Bolton Wanderers 1-1 Aston Villa: What the papers say

Monday April 27th, 2009

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How the national press reported Bolton Wanderers 1-1 Aston Villa

It seems like we’ve been hearing this for weeks now, but yet again we’re told by the Mail that Bolton are just one win away from definite safety. The same paper also tells us that Gary Megson believes Bolton have “hearts as big as buckets all over the pitch.”

Big hearts maybe (although that wasn’t necessarily the case at Portsmouth last week), but the Guardian thought the Wanderers display lacked inspiration, saying that “the highlights of this encounter will not make it into any PowerPoint presentations put together for Bolton chairman Phil Gartside’s proposed two-tier top-flight that would include Celtic, Rangers and, of course, Wanderers.”

Clearly avoiding relegation from this version of the Premier League, or any other, is the only measure of Bolton Wanderers’ success as far as the Times is concerned. Their reporter, without any sense of irony, suggests that the fact no-one is talking about Bolton as serious relegation contenders is a “huge compliment to Megson”.

In recognition of the fact that there’s clearly nothing else worth talking about with Bolton (has he seen us play?), the Times dedicated almost their entire report to unpicking the collapse of Aston Villa’s Champions League aspirations instead.

Of course the Times could have questionned Megson’s wisdom for spending so much money on Johan Elmander, but instead – as usual – it was left to the fans in the Observer to make that point. As the Express points out, it’s now just five goals in 26 starts for Elmander.

The Times could also have noted Bolton’s failure to win any of their last three games, or their inability to string passes together, as the Telegraph did.

The Times weren’t alone, though. The News of the World seem to think Megson keeping Bolton up is a miracle (seriously, have you seen how bad West Brom, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Sunderland etc etc are?).

Disagree? Have your say on the game in the comment box below…

Read the fans’ view of the game here

Watch Bolton Wanderers 1-1 Aston Villa video highlights here