Bolton v Birmingham – The Modern Era
Friday May 7th, 2010
BWFCforum’s Wakey continues with part three of the decade-by-decade review of the league history of Bolton and Sunday’s visitors Birmingham, covering the modern period: 1990 to present.
1990-1999
another close encounter....
The 1990’s are a strange decade for Bolton fans. Whilst they only spent two seasons in the top flight and four in the third, and had their second worst ranking of any decade, most of us look back on the decade with a great deal of fondness. It was undoubtedly the decade that started the revival in the club’s fortunes after the misery of the 1980’s; that brought Bruce Rioch’s free-flowing football to the club; that saw great giant killing acts, including knocking cup holders Liverpool out of the competition in a replay at Anfield, before repeating the feat the following season at Highbury against then cup-holders Arsenal. It was the decade that saw a return to the top flight for the first time in fifteen years, a record breaking promotion campaign under Colin Todd, the move to the Reebok, and local legends like John McGinlay, David Lee, and even commentator Dave Higson.
The 1990’s started for Bolton with a 6th place finish and a play-off semi-final defeat to Notts County. The following season saw a 4th place finish, and this time a trip to Wembley in the play-off final, again ending in disappointment with defeat to Tranmere.
The following year was a disappointment, with Bolton finishing 13th, heralding the departure of manager Phil Neal and the appointment of Bruce Rioch. Rioch’s first season saw promotion from the third tier – by now the Division Two – at his first attempt, finishing runners-up to Stoke.
After consolidating their place in Division One with a 14th place finish, Bolton gained promotion to the Premier League in 1995 after a memorable play-off final win against Reading. Rioch departed for Arsenal, and Roy McFarland was brought in as joint manager with Colin Todd. The Wanderers spent most of the season rooted to the foot of the table, before their inevitable relegation, nine points adrift of safety.
The following season saw the Trotters win the First Division by eighteen clear points from second-placed Barnsley, and only missing out on becoming the first team to amass 100 points and 100 league goals in the same season due to a Tranmere equaliser on the last day of the season.
Again the stay was short-lived, with relegation on goal difference to Everton on the final day of the 1997-98 season. The following season, Bolton again made the play-off final, this time losing to Watford.
Birmingham spent the first three years of the decade in the third tier alongside Bolton, finishing 7th (one place behind the Trotters) and 12th before gaining promotion in 1992 as runners up to Brentford. The following season saw them finish 19th, but they were relegated the year after, losing out on goal difference to West Brom.
As Bolton were gaining promotion to the top flight in 1995, Birmingham were gaining promotion as champions of Division Two, with Brentford as runners up.
The next four years saw steady progress but no promotion, finishing 15th, 10th, 7th, and 4th respectively, and losing out to Watford in the play-off semi-finals in 1999.
The 1990’s had seen Bolton recover from a third tier club to one with genuine Premiership aspirations, but their overall ranking of 33rd was the second worst in the club’s history. Birmingham were the 24th best team in a decade which had also seen them climb from the third tier to the upper reaches of the second.
Manchester United were the team of the decade, winning the title five times, followed by Liverpool and Arsenal with Aston Villa in 4th, enjoying their best decade since 1919.
2000-2009
The first decade of the new millennium was to prove Bolton’s best since the 1950’s, although it started in yet more play-off disappointment in a season that was to see the Wanderers fail in three semi-finals: to Tranmere in the League Cup, to Aston Villa on penalties in the FA Cup, and to Ipswich after extra time in a controversial play-off semi-final which saw Ipswich awarded three penalties and referee Barry Knight hand out twelve yellow cards and two red to Bolton players. The same season saw Sam Allardyce replace Colin Todd as manager.
The following season, the Trotters put their disappointment aside and returned to the top flight once more after play-off victory against Preston. They had finished the season in third place behind Fulham and Blackburn. All three teams remained in the Premiership for the remainder of the decade.
Despite leading the table briefly at the start of the season, 2002 saw Bolton in a relegation scrap, eventually finishing 16th and avoiding relegation by four points. A year later, they needed 44 points to retain their Premier League status, a home win on the last day against Middlesboro securing safety and condemning West Ham to relegation on 42 points.
The next four years saw top eight finishes for the Wanderers, enjoying a best place of 6th and securing European football on two occasions.
The end of the 2006-07 season saw the departure of manager Sam Allardyce and the ill-fated appointment of his assistant Sammy Lee. Lee was sacked shortly (no pun intended) into the following season, leaving Bolton bottom of the table with five points from ten games when Gary Megson took over. Having seemed to put themselves in a comfortable position, a poor run of form at the start of 2008, following the departure of Nicholas Anelka, saw the Trotters facing relegation, until a run of eleven points from the last five games saw them avoid relegation by a point.
They flirted vaguely with relegation at times the following season, but helped by a run of four wins in five matches in November, finished comfortably in 13th, seven points clear of relegation to end the decade in the top flight.
Birmingham started the decade with three 5th place finishes, losing out in the play-off semi-finals to Barnsley and Preston before beating Norwich on penalties in the 2002 final. They also reached the final of the League Cup in 2001, losing on a penalty shoot-out to Liverpool.
They went on to enjoy three comfortable seasons in the Premier League under manager Steve Bruce, finishing 13th, 10th, and 12th respectively, but 2006 saw them relegated along with West Brom and Sunderland after a late rally from Portsmouth.
Bruce remained in charge, and Birmingham achieved an immediate return as runners-up to Sunderland. However, after a disappointing start to the following season, and amidst speculation about a possible takeover and its implications for Bruce’s position, he left the club to join Wigan in November 2007 and was replaced by Alex McLeish. Ironically a month earlier, Bruce had been a target for Bolton, but the Trotters were refused permission to speak to him.
McLeish couldn’t keep Birmingham up, and despite looking well placed going into the later stages, a run of five points from the last six games, combined with the late-season form of both Bolton and Fulham, saw the Blues relegated, one point behind Fulham but with a superior goal difference.
Again, the Blues bounced back up immediately, finishing runners-up to Wolves and ensuring that they would start the new decade in the top flight.
The decade was Bolton’s fourth best ever, with eight seasons in the top flight, including four top eight finishes, helping them to a ranking of 11th. Birmingham split their time equally between the top two divisions, with three promotions and two relegations, and finished with a ranking of 17th, also their best rating since the 1950’s.
Unsurprisingly, Manchester United were top dogs, with six league titles helping them to top spot (and a ludicrously low average league position of 1.7), followed by Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Aston Villa.
Whatever happens on Sunday, Birmingham will finish above Bolton for the 38th time, and the first time since 2003, and both teams will meet again in the Premier League next season.
Summary Table
| Birmingham | Bolton | |
| Decade | Rank | Rank |
| 1889-1899 | 19th | 7th |
| 1900-1909 | 18th | 16th |
| 1910-1919 | 33rd | 13th |
| 1920-1929 | 16th | 3rd |
| 1930-1939 | 14th | 16th |
| 1940-1949 | 22nd | 19th |
| 1950-1959 | 17th | 7th |
| 1960-1969 | 26th | 25th |
| 1970-1979 | 20th | 32nd |
| 1980-1989 | 24th | 48th |
| 1990-1999 | 41st | 33rd |
| 2000-2009 | 17th | 11th |
| Overall | 22nd | 21st |
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