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Gary Cahill: Fifth Wanderer to Captain England

We take a look at the former Wanderers who have also captained England

Captain fantastic: Gary Cahill is just the fifth man to have played for Bolton and captained England
Captain fantastic: Gary Cahill is just the fifth man to have played for Bolton and captained England
Clive Rose/Getty Images

Since the days of Cuthbert Ottaway back in 1872, 111 men have been given the honour of captaining England - and tonight Gary Cahill became only the fifth player to have played for Bolton Wanderers and also captain England.

Cahill made 147 appearances for Bolton between 2007 and 2012, and was a true fans favourite at the club before being sold on to Chelsea. He's since gone on to win the Premier League, the Champions League and established himself as a regular in the England setup, culminating in tonight being handed the captain's armband in the absence of regular captain Wayne Rooney.

The last man to have achieved this feat of captaining England and playing for Bolton was legendary goalkeeper Peter Shilton, who captained England 15 times out of his record 125 caps. He first captained England back in 1982, but didn't join Bolton until 13 years later - and made just two appearances for the club.

Right-back Phil Neal captained England once, also in 1982. The then Liverpool player joined Bolton in 1985 as a player manager, making 64 appearances before retiring in 1989 and then managing the club for another three years - becoming the only manager ever to take Bolton down into the then Fourth Division (League Two).

Jumping back more than half a century we discover the other two men to have played for Bolton and managed England. The first was right-half Fred Kean, who captained his country once as he earned nine caps between 1923 and 1929. His sole captaincy of England came in 1927 when he was a Sheffield Wednesday player and he moved on to Bolton a year later, making 80 appearances and scoring once for the club.

Three years after Kean captained England, former Wanderers inside forward David Jack earned the same accolade. Having scored 144 goals from 295 appearances in eight years at Burnden Park, the Bolton-born Jack earned himself a move to Arsenal in 1928, where he scored 113 goals in 181 games. Jack captained England four times in his nine appearances for his country.

The forward was the first player ever to score at Wembley, as well as being the first player to be transferred for more than £10,000 - when he was sold to Arsenal with Bolton in financial trouble, sound familiar? Rumours around the transfer suggest that then Arsenal manager Herbert Chapman negotiated the transfer of Jack with Bolton's representatives in a hotel bar and used the tactic of drinking gin and tonics without the gin, staying sober as a judge whilst the Bolton representatives got out of their minds to negotiate a bargain of a transfer.

Congratulations to Gary Cahill on becoming only the fifth player to have played for Bolton and captained England in their careers.

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