Wolves report Bolton over illegal approach

Jamie Gardner,Pa
Tuesday 06 October 2009 11:29 BST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Wolves have reported Bolton to the Premier League for an illegal approach made to academy player Mark Connolly.

The 17-year-old moved to Wanderers on transfer deadline day after the north-west club agreed to pay a reported £1m fee for the player.

Wolves allege that Connolly, capped by the Republic of Ireland at youth level, was subject to "unapproved communication" from Bolton assistant manager Chris Evans - a former academy chief at Wolves - prior to the deal being concluded and have now reported their concerns to the authorities.

Wolves chief executive Jez Moxey said: "We have lodged an official letter of complaint, supported by considerable amounts of documentary evidence, with both the Premier League and the FA.

"This complaint relates to Bolton Wanderers and their assistant manager Chris Evans, a former Wolves employee. We allege that there has been a breach of the Premier League and FA rules in place to protect a club's academy programme, maintain player contract stability and prevent illegal approaches of players.

"It is not an issue about money or the level of compensation we received for a player we did not want to leave; it is about the protection of the club's academy programme and its development of young players, something which is of paramount importance to us at Wolves.

"We cannot sit on our hands and allow the events surrounding Mark Connolly's departure to pass unchallenged or unnoticed."

Evans joined Bolton from Wolves as assistant manager in November 2007 after 17 years in charge of youth development at Molineux. Bolton also signed another promising Wolves academy graduate, Mark Davies, in January.

Bolton have yet to be approached by the authorities about the case.

"We are aware of the statement issued by Wolverhampton Wanderers but we have had no official contact from the Premier League or the Football Association and have no comment to make," said a spokesman.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in