A KEEN Bolton Wanderers fan is writing a biography celebrating the life of club legend Nat Lofthouse.

Nicknamed the Lion of Vienna, Lofthouse played 660 times and scored 441 goals for the club he supported as a boy.

On the pitch, his achievements included scoring twice as Wanderers defeated Manchester United 2-0 in the 1958 FA Cup final, as well playing 33 games for England, in which he found the net 30 times.

During his lifetime, two biographies were written about Lofthouse - ‘Goals Galore’, released in 1954, and ‘Nat Lofthouse: The Lion of Vienna’, released in 1989.

He died in 2011, aged 85, and, now, lifelong Wanderers supporter Matt Clough is hoping to tell his full life story to the world.

Mr Clough said: “I started the book in January, 2015. Around that time I was reading biographies of players of that era and, being a Bolton fan, I wanted to read one about Nat but couldn’t really find one.

“Nat did have one ghost written but it wasn’t that comprehensive. All the other great players he played with in the England team around that era have had major biographies written about them, so I’m not really sure why nobody has taken on the challenge with Nat.”

After deciding to do so himself, Mr Clough, aged 26, spent the next 12 months researching Lofthouse’s life, and says that he has now finished the structure of the book but is trying to fill in the gaps and ‘add some colour from people who knew Nat’.

The club have also been assisting him in arranging interviews with several of Lofthouse’s former teammates, including Tommy Banks, who he is due to speak to in the next few weeks.

He has also made contact with Nat’s son, Jeff, who has said that he would be willing to assist with the project.

Mr Clough added: “I wanted to do his story justice. There is still quite a lot to do but it has been a lot of fun digging into the past and finding out what it was like to be Nat.

“It has been amazing to discover that what he was actually like as a man is so close to how he is remembered – this really dedicated servant to the club, a great player, but also a reluctant figure in being asked to manage the club and the role he played in just keeping the club alive.

“The chairman at the club summed it up when he said that for everything he did as a player he did more for the club in terms of keeping it alive in the 80s when he was more of a background figure.”

Although he grew up in Cambridge, Mr Clough has followed the Whites up and down the country since he was a youngster, thanks to his father, who is originally from Bolton.

Now based just outside Birmingham, he has previously had work published in the Guardian and the Independent.

He has contacted publishers and hopes that once the book is finally completed, it will be snapped up.

He said: “It’s a story that deserves to be told.

“I hope I eventually have the opportunity to get it out there to other Bolton fans to let them know about the person they know and love.”