Nostalgia: Bolton meet-up for England football giants
We take a look back at two giants of English football who both played for Bolton – Nat Lofthouse and Roger Hunt
Photo: New Bolton signing Roger Hunt with manager Nat Lofthouse at Burnden Park, December 1969 © Mirrorpix
Two of England’s greatest forwards came together to inspect a snowy pitch at Bolton’s Burnden Park on a cold November Saturday in 1969.
One was the Lion of Vienna himself, the great Nat Lofthouse, who had recently become the manager of Bolton Wanderers.
The other was Liverpool legend Roger Hunt, a 1966 World Cup winner and icon of the Anfield Kop.
Hunt had just transferred to Bolton after a glorious decade at Liverpool which saw him score 285 goals in 492 appearances for the Reds from 1958 to 1969.
He would go on to spend four years at Bolton, scoring 24 goals in 76 league matches, before ending his playing career in South African on loan to Cape Town club Hellenic.
Forever associated with Merseyside, Hunt was actually born closer to Manchester in Golborne, near Wigan.
He played his first football for Croft Youth Club and Mid-Cheshire League side Stockton Heath.
Hunt joined Liverpool in July 1958 while the club were still in the Second Division under manager Phil Taylor.
He made his debut in the 2-0 home victory against Scunthorpe United in September 1959.
He scored his first league goal for the Reds that day after coming on as a replacement for Billy Liddell.
Nicknamed ‘Sir Roger’ by Liverpool’s next manager Bill Shankly, Hunt was a key member of the team that won promotion back to the top flight in 1962.
He scored a remarkable 41 goals in 41 matches during that season.
Hunt’s partnership with winger Ian St John helped Liverpool win two First Division titles in 1964 and 1966.
He still holds Liverpool’s league scoring record of 244 goals in 404 appearances.
Lofthouse’s record for Bolton is strikingly similar. He notched up 255 goals in 452 league appearances from 1946 to 1960.
The number of international caps they won is close too.
Lofthouse played 33 times for England from 1950 to 1958 while Hunt made 34 appearances from 1962 to 1969.
There’s an appreciable difference in their goal tallies though. While Hunt scored 18 times for England, Lofthouse notched up 30!
He still has one of the highest goals-per-game ratio of any England forward.
Hunt’s crowning moment for his country was the 1966 World Cup campaign during which he scored three times and played in the historic 4-2 final win over West Germany at Wembley.
Alongside him on that memorable day were Manchester United players Bobby Charlton and Nobby Stiles.
Lofthouse’s crowning moment for England came in the 3-2 victory against Austria in Vienna on May 25, 1952.
He was tackled from behind, elbowed in the face and brought down by the Austrian goalkeeper for his second goal – but somehow still managed to find the net!
Lofthouse’s gritty determination and physicality earned the Bolton legend his lifelong title – the Lion of Vienna.
Born in Bolton, Lofthouse made his debut for Wanderers in a wartime match against Bury in March 1941. He scored twice.
When not playing, he was conscripted to work in Mosley Common colliery.
His league debut came against Chelsea in 1946. Again he netted twice, but Wanderers lost 3-2.
Lofthouse scored another double in his first England appearance against Yugoslavia at Highbury in 1950. The game ended in a 2-2 draw.
Three seasons later, Lofthouse was on the losing side in one of the most famous FA Cup Finals of all time – the so-called Matthews final of 1953.
Blackpool beat Bolton 4-3 in a pulsating match dominated by the opposition’s ‘Wizard of the Wing’ Stanley Matthews.
Wanderers were back at Wembley in May 1958 to play the FA Cup final against Manchester United, devastated by the Munich air crash in February.
Lofthouse controversially bundled United ‘keeper Harry Gregg into the net to score his second in a 2-0 victory for Bolton.
The Lion of Vienna made his final England appearance against Wales in November 1958 and retired from playing in January 1960 after suffering a knee injury.
He stayed at Wanderers as assistant trainer, then chief coach as well as chief scout.
He became manager in 1968, just before signing Hunt, remaining in post until 1971. He was back briefly as caretaker manager in 1985.
Lofthouse was made a Freeman of Bolton in 1989 and was awarded the OBE in January 1994.
The East Stand at the club’s Reebok Stadium was named after him in 1997.
He died in Bolton in January 2011 at the age of 85. Thousands paid tribute at his funeral at Bolton Parish Church.
Bolton Wanderers unveiled a statue of Lofthouse outside the club in August 2013.
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