Owen Coyle
The Year of the Un-Coyled: Part Two
Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012 | BWFC News, BWFC People, Gary Cahill, Kevin Davies, Owen Coyle | 2 Comments
The new season beckons. Excitement mounts. Yeah right…
Comings and Goings
The summer transfer market was slow, with attempts to offload Gary Cahill for a handsome fee meeting with failure. The desire to get rid couldn’t have been more obvious if a small ad had been placed in the classifieds.
‘For Sale : Top class international defender. Two careful owners. All offers considered.’
For sale to a good home. Or any home, in exchange of a big sack of cash.
The bid from Arsenal was derisory and caused tension between the two clubs, while ‘Arry Redknapp, true to character, made enquiries a few minutes before the end of the window. The behaviour of the interested clubs was disrespectful to Bolton and to Cahill, who it should be noted, has behaved impeccably. He will move to Chelsea later this month with the best wishes of Whites fans.
Ali Al-Habsi was sold to Wigan, Matt Taylor to West Ham and Danny Ward to Huddersfield to give Coyle some working capital. Eight new players were brought in, some on loan. None of them can be considered an unqualified success. Note the polite phrasing of that last sentence.
Pre-season was overshadowed by the broken leg sustained by Lee Chung-Yong in a friendly at Newport County. When top flight sides play such fixtures against non league opposition there’s a tacit agreement that it won’t be an eyeballs out affair. A shame that no one told Tom Miller. Or maybe they did and he’s a psychopath.
The First False Dawn
Whatever confidence there was evaporated when the fixture list for 2011-12 was published. Five of the leading clubs were to be faced early on. QPR imploded in the first game of the season giving the Wanderers an easy 4-0 triumph and a creditable loss against Manchester City took place a week after.
Then it was downhill accelerating, with feeble performances against Liverpool, Manchester United, Norwich, Arsenal and Chelsea. The worst fears had been realised. › Continue reading
The Most Important Game of Owen Coyle’s Career
Sunday, November 6th, 2011 | BWFC People, Owen Coyle | No Comments
Stoke City are Sunday’s visitors to the Reebok Stadium with Owen Coyle’s position looking increasingly doubtful. After ten games of the season, Bolton are firmly in the relegation zone with a measly six points.
Needed at BWFC. Stuart Holden that is, not the porky women.
Yet the man from Paisley is still regarded with affection by most. This is as it should be. Coyle is a likeable and decent man, and one of the few involved with Premier League football who realises that without the fans’ money he would have a hobby instead of a lucratively paid profession. But that doesn’t alter the fact that he and his team are in deep trouble.
Stoke are the very antithesis of Bolton, difficult to play against and well organised in midfield, even if they do stretch the rules to an extent to which they can’t be worn again. However, Tony Pulis heads a mid-table outfit. That many home supporters are questioning whether it’s even possible to get a result, shows how low expectation has fallen.
In order to do so, Coyle needs to get the basics right. Bolton’s shape isn’t so much two lines of four as one huddle of panic, usually located around the eighteen yard line. Surrendering the space between there and the half-way line makes it a cakewalk for the opposition.
Also Needed at BWFC.
Going forward there is an utter lack of creativity. There is little advantage in hoofing the ball in the general direction of the penalty area and hoping for the best. What happened to the man who believed in wingers who crossed from the bye-line?
The most troubling aspect of this six month slump is the lack of spirit shown by Bolton’s players. It’s similar to the situation in January 2007. The Whites were third in the league at that point, but won only four games from then until the end of the season, with a few hidings along the way. It later transpired that Sam Allardyce had been denied previously promised transfer funds. He lost interest and it showed. One wonders if there is a another underlying issue at the club that is yet to be revealed.
If he does nothing else, Coyle needs to put some fight back into his men. The Whites are in for a long relegation battle. It would be regrettable if it were all but over by Christmas, with the man who brought such hope in possession of his P45.
The Gartside Saga – Part Two
Coming up after the weekend, Manny Road gives you the inside story on the Gavin McCann transfer, and asks why the FA refused to investigate it.
