It’s just three years since Dave “Ding Do Doo” Higson passed away.

Fittingly, a new video tribute appeared on You Tube a couple of weeks ago and has been doing the rounds on the Bolton Wanderers message boards this week.

For the uninitiated, or for those too young to remember a time before shiny new stadiums and perfectly choreographed Sky coverage, Higson was Bolton’s club commentator during the 1980s and early ’90s. He became a fans’ favourite for his unpolished delivery, totally biased commentary and catchphrases like “it’s a ding dong doo.”

He even came to the attention of the wider footballing public when Fantasy Football League began to feature his unique performances following the shameful way that the club ditched him in favour of something a little slicker (but nowhere near as fun) when we got promoted to the Premier League in 1995.

Highlights of this video include Dave asking “who wants a rub off?”, comparing Tony Kelly to Zico and his re-creation of Kenneth Wolstenholme’s “the fans are on the pitch, they think it’s all over.”

Enjoy…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vU0rinnxqM[/youtube]

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I’m aware that I seem to spend a lot of time writing negatively about Bolton Wanderers (and one man in particular), so it’s good to have something nice to say for once.

I’m currently taking advantage of the free 30-day trial of Wanderers World on bwfc.co.uk and reviewing it on here. This week I’ve watched ‘West Ham Flashback’, ‘Rivalry’ and ‘Davo’s 50′.

I’ve criticised the Flashback feature on Wanderers World before. My gripe is that they invite you in with some enticing lines about reliving past glories against whichever team we happen to be playing next, only for you to find that you’ll have to pay to view the content after you’ve clicked in to the page.

My response has been to find some of the same goals on You Tube and post them on here for people to watch for free.

There are two reasons why what you get from Wanderers World is better (I guess this is what you get for your money): firstly, the quality is much better than most of the stuff you get on You Tube; secondly, they’ve got so many more matches in their archive to draw from. In fact, one of my criticisms of the West Ham preview was that it seemed to go on forever, a feeling that wasn’t helped by there being no narrative to any of the goals.

I’m a big believer that any goal or game is only as dramatic or important as the context in which it is played, so it would have been nice to be reminded about where we were in the league at the time, what point of the season the game took place, why the win was significant etc etc.

‘Davo’s 50′ is a tribute to Kevin Davies’ 50 goals for the Whites, and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. Like the West Ham compilation there was no real context given – just a string of goals shown one after the other – but it was great to see loads of goals and games that I’d totally forgotten about.

‘Rivalry’, which has loads of footage of famous wins over our local rivals, was also enjoyable. Great to hear some classic Dave Higson in there too, even if some of the footage from back in the day leaves a bit to be desired.

All in all, I began this free trial thoroughly expecting to cancel my subscription after 30 days. After one week I’m already starting to rethink that.

- Following on from Kevin Nolan declaring exactly how much he thinks Bolton should be spending in the January transfer window, Kevin Davies has also been laying down the law, saying he’d like three new signings thanks very much Mr Megson (since when did players get to dictate transfer policy to the clubs they play for?).

- That hasn’t stopped Gary Megson’s unwavering loyalty to his captain, which last week saw him go as far as saying Nolan can win over the Wanderers fans who dislike him (yet again Megson showing a complete  misunderstanding of how the fans think and just how deep-seated the dislike of Nolan is amongst a significant number of fans… although not me I hasten to add).

- Ali Al-Habsi signing a new contract (fair play to the club for this one, it’s the second time in six months that they’ve managed to keep a top quality keeper against the odds).

- Blerim Dzemaili getting a little upset with the Wanderers (maybe they forgot to send him a Christmas card).

- Sam Allardyce trying to rebuild Bolton Wanderers at Blackburn Rovers by signing El-Hadji Diouf and Tal Ben Haim (didn’t work at Newcastle… just ask Abdoulaye Faye and all the other back-room minions who followed him out of the Reebok).

- The FA Cup coming to Bolton… as part of a promotional tour (clearly Gary Megson and his players must have missed the visit judging by their distinct lack of Cup fever on Saturday).

And finally… a selection of songs in tribute to the legendary Dave Higson… by someone called Benny the Bear!

Share your views on any of these stories in the comment box below…

When not writing this blog I work at a digital publishing company at Oxford Circus in London, which is probably the busiest street corner in Britain. It’s not unusual to see the odd celeb hanging around. Some people in our office regularly see A-listers, but somehow my own celebrity spots always seem a little less glamorous. In the last few months they include Mark Foster (the Olympic swimmer who was rubbish on Strictly Come Dancing), the gobby girl off The Apprentice who got to the final but didn’t win (Claire?) and Bradley from Eastenders.

Of course back in the days when I lived in Bolton the only celebs I ever saw were Bolton Wanderers players. So here, for no another reason than seeing Wanderers players was more exciting than my Bradley encounter, are my top 10 Bolton Wanderers player spots (not including seeing them in football stadiums, obviously)…

1. Dean Holdsworth in Atlantis night club, the night after we lost to Ipswich in that infamous play-off semi-final in 2000. He stood out like a sore thumb because he was the only guy in the place wearing a suit and smoking a cigar. He looked pretty cool too, until he started doing the YMCA. This incident became known as Holdsworthgate amongst my friends, although I’m not sure what was more scandalous: the cigar, the YMCA or the fact he was out partying the night after such a devastating defeat.

2. Michael Johansen in Atlantis on the same night as Holdsworthgate. Paul Ritchie and Allan Johnston were also there but Johansen stood out because he was the only player who’d brought a bodyguard with him.

3. Ricardo Gardner, also in Atlantis on the night of Holdsworthgate. Gardner’s antics were notable for allowing a young lady to buy him drinks all night before getting in to a taxi and quickly shutting the door before she was able to get in.

4. Michael Ricketts driving up my arse and then cutting me up on the dual carriageway next to the Reebok, circa 2003.

5. Dave Higson in The Academy (a bar near the train station that was notorious for terrible bands – including my own – and allowing under agers to binge drink the night away). OK, so he wasn’t a player but in many ways this is the best of the lot. He told me that they’d offered him a regular slot on Match of the Day but he couldn’t do it because of his health problems (his sacking as the club’s commentator is still one of the most scandalous things the club ever did).

6. Fabian De Freitas wandering down Bradshawgate looking a little disappointed that more people weren’t recognising him (he had just scored two goals in the play-off final against Reading, after all).

7. Per Frandsen dropping his kids off at the well-to-do Clevelands School on Chorley New Road, circa 1998.

8. Radhi Jaidi loading up his car in Tesco car park, circa 2005 (Jaidi had parked his car correctly, unlike Jussi Jaaskelainen, who was spotted recently at Tesco parking in one of those bays that’s boxed off with yellow lines, just so he didn’t have to walk too far to the door).

9. Neil Cox standing outside Asda on Middlebrook reading a copy of The Bolton (Evening) News, circa 1999. I was later told by someone I worked with, who had known Cox in his Watford days, that he was obsessed with how much other players were being paid. I can only assume that he was checking the B(E)N for news of his team mates signing new contracts.

10. Robbie Elliott on various occasions (this one’s a bit of cheat because he lived at the end of my street).

If you’ve ever seen a Bolton Wanderers player out and about let me know in the comment box below.

And for those two young to own a Bolton Wanderers goals compliation commentated by Dave Higson, enjoy…

[youtube=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=u0zfV3WHYf0]