite remarkable.

“For a club is a town the size that we are who have such an impact in the football world – part of the first 12 and to have scored the first ever goal in the league, the first ever goal at Wembley, when you think about football firsts, they’re not bad are they? It’s pretty good for one club.

“At the end of the day we are very keen on making sure this is a family club and ensuring we are very much part of the community and that the community is at the heart of what we do.

“And we recognise that the club has to be giving back to the people, giving back to the town, that’s from our oldest supporter to the youngest supporter.

“This is just one initiative to say thank you to those who have stayed loyal, thank you to those who still attend and why not come down for a meal and sit around with some of our former players.”

Wanderers’ community trust staff are keen to reduce isolation in the community served by the club, and a number of future events are in the pipeline, all aimed at being an inclusive,welcoming institution of English football.

“From our side and from community engagement point of view we wanted to get them together with ex-players they may have grown up watching or watched through their adult lives, so we wanted to thank them for their support,” said the community trust’s Richard Slater, who said they continually have dozens of projects on the go aimed at Whites fans young and old. “Tony [Kelly] and the other guys have been great. I’ve heard most of his stories at least 10 times before but he still catches you off-guard now and again, he’s really good in these settings. Bringing these guys in was brilliant.

“The club wanted to thank long-standing older season-ticket holders, the oldest and those who have had season tickets for at least 20 years.

“We approached them with emails, calls and letters and invited them to come along. The hardest thing in terms of organising it was in getting contact with them initially.

“The club has a database but they may not have email addresses, their phones aren’t answered that often so trying to get through to them was difficult but we got in touch with them and invited them along and it’s been a great success.”

Kelly, who represented Bolton during the ‘White Hot’ era of the 1990s, said: “It was a pleasure to be invited, it’s good that the club reaches out to the fans, and we enjoyed hearing their tales of supporting Bolton Wanderers down the years.

“Their support will never leave you, they’ve stuck together through thick and thin and always will do, because it’s the club they love.

“They said they remembered my playing days here, and they never slagged me off, which was nice.”

Kelly, a club ambassador, enjoyed some of Wanderers’ most memorable times and has fond memories of his days in Bolton. While he share the supporters’ suffering, Kelly believes good times will, in time return to the UniBol.

“The Bruce Rioch years were great times,” he added. “Hopefully the club can get back to where they should be, we can only do that by sticking together, club and fans.”

Farnworth-born Greaves, who clocked up close to 600 Bolton appearances, Nicholson with more than 300, and Thomas, with around 100 games to his name, are familiar faces in the corporate suites on matchdays.

And they are also sure that, while this season is almost certain to end in relegation, Keith Hill can lead Bolton back to greener pastures in time.

“I think the support of the fans for the lads is great, and also for the manager as well,” he said. “I think these two [Hill and David Flitcroft] are the right two to lead Bolton back up. Would the crowds come like they do if they weren’t?

“They are from Bolton, they live in Bolton and the owners do as well, I think what they’ve got now they need to stay with. They need to give them a chance next year when they’re on a level playing ground. Give them a chance and we’ll see where we go from there but I think these two will do well if they get the time.

“They have inherited the current situation, with the 12-point deduction and starting the season playing the young kids, it was never going to be easy but I’d like to see them start a season on an even keel, give them a chance and we’ll see what they can do, and I think they’ll do very well next year.”

And Nicholson, who played in three divisions for the Whites in the 1970s and 80s, added: “I agree with Roy, I think we’ve got the right men in charge. Don’t forget Roy is a Bolton boy, played 600 games for the club and what he speaks is sense. They need to be given a chance to take the club forward.

“We have to get a team on the pitch and stop relying on loan players, having five and six playing each week – even though they’re clearly good players – we have to get some stability in the team with our own players.

“If you take the team before Christmas we started to turn the corner then all of a sudden five loan players had to go back to their parent clubs and that left us in limbo and having to start all over again. It’s certainly had an effect on the team.

“We’ve just got to keep going, get a team together and start winning a few games to take something into next year.”

Somewhat resigned to League Two football at Bolton next term, Greaves – who made his league debut for his hometown club in 1965 and stayed until the start of the 1980s – would like to see Hill given time to prove himself on a more level playing field.

“It does hurt myself and Peter, this situation that has been inherited by the current owners and management,” he said. “The people who have caused the problems have gone, they’ve walked away and left it for the current ones to deal with, so let’s see what they can do next season. I think we’ll come straight back up if these people are still in charge.

“I hope they’re given the time because they’ve had nothing to play with, they’ve had to rely on so many loanees, six players getting taken off you at the turn of the year – there’s half your team gone.

“Keith knew about what he was coming into but he said to me ‘Roy, I never thought it was this hard here,’ and to lose six players at the same time, six decent players too, is difficult.

“They have to keep these lads together, keep Hilly and his team together, give them a realistic chance. It’s all about next season now.

“Alright we’re going to be in a different league but that doesn’t matter, we can win that league and then we’re back to where we started, we can build momentum from there.”