Meanwhile, Bolton chairman Phil Gartside has sought support from an unlikely source, as the graphic below shows. After being caught retweeting naughty words about Arsene Wenger over the summer, you’d think he’d have learned his lesson. It’s not the real Gary Barlow, Phil. Or even the unreal Gary Barlow.
What a Tweet
- Richard McCormick
Is This the Real Reason Why Bolton Wanderers are so Bad?
Monday, October 31st, 2011 | BWFC People, Gavin McCann, Mike Whitlow, Owen Coyle, Phil Gartside | 3 Comments
Harrison - Blowing the whistle.
Bolton Chairman Phil Gartside may have some explaining to do
Ten games gone, over a quarter of a season, and Bolton Wanderers languish next to the bottom of the Premier League table with a meagre six points, having taken last season’s wretched run of form into the new campaign.
Manager Owen Coyle has taken most of the blame, with some focus placed on his summer signings. None of them have excelled. Given the cash limitations, that isn’t surprising. The latest accounts show a debt in excess of £110 million.
But there is another factor that should be considered – and that is the conduct of Bolton Wanderers in the transfer market. In short, there are agents who will not deal with the club, thus limiting the players that can be signed. Manny Road spoke to two of them last week.
One is Peter Harrison, who has been doing the rounds recently, as he attempts to drum up publicity for an upcoming book and documentary. Harrison has been inactive in football for around eighteen months, but was asked if he would put a player into Bolton.
“If I was still doing it, I wouldn’t put a player in,” he replied. That statement might seem surprising given that the man has previously represented Jussi Jaaskelainen, Ali Al-Habsi, Eidur Gudjohnsen and Mike Whitlow amongst others, but he isn’t alone in that view.
Tony McGill was Gavin McCann’s agent prior to the midfielder signing for the Whites in 2007. Does he still deal with Bolton?
The Badger : A value signing, but at what cost?
“Do I bollocks. No chance. I wouldn’t go anywhere near them. I will never, ever do any deals with Bolton Wanderers while Gartside’s there,” he said.
The day before the transfer was to be finalised, McCann rang McGill, informing him that another agent was doing the deal. It went ahead with agency SEM pocketing £300,000 for providing services which have never been determined.
McGill sued McCann, with the former Aston Villa man settling out of court, but his complaint to the FA was not acted upon.
Harrison is known primarily to Bolton fans because of his involvement with the BBC’s Panorama programme in 2006, in which he appeared to suggest that former manager Sam Allardyce could be induced into accepting a bung. He is scathing about the investigation, which followed him for six months.
“The only thing they got out of me was when we were sitting like this at the hotel having a coffee. He [the under cover reporter] says ‘if you were going to bung Sam, how would you do it?’
“I say’s. ‘You can’t do it, but if I was going to do it, I’d offer him it, he’s got that much money he’d say “no, look after Craig” and I’d give him it. But you can’t do it.’
“So in the programme, the narrator’s talking, and they cut the front off and I say I’ll do that with Sam, and they cut the end off. That’s the only thing they had on me, but Sam turned against us, he blames us for not getting the England job.”
The BBC’s investigation led to the Quest enquiry, led by Lord Stevens. Seventeen transfers were highlighted in the final report, four of which involved Bolton. One of those took Blessing Kaku to the Reebok in 2004.
Rachel Anderson, Kaku’s agent, contacted Quest, claiming that she had been frozen out of the deal.
Kaku played just 133 minutes for Bolton
“Kaku signed an exclusive representation agreement with me, effective from June 1, 2004, but after he played a trial match for Bolton in the August, he suddenly went out of contact. The club knew I was the player’s agent but I was cut out of the deal. The FA failed to act despite my contract being lodged with them,” she told the Mail on Sunday in 2007.
“Blessing said he was being told that the deal would not go ahead if he continued to use me as his agent,” Anderson claims she was told, on finally getting in touch with her client.
The deal went ahead with Jamie Hart acting as agent, who according to some sources had never met Kaku, until he arrived in Bolton for a week’s trial.
Player dumps agent. Deal goes ahead with another agent. FA chooses not to act. Any of that sound familiar?
Three agents, all of them highly critical. How many more are there? Have other deals been hijacked? Were some deals stopped altogether? Does any Wanderers manager stand a chance of getting the best players available to him?
