New Bolton boy Chris Taylor warns his teammates they must restore some pride after last season’s disastrous campaign
Former Blackburn star set to make bow against Sheffield United and wants Phil Parkinson's men to start with a bang
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CHRIS TAYLOR warns Bolton’s players are out to restore “pride in the shirt” after the hell of last season.
The summer recruit from Blackburn is set for his Trotters bow in today’s campaign curtain-raiser against Sheffield United.
With new boss Phil Parkinson having arrived in the summer, Wanderers are aiming to start afresh after finishing rock bottom of the Championship last term.
The demotion to the third tier comes just FOUR years after they were in the Premier League.
But winger Taylor, 29, said: “The gaffer is looking for things to take off again and to put pride back into the shirt. They want to put last year behind the club, start afresh and, hopefully, have a good year.
“I’m delighted to get the chance to pull on the shirt. I knew it was a big club before I joined but I didn’t realise how big a club it actually was.
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“It’s going to take a lot of hard work to turn a very good group of players into a very good team. It’s a slow building process at the moment but, hopefully, a good one.”
Parkinson quit Bradford to become the first appointment by new chief executive and Trotters legend Dean Holdsworth, who led a rescue buyout of the club in March.
The Lancashire club had been £172.9m in debt and hit with a winding-up petition by HMRC until Holdsworth’s consortium stepped in. They are far from out of troubled waters yet, with Wanderers still working within the restrictions of a transfer embargo as they pay the price for past over-spending.
Taylor was Parkinson’s first signing in July, when he moved across Lancashire as a free agent, after three seasons at Ewood Park.
And the Oldham lad insists he is raring to go at his new club.
He added: “We have got some very good players here and I have played with a few of the lads before. That has helped me to settle in as quickly as possible.
“I’m only down the road in Oldham, which isn’t too far, so it’s good for me.
“I’ve worked hard to get as fit as I can before the first game of the season. I’m looking to create goals and to score goals — as many as I can really. That’s my aim, to get balls into the box.
“I feel comfortable playing on either side. Right or left, it doesn’t really matter to me.At the moment it’s all about learning about the other players and, equally, they have got to learn about me.
“But, the main thing for me, is being in the starting XI at this club and being in a successful starting XI.”