THE Bolton Wanderers Supporters’ Association have struck an agreement with the Bolton Wanderers Supporters’ Trust which should give its members an improved channel of dialogue with the club.

The BWSA, formed in 1992, has signed up to be an affiliate member of the trust, which will give the group some input in communication the trust has with the Wanderers hierarchy.

Under EFL rules, senior club representatives must meet with the trust at least twice a year. Wanderers’ owners, Football Ventures, have indicated that they will honour that commitment and chief operating officer Andy Gartside recently took part in an online Q&A as part of the trust’s AGM.

The trust is trying to bring aboard all the satellite fans’ groups as affiliate members to ensure they can take advantage of the regular meetings and make the trust a more representative of the wider fanbase.

Similar agreements are also in place with the Latin American BWFC Supporters’ Club, BWFC Norway, the Bolton Wanderers Disabled Supporters’ Association and the Lancaster Whites.

The London Whites are also expected to sign up soon, and the trust also have an agreement with ‘The Embankment’ – a supporters’ group from Benidorm in Spain.

A joint statement from the BWSA and BWFCST read: “At a critical time in the rebuilding of Bolton Wanderers and also at an equally crucial time in football's future development, the Bolton Wanderers Supporters’ Association are fully supportive of the BWFCST in their affiliation initiative to bring all the disparate BWFC supporters’ groups together to create a mutually beneficial, structured communication channel to represent the views and opinions of all Bolton Wanderers supporters.

“The BWSA have now signed a collaboration agreement with the BWFCST to become affiliate members and are now looking forward to working with the BWFCST and all the other affiliated groups to promote the name of Bolton Wanderers FC and to represent the interests of all BWFC supporters in any relationship with the club, whilst retaining independence in structure and governance.”