Bolton Promotion Changes: Johnston and Others Depart as Schumacher Reshapes Squad

The confetti had barely settled at Wembley when the first hard decisions of Bolton Wanderers’ new era arrived.

George Johnston, the club’s longest-serving current player and captain in Sunday’s League One play-off final win over Stockport, will leave this summer after five years at the University of Bolton Stadium.

The 27-year-old centre-back, who came through Liverpool’s academy before a spell at Feyenoord, departs having made 188 appearances for Wanderers and with his final act in a Bolton shirt being to lift the trophy that sealed promotion back to the Championship. For a defender who has ridden the full emotional swing of the club’s recent history, it is a brutal but familiar truth of football: promotion often brings change, not comfort.

He is not alone.

Jordi Osei-Tutu, the right-back who started alongside Johnston at Wembley, is also heading out. The 27-year-old, signed from German side Bochum in August 2024, made 80 appearances in his two-year stay and grew into a reliable outlet down the flank. On Sunday he was part of a back line that held its nerve on the biggest stage; days later, he finds himself looking for a new challenge.

The clear-out stretches further into midfield. Kyle Dempsey, an unused substitute in the play-off final, has been released, as has Carlos Mendes Gomes. Mendes Gomes spent most of the 2025-26 campaign on loan at Exeter City and now leaves with his Bolton career never quite catching fire in the way many expected.

All of it points in one direction: Steven Schumacher is wasting no time in ripping up and rewriting his squad list for life in the second tier.

The scale of the rebuild is stark. A raft of loan players are heading back to their parent clubs: Johnny Kenny, Rob Apter, Ibrahim Cissoko, Marcus Forss, Corey Blackett-Taylor, Mason Burstow and Amario Cozier-Duberry all depart after playing their part in a promotion push that peaked under the Wembley arch. Each exit opens another gap Schumacher must fill before a ball is kicked in the Championship.

The churn does not stop there. Szabi Schon has completed a permanent move to Hungarian champions ETO FC Gyor after two years with Wanderers. The 25-year-old Hungary midfielder made 44 appearances for Bolton and spent last season on loan at Gyor, who have now triggered their option to buy. His future lies in a title-winning side on the continent; Bolton’s lies in trying to compete with some of English football’s heavyweights.

Promotion has brought Bolton back to a stage they feel they belong on. It has also stripped away any illusions about the work required to stay there. Sentiment has made way for strategy, and some of the men who helped drag the club up will not be there to see what comes next.

The question now is simple and unforgiving: how quickly can Schumacher turn this emotional farewell tour into a Championship-ready squad?