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WHETHER learning his trade on loan with Newport County or mixing with a Champions League dressing room at Liverpool, Ben Davies has taken a little from every experience along an eventful road to Wanderers.
At 31 and with close to 400 career games under his belt, the centre-half has already been on a journey with some of the biggest clubs in Britain, sampling the highs and the lows that the game of football has to offer.
Little wonder, then, that Wanderers looked to Davies in the summer as they sought to reinforce their squad to cope with the rigours of a Championship season.
He – like most of the 13 signings made in the window – had a point to prove, having come to the end of a difficult spell with Rangers in Scotland, and failed to find the football he wanted on loan with Oxford United last season.
The offer from Bolton, a side brimming with excitement, returning to the Championship after a seven-year absence, was one he accepted readily.
And as Whites fans have already seen over the opening eight games, Davies’s steadying influence could be a key factor in them staying there a little while longer.
"That's the thing when you say, 'But experience, you don't realise you're getting it when you're getting it,'" he said, reflecting on a challenging spell in his career.
"But looking back now, those experiences have helped me be more focused on the actual game rather than the outside, because the fans only want you to do well. They only want you to win. It's not like they hate you or anything like that.
"It's helped me manage expectations like that and not let it affect my game.
"This season I would have rather come here than anywhere. I was looking for Championship football, big club, big fanbase, stadium. That's brilliant.
"I was over the moon when we could get this done and make it work, although it wouldn't have been that hard for me to make it work, to be honest.
"Last year was a frustrating one. It wasn't what I was looking for, so I'm hoping that I can play and help the team a bit more this year.
"I think the overall feeling should be excitement and the momentum that the club got from last year and the feel-good factor of winning the play-off final.
"I think that we need to carry that on as best we can, knowing that it's not going to be the same sort of task as last year.
"But the expectation is the same: to go and try and win as many games as we can."
Barrow-in-Furness born, Davies joined Preston’s Academy at the age of 11 and made his first team debut at 17 under Graham Westley.
After a few years spent largely out on loan honing his craft, he returned to Deepdale in 2017 ready for regular football in the Championship.
"I think I played three games and then Graham Westley got sacked and then I struggled a bit under Simon Grayson," he recalled.
"I got a few chances, but I was still playing left-back and it was a bit trickier for me.
"I was centre-back in the youth team but to come in as a centre-back at 17 in the first team isn't easy. But then Alex Neil came in as manager and said, 'Keep him around.
"We'll use him,' and then played me centre-back and it just kind of got better as it went on."
Davies became one of the Championship’s most highly-rated young defenders but in January 2021 he made a move to Liverpool, which really caught the public’s attention.
Struggling without some of their first choice defenders, the Reds had been forced to dip into the transfer market, paying a reported £2million to take the youngster to Anfield.
"I think the window was shutting on the Monday and it was about the Wednesday or Thursday before when my agent got in touch and he was a bit cryptic about it, to be honest," Davies said.
"It was like, 'What would you be thinking if this was to happen?' And I was like, 'Hang on a minute, let's be real, have we got a chance of this happening or not?'
"He said, 'Yeah,' so then I went and spoke to my girlfriend at the time, who is now my wife, and my dad, my best friend and my other agent, my group I'd speak to, and they all said, 'You've got to go for it,' and obviously I wanted to as well."
Davies didn’t get the fairytale arrival at Liverpool, and though the club would finish third in the Premier League and reach the Champions League quarter finals, he was forced to take a watching brief on the action.
"The reason I think that I was there in the first place was they were looking in that position because there were a few that were injured and I think my profile fitted: English and I was playing well at the time," he said. "It was a good experience and I'm glad I did it.
"It would have been nice to have played at some point, but I think I realised once I didn't play in the season when I joined and then it got to the summer and the injured lads were coming back.
"Van Dijk and I think Matip and Gomez were all coming back and they signed Konate as well and I thought in that summer, if I didn't play last year, I probably won't play now.
"So I went out on loan to Sheffield United for a year, which was good."
Davies does not regret the move to Merseyside, learning some good habits from a dressing room of top level footballers.
"It helped me understand what the elite players do and how they act," he said.
"You know, no-one's a professional footballer without being professional.
"That's the reason why everyone's a professional footballer, because they've shown dedication for years before you and everyone else sees them. But seeing what the elite players do was definitely helpful."
The next big move for Davies was north of the border to Rangers, where an expectant fanbase does not settle for second best.
Though he featured regularly in his first year, played in the Champions League and reached a League Cup final, Celtic’s continued dominance of the domestic title left fans unfulfilled.
He had a successful season on loan with Birmingham City, helping the Blues back into the Championship at the first attempt in 2024/25, and once again, does not look back with any anger on his time at Ibrox.
"I think the Liverpool move has made the rest of my career feel easier to move around, because I think once you go and step into a dressing room like that, it makes it easier to then go on," he told the club.
"I didn't know anyone at Rangers, didn't know anyone at Liverpool, didn't know anyone at Sheffield United. I didn't know anyone here. I only knew one at Oxford and no-one at Birmingham. It's made it a lot easier to go and kind of move around.
"Not that I hadn't already done that loads of times and played at loads of clubs with the loans and things, but I think the self-confidence it gave me from going there was another level.
"Rangers was good. Obviously, it's a massive club. There's 50,000 every week, which is incredible. The fans are amazing. They go everywhere, they sell out everywhere.
"It helps when you win and we didn't win enough.
"I don't think I saw the very best of it because we didn't give the fans in that period what they expect and demand.
"So that's the only thing really, but it enabled me to play Champions League football, Europa League football and play in some massive cup finals as well, so it was a good experience.
"And again, it helped when I went there because the fans there won't hide their opinion.
"If they're not happy, they'll tell you, and if they are, they will too."