Dean Holdsworth
Top 10 Bolton Wanderers player spots
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008 | Allan Johnston, BWFC People, Dave Higson, Dean Holdsworth, Fabian De Freitas, Michael Johansen, Michael Ricketts, Neil Cox, Paul Ritchie, Per Frandsen, Radhi Jaidi, Ricardo Gardner, Robbie Elliott | 2 Comments
Have you spotted a Bolton Wanderers player?
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)…
Bolton Wanderers Hall of Shame #4: Barry Knight
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 | BWFC People, Dean Holdsworth, Jlloyd Samuel, Mike Whitlow, Paul Warhurst, Robbie Elliott | No Comments
The referee who made Rob Styles look like Father Christmas…
Bolton Wanderers aren’t the first football club to have their afternoon ruined by referee Rob Styles, and we probably won’t be the last. Just check out Styles’ Wikipedia page for details of his previous crimes against Liverpool and Manchester City.
My initial reaction after seeing his decision to award Manchester United a penalty for Jlloyd Samuel’s perfectly fair tackle on Cristiano Ronaldo at Old Trafford on Saturday was that Styles would be a perfect candidate for Manny Road’s Bolton Wanderers Hall of Shame.
But after a couple of days reflection I remembered that however bad Styles’ penalty decision was, he – and any other referee – would have to go a long way to beat the worst-ever refereeing performance in a Bolton Wanderers match.
It was May 2000 when Barry Knight – a name that will forever strike fear in to the hearts of every Bolton Wanderers fan – sent off two Wanderers players (Mike Whitlow and Robbie Elliott), booked eight others and awarded Ipswich three penalties as we went down 5-3 after extra-time in the play-off semi-final at Portman Road.
Bolton Wanderers fans pay their own special tribute to referee Barry Knight. Picture from Super White Army Online.
For his trouble, Knight became a hate figure among Bolton Wanderers fans, with one fan site describing him as ‘a bald headed prick who is supposedly a referee’, accompanied by a picture with a gun target on Knight’s forehead (see above).
I would also suggest that Mike Riley’s sending off of Dean Holdsworth and Paul Warhurst at Christmas 2001, when Bolton came back from 2-0 down with nine men to draw 2-2 with Leicester, was another display of refereeing incompetence that makes Rob Styles’ cock-up look like a gift-wrapped Christmas present.
I see that Styles has now apologised for his crimes against Bolton Wanderers. Pundits on BBC Radio Five Live on Monday night suggested this may have been a cynical ploy to ensure he didn’t get demoted to a Championship game next weekend (if it was then it worked because he’ll be officiating the Tottenham v Hull game).
But in fairness to Styles, an apology is more than we ever got from Barry Knight… and he owes us a lot more than one.
***UPDATE*** Just read an excellent article on Vital Bolton Wanderers detailing Rob Styles’ previous howlers in Bolton Wanderers games. The same site also rightly points out that Steve Bennett has never done us any favours.
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