The last time James Trafford stepped onto Brunton Park’s turf, he was a boy of ten who couldn’t get over how “huge” the stadium seemed. Today, he returns as a goalkeeper with Bolton Wanderers via Manchester City and England’s Under-21s.
One of Cumbrian football’s brightest young stars faces Carlisle United in this afternoon's pre-season friendly. Trafford is making exciting headway with City, who have loaned him back to Bolton for the 2022/23 season to help his development.
At 19, he has an Under-21 cap thanks to last month’s international against Kosovo. It all feels quite some distance from the time the farmer’s son from Greysouthen only had eyes for Carlisle.
“The only times I’ve ever been on the pitch were to get my photo taken, to do one of the warm-ups, and a penalty shoot-out at half-time,” Trafford says.
“The stadium felt massive back then. Before I went to City, Carlisle were the only team I’d watched live. So it was always one stadium I wanted to play in. I was really pleased when I was going back to Bolton and I saw this fixture get announced.”
Trafford left Carlisle’s academy for Man City aged 12. By then, he had stood behind the goal at United’s ground and watched goalkeepers like Keiren Westwood.
“My first game was Leeds in the play-offs,” he says. “We always used to go and watch them, especially me and my dad, on a Tuesday night. If we had a home game after training at Dalston, we’d always go and stand behind the goal in the Warwick, front row.
“It will be quite weird for my mum and dad. They’re gonna stand in the Warwick [today]. They’ve gone from watching random League Two goalies at Brunton Park to watching me…”
Trafford hopes his current progress with League One Bolton is a step towards a Premier League future, in a goalkeeping career that started by chance, when he was involved in academy trials at under-ten level at Carlisle.
“I was always a midfielder or striker,” says Trafford, who had played junior football for Cockermouth. “There was this session when they only had one goalie, and asked if anyone wanted to go in goal. My dad had a pair of gloves in the car and I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll go in goal’.
“I would probably have got released if I didn’t go in goal. I thought I might as well. I quite enjoyed it. Then Ben Benson, the coach, put me in the goalie sessions and it went from there.”
Trafford credits father James with keeping those gloves to hand. “He always thought I was quite good in goal because he couldn’t score past me at home. But it wasn’t really hard to save his shots with his steel toecap wellies…”
There will be more familiar faces today, and Trafford expects reams of “banter” from Cumbrian friends in the crowd. Some of those he knew at Carlisle’s academy, like Jack Ellis and Lewis Bell, will be in the home squad.
“It will be quite funny seeing my mates in the Warwick,” he adds. “I’m really looking forward to it. There probably won’t be nerves – I don’t get too nervous before games. It’ll be more excitement.”
Trafford remembers more about his time on Carlisle’s books. “I still talk to Ben a lot about those days. I remember training at Caldew [School] which was the coldest place on earth.
“I remember getting a black eye at school – I ran into a wall – and I really wanted to come to training. The physio was Joe White’s grandad – Pete [Hampton], rest his soul – and he battered Ben for letting me train…”
Trafford was 11 when his horizons dramatically changed. “I’d been training, and that night my dad said, ‘I’ve got some news for you. I’ve had Ben on the phone and City are interested in taking you’.
“I thought it was quite cool. I had to do my homework, and then school as normal the next day, and then one Friday night I went and trained with them. They got me a brand new pair of gloves, gave me a brand new City match kit. I loved it.
“I must have done well, because they asked me back three weeks later. They had an in-house game, and then from there I went down every month until the season finished and I finished Year Seven at Cockermouth School.”
Trafford then signed with City, was enrolled at St Bede’s College, where the club has many of their academy stars educated, and lived with house parents. He adapted well to life at a huge club and, at the various stages when many young hopefuls are cast adrift, Trafford kept progressing.
He played for England at youth levels and eventually earned professional status. Last season was his first in first-team football, via loans with Accrington Stanley and Bolton, while his potential has earned the further approval of Pep Guardiola with a new four-year contract extension.
Trafford does not sound overawed by the opportunities he is grasping. “I just go with the flow,” he says. “I’ve always just played footy ‘cos I enjoy it.
“I probably got quite serious when I was 15 or 16 and realised how good I was. But even now, if I didn’t still love it I’d just go and work on the farm with my dad.
“I can live off not too much money, unlike some people. I don’t do too much with my money. I spend most of it on food. Ice cream – I love ice cream. With this new contract, I’ll just buy more ice-cream...
“They [City] have shown good faith in me. But I just want to keep enjoying it, whatever happens. I’ve seen lads my age go out on loan or be released and it's not gone their way. After that first kick in the teeth, I’ve seen some who’ve lost the hunger and enjoyment, and stopped working hard.
“I just enjoy it. The love of the game’s still there for the time being.”
Last season was an important one in Trafford’s development. Half a season at Accrington brought his professional debut but not quite enough first-team football. Things were different in the new year at Bolton, where he shone.
“To sum it up…I learned a lot about footy and myself,” he says. “When I went to Accy, it didn’t go how I wanted to go. I wanted to play a full season there and do well. But I’m happy how it worked out. I grew up quite a lot. It made me a better goalie and better person, and I’m happy I got the move to Bolton.”
How did it make Trafford better? “Just learning the mindset, really, that no-one’s gonna really help you out. Everyone’s in it for themselves. That mindset to not really care about anyone else, just yourself.
“That’s first-team football, especially when a team’s not doing too well. Everyone wants to play, everyone would rather someone else get dropped than themselves.”
