"Overall, really, really pleased with where we finished up": Fergal Harkin talks the transfer window and the future for Bolton Wanderers

A lot of work was done this summer by Steven Schumacher and Fergal Harkin to prepare a team that would be ready for the step up from League One, with the transfer window seeing 13 players come through the doors at the Toughsheet Community Stadium.

The Wanderers Director of Football, Harkin, has been giving his verdict on the window, the extended scouting network, and how relationships have helped to mould the squad Bolton have this season.

As the Whites secured promotion in May, Harkin was tasked with creating a team ready to compete in the Championship, a plan that had been long in the works. With that window ending this month, the Director of Football is delighted with the business done, alongside the window finally being shut.

"First of all, I’m glad it’s over. It felt like it want on forever, a really long window with the World Cup as well, but overall, really, really pleased with where we finished up. We had a plan at the beginning of the window that we looked at the end, and we executed on that plan."

As squad turnover's go, none had it much bigger than Bolton. Three players would leave at the end of their contracts, whilst Wanderers utilised seven total loan players last season.

"We had a lot of work to do. We needed to build a squad that we felt could compete in the Championship.

"We had three players out of contract last season that we didn’t renew and seven loan signings, so straight away that was ten players from the squad that left so it sounds a huge amount, 13, but we had lost ten and needed to improve the quality."

Harking states he and his staff had two plans for this summer, depending on where Wanderers ended up. The Irishman was delighted to rip up the League One version, but knew work had to begin right away.

"We ripped up the League One plan and from the 25th of May it has all been about the Championship. We needed to have a number of options in every position, because you don’t always get what you want. As long as every player can improve the squad, it then comes down to who’s available, who’s affordable, who wants to come and that helps us see what deals we can get done in the end."

With the step up to the Championship, it opens doors for Bolton to sign more overseas players, something the Whites have done. Harkin states the club did still look around England, its just that sometimes deals are easier to close on the continent.

"Football’s a global game now, we need to look at players in way that it does not matter where they come from, as long as they have the quality and the character that we believe can come and play here, that’s what’s important.

"Championship rules allow us to bring in more European players but it wasn’t as if we didn’t look in England, it is just sometimes the deal works out better abroad, but again what is important to me is the quality and character of the player."

Whilst Wanderers available reach has grown, the club's brand is still strong across the world. Harkin states that a lot of the summer signings joined on reduced wages, believing in the future of the club and it's stature in the English game.

"We signed a lot of players in the window that came to our football club for reduced wages, and that shows that they really wanted to come here, and that’s what we really wanted, players that want to come and understand what fight we have.

"The players recognize the name of Bolton Wanderers, they remember Bolton from the Premier League and they want to be part of a club that can get back there, eventually.

"They see the stadium and we present on how we want to play and the environment we try to create, I think that’s what players find attractive about us."

Gavin Bazunu, one of the final signings made by Bolton this summer, has worked with Harking twice before at Manchester City and Standard Liege. The Director of Football acknowledged relationships throughout his staff and Schumacher had helped to mould the squad Wanderers currently have.

"I have managed to be involved with Gavin (Bazunu) at three different clubs, delighted to do so, also have a great relationship with his agent, and that’s been important. We signed Ryan Hardie, who the manager has worked with before, and it’s an easier sell when they know us and trust us."

For Harkin, getting to the Championship was always the first step with planning for this one of the first parts of his job when he joined the club.

One of the players he signed last summer, Thierry Gale, has hit the ground running this season with Harkin stating it was always part of the plan.

"Thierry was a player we signed because we know he has potential to go higher and he has shown that this year. It’s two goals and I’m not sure how many assists, but he looks very bright. It’s helping him that teams aren’t sitting so deep against us as they did last year, giving him a bit more space.

"There’s a number of players we signed last summer that should be able to shine in the Championship and that was always the goal, to sign as many players as we could 12 months ago, that could play at this level when we got here."

After this weekend's matchup with Norwich City at Carrow Road, Bolton will begin a three-week international break. Harkin hopes the time will allow the coaching staff to work more with those who signed late in the window, helping Wanderers reach their full potential.

"The international break gives us three weeks to work with players who we signed late in the window. We have a couple working back from injury, so almost everyone will be available, so it’s great to give coaches time on the grass to grow."