Wanderers have announced the appointment of Richard Cooper as the club’s new head of football administration.

Cooper succeeds long-serving club secretary Simon Marland, who is standing down after 40 years of service to the Whites.

However, Marland will remain involved at Wanderers in a part-time role as club historian.

Cooper has previously served as club secretary at Fleetwood Town and Oldham Athletic.

He also worked for the Manchester FA for six years, later taking up the position of head of governance.

The 37-year-old is excited to get started at Wanderers and hopes he can build on the good work of Marland.

“If you speak to any Bolton fan they will know who Simon Marland is,” he told the club’s website.

“He’s been here a long time and the good thing is he’ll still be around to dig information from.

“But I also see it as an opportunity to do things slightly differently. It’s not like-for-like and I’m looking at it as not replacing Simon, but coming in to do the job Simon used to do.

“Bolton is a big club. From being a kid I’ve known who Bolton Wanderers were.

“You walk in the place and as a set-up it’s top end of the Championship/Premier League, with the possibility and aspiration of the board and what they want to do.

“I want to work as high as possible and coming here gives me the chance of doing that with Bolton Wanderers.”

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