10:48, 10 Jul 2025<\/p>\n
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New Bristol Rovers goalkeeper Luke Southwood was not going to start the season as first choice under Bolton head coach Steven Schumacher(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Bolton Wanderers head coach Steven Schumacher has reflected on the sale of goalkeeper Luke Southwood to Bristol Rovers<\/a>, revealing that he would have been happy to keep the 27-year-old in the North West, but not as a first choice.<\/p>\n The Whites brought in Teddy Sharman-Lowe on loan from Chelsea last month, identifying the 22-year-old as their pick to be number one following the release of Nathan Baxter.<\/p>\n For Southwood, that meant having to either accept a back-up role at the Toughsheet Community Stadium or seek regular football elsewhere. He chose the latter.<\/p>\n Bolton\u2019s loss should be Rovers\u2019 gain considering the pedigree of goalkeeper the Gas have signed in the form of Southwood, but Schumacher\u2019s vision for his goalkeeping department was clear.<\/p>\n READ MORE: EFL summer transfer window LIVE: Bristol City, Bristol Rovers and rivals look to add to squads<\/a>READ MORE: Bristol Rovers set to miss out on Aaron Collins bonus after ex-Gas forward’s transfer to MK Dons<\/a><\/p>\n Speaking to The Bolton News<\/a>, the Whites boss explained: \u201cI think it came to the point where, obviously I\u2019d put Nathan Baxter in the goal for the last eight or nine games, and then Luke played the final two.<\/p>\n \u201cWe said towards the end of the season we were going to change the goalkeeping department.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had Teddy lined up a long time ago, so when I spoke to Luke and told him that I\u2019d be bringing him (Sharman-Lowe) in as number one.<\/p>\n \u201cI had no problem with Luke being around us, competing for the shirt and trying to get Teddy out of it. And Luke just said at the age he is at, he wanted to be playing every week.<\/p>\n \u201cI couldn\u2019t guarantee him that, so we got a deal done with Bristol Rovers for him to go there.<\/p>\n \u201cI don’t like players being in a squad who are not happy with where they are.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd Luke was a really great lad. Again, I put that on record and everything was amicable. And we spoke and said, \u2018look, this is just how it is.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cAnd he said, \u2018I appreciate your honesty. If I’m not going to play for you now, I’ll try and go elsewhere.\u2019 So that’s what’s happened.\u201d<\/p>\n Join Bristol Rovers Live’s Whatsapp community for all the biggest Bristol Rovers stories sent straight to your phone<\/strong><\/p>\n Bristol Rovers Live<\/a> is now on WhatsApp and we want you to join our community.<\/p>\n Through the app, we\u2019ll send the Bristol Rovers news, live match coverage, team news, transfers, fixtures, analysis and more straight to your phone.<\/p>\n To join our community you need to already have WhatsApp. All you need to do is click this link and select \u2018Join Community\u2019.<\/a><\/p>\n No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Bristol Live<\/a> team.<\/p>\n We also treat community members to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. If you don\u2019t like our community, you can check out at any time you like.<\/p>\n To leave our community, click on the name at the top of your screen and choose \u2018Exit group\u2019.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.<\/a><\/p>\n Click here to join our WhatsApp community.<\/a><\/p>\n Southwood was confirmed as the Pirates\u2019 sixth signing of the summer last weekend for what is believed to be a nominal undisclosed fee.<\/p>\n The goalkeeper jetted out to Spain with his new teammates and has been training with Rovers this week during the warm weather camp. He is expected to make his first appearance for the Gas on Saturday when they take on League One side Stockport County in a friendly.<\/p>\n Having played 46 League One games in back-to-back seasons for Cheltenham Town in the 2022\/23 and 2023\/24 seasons, Southwood made the move to Bolton last summer.<\/p>\n Despite initially being expected to play a deputising role, the \u2018keeper still played 26 games for the Whites last term.<\/p>\n Prior to his time at Cheltenham, the Reading academy graduate made 30 appearances for the Royals\u2019 first team, 26 of which in the Championship. He also had loan spells at Bath City, Eastleigh and Hamilton Academical.<\/p>\n READ MORE: The final few pieces of the Bristol Rovers jigsaw are clear as Darrell Clarke eyes slim squad<\/a>READ MORE: Ex-Coventry midfielder Ryan Howley declares excitement to join Bristol Rovers after trial period<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bristol Rovers signed goalkeeper Luke Southwood from Bolton Wanderers last week Daniel Hargraves Bristol Rovers reporter 10:48, 10…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253324,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[97482,381,2707,748,393,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-253323","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bolton-wanderers-fc","9":"tag-bristol","10":"tag-bristol-rovers-fc","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114828662970683057","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_GvLbI7CWoAAghDA.jpg\")
Luke Southwood is expected to be Bristol Rovers’ number one goalkeeper this season(Image: Bristol Rovers FC)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1744476931_129_0_WhatsApp-Phone.jpg\")
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