Phil Gartside promises Fabrice Muamba role at Bolton

Phil Gartside has said that Bolton Wanderers would like Fabrice Muamba to remain with the club "as long as he wants", should he have to hang up his boots.

The Bolton midfielder, who was honoured ahead of the club's game against Blackburn Rovers, remains in intensive care at the London Chest Hospital after suffering a cardiac arrest at Tottenham a week ago.

"He will be here as long as he wants to be," the Bolton chairman told BBC Sport. "It is all about Fabrice.

"We have gone through the full range of emotions and we are smiling at the end of it. We've had letters, calls, emails. The outpouring of emotion this has caused has been amazing.

"It has been a hard week but I feel privileged to have been in the middle of it."

Meanwhile, the Trotters have moved back out of the bottom three after beating Blackburn.