Trafford also experienced the harsh side of the game in terms of social media comment. His move to Bolton was described as an exciting one by manager Ian Evatt but not everyone was initially sold on the young Cumbrian.
“I don’t know why I got so much stick when I went in. Some of it still comes up,” he says. “I’m sure this one person’s tweeted something nice about me recently. Come on, son, sort your head out a bit...
“It’s gone really well at Bolton. We try and play footy, really similar to how the top teams play. It’s how I’ve been brought up. The coach, Gillo [Matt Gilks], has been really good for me. He’s what I needed – someone who’s just come out of the game, played in the Prem, for his country [Scotland], and his experience of the game helps me.
“I’m at the other end of the spectrum. I’ve played 33 games and haven’t got the experience he has, but I’ve got the ability. But you need more than just ability to get yourself through. His game understanding has helped me a lot. He trains really intensely. That’s the biggest thing I need.”
Trafford kept a clean sheet on a winning debut against Ipswich Town at the University of Bolton Stadium, and swiftly grew in popularity. “I was a bit nervous before my first game, but as soon as you get in the warm-ups you go into auto-pilot, go back to your processes and muscle memory, and play the game like any ordinary game.
“The stadium and fans are really good. The fans are the best on away grounds: all the die-hards, in a condensed section. On the bus the other day we were watching a few of the videos from last season, after we’d scored at Morecambe, Crewe and Donny. It’s brilliant watching them celebrate, running on the pitch.”
Trafford likes to interact with the boisterous Bolton faithful in such moments. “It’s something I want to do more, go and celebrate with the lads. But I get fined. I’m gonna bite the bullet and pay the fines because I enjoy celebrating with them. Like at Crewe, running down and jumping on them, celebrating with random fans...
“I get fined for a few silly things, like wearing different trainers, or waving at the fans mid-game. It’s a brutal committee in the changing room. I’m chief contributor.”
Trafford has also endeared himself to Bolton’s fans by giving a little back to opposition fans who try to target him. He says: “I’m not really bothered about what anyone else thinks. I presume it’s how I was brought up. We’re all pretty chilled as a family.
“I’ve had the whole stadium at Sunderland chanting abuse at me, which was like 30,000. I was only 18. So when one or two people get onto me, I’m not really fussed. Whatever happens, it can’t be worse than that…”
Trafford says he had made comments about Sunderland not being as amazing as some people felt in what he thought was a private social media group. “But I accidentally put it on my main story. Someone snaked me, screenshotted it, and I got a lot of messages off a lot of their fans, on every platform possible, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter…”
Sunderland beat Trafford’s Accrington 2-1 in September, but it was different when the Black Cats came to Bolton in January. “We won 6-0. I caused a riot that day. I just started shushing [their fans], and putting my hand to my ear. Quite a lot of them didn’t like it…”
A player must be of a certain nature to bring on the stick that will inevitably come from such behaviour. “I’ve calmed down a bit since then,” Trafford says. “Otherwise there’s not many fans that’ll like me at this rate. I don’t fancy going to every away ground and getting abuse off a lot of them…”
Trafford performed so well at Bolton - even claiming two assists last season - that he eventually became Cumbria’s latest England Under-21 international. “To be one of the youngest in the squad was really good. And to get a game…it’s not like they put you in for sympathy or for a favour. They put you in because you’ve earned it.”
A 5-0 win over Kosovo on June 10, he says “was pretty easy, to be fair. But I know there’s a long way to go. My main aim is the Euros next summer. I want to be one of the first keepers to play up. After the Euros I’ll still be available to qualify for the Euros after.”
At the end of last season Trafford weighed up whether to try a Championship loan, but Bolton made sounder sense. “There’s never been a No1 in Championship who’s been 19. Managers are quite reluctant to guarantee you games. I didn’t want to go in and have to prove myself and have another Accrington situation where as soon as you have a few bad results you become a scapegoat, because you’re the youngest, a goalie, on loan…you’re really easy to drop.
“It was a no-brainer to come back to Bolton. I really like the manager and the staff. He believes in me, wants me to play on the ball quite high up, which is how I like to play and how I see myself playing. It’s a good fit for all parties.”
Trafford is one of two Cumbrians in the Bolton squad. Midfielder Kyle Dempsey, from Maryport, is the other who will face his former club today. “It’s good fun having Demps in the changers at Bolton,” the keeper says. “I bully him, to be honest. I have him on toast most days.
“I can chat to him about things back home in Cumbria, which is good. He gets it and no-one else does. But I batter him a few times for being a lightweight. I think people think he’s hard…”
Trafford, in the fullness of time, hopes to challenge Dean Henderson as Cumbria’s top goalkeeper - someone with whom he exchanges occasional messages - and hopes his club and international career can hit similar or further heights.
Until then, it’s Brunton Park today. “It will be good fun,” he says of this afternoon's game. “As much as you try and say you treat it like a league game, it’s sort of hard to do that because it’s a friendly. But we’ll give it our all and try and work on the things we need to get ready for the new season, and I’m sure Carlisle will be the same.”
Trafford, like any self-respecting goalkeeper, is a character. But he promises that, under the gaze of his family, friends and many more Cumbrians this afternoon, he won’t be doing anything too eccentric.
“I wish I had the nerve to try and meg the striker,” he says. “One day I will but I don’t think this is the day for it. The gaffer won’t be happy if I try that…”
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