Next up: The full story of the Gavin McCann transfer and worrying times for the FA.
- Richard McCormick
The Search for Bolton’s Next Manager Starts Now
Monday, October 24th, 2011 | BWFC News, BWFC People, Gary Cahill, Owen Coyle, Phil Gartside | 17 Comments
Another day, and another spineless performance from Bolton Wanderers, this time against the long ball hoof merchants that are Sunderland. Surrender to Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea, was uncomfortable to watch, but seeing the same attitude displayed against much more limited opposition has tested the patience of many Whites fans beyond breaking point.
Enjoy it while it lasts, fatty. You'll soon be under pressure again
What to do with Owen Coyle? Give him more time. Find him help. Get rid. There is no general consensus. If it’s the latter option, then Coyle could have no complaints. Six points from nine games is only one more than Sammy Lee got, prior to his sacking in 2007 and three wins (and twelve defeats) in fifteen league outings since the debacle at Wembley is unacceptable by any standards.
There’s also an unpleasing symmetry that has emerged. Last season Bolton had the worst away record in the four divisions. Now they have the poorest home results.
Criticism of the Whites boss should be tempered. Losing the two best players in Stuart Holden and Lee Chung-Yong from a squad that was ordinary in the first place, would be a crushing blow to anyone in that situation. In addition, his net spend in the transfer market over two seasons has been more or less nil, with Bolton so hamstrung for cash. But the lack of progress in rectifying what are glaring faults can not be ignored. › Continue reading
Has Owen Coyle Started Drinking?
Friday, September 16th, 2011 | BWFC People, Owen Coyle | 7 Comments
For all the natural beauty bestowed on it, Scotland has its share of critics. American evangelist Pat Robertson once described the area north of the border as a ‘a dark country overrun by homosexuals’ and in the process, wiped £400 million off shares in the company that he was about to do business with – The Bank of Scotland.
Smile, you miserable sod.
There are other problems too – haggis, deep fried Mars bars and a disproportionate number of heart attacks amongst them. Then there’s the drinking. The Scots like a wee dram. Actually, they prefer a large dram, but that doesn’t sound as poetic.
However, Bolton manager Owen Coyle, a native of Greater Glasgow, is famously teetotal. Reading his remarks earlier in the week you have to wonder if he’s reconsidered that lifestyle choice.
“It was against the ball where we struggled. It’s rare for us because we are usually good against the ball,” he said referring to his team’s limp wristed display against Manchester United.
The first sentence is accurate, the second laughable. Coyle’s side ended last season in wretched form. They were beaten against Blackpool (relegated), Blackburn (almost relegated), Fulham (competent, but hardly world beaters) and Sunderland (ridiculous underachievers). Whilst injuries were a factor, the continued failure to deny the opposition space when they have the ball was a more significant one. So far this term, that problem remains. › Continue reading
Owen Coyle Needs to Wise Up and Fast – Part Two
Sunday, September 11th, 2011 | BWFC News, BWFC People, Owen Coyle | 12 Comments
Those cursed with following Bolton Wanderers have experienced heavy defeats before. Some of them against Manchester United. On an ugly day at Burnden Park in 1996, Alex Ferguson’s side triumphed 6-0. Ten years later there was a 4-0 home reverse, which was something of a let down as the White’s had gone into the game on a four match winning streak. Both of those results were devastating.
By contrast, Saturday’s feeble capitulation to Wayne Rooney and Co barely registered mild disappointment, at least with this fan – for it was fully expected.
Sod off back to Burnley
The gap between those at the very top of the Premier League and the rest should be acknowledged. As a competition it is now very similar to that which exists in Scotland. At the root of the issue is money, or the lack of it. The yearly interest repayments on Manchester United’s debt are more than Bolton’s entire turnover. A level playing field it isn’t.
However, those facts don’t excuse the pitiful lack of resistance offered by Owen Coyle’s men, even if they were facing opposition blessed with World class players in the most clinical of moods, and a manager who is arguably the best of the modern British era. For the second game in succession, Bolton were brushed aside without making the other side work.
Individually there are too many weak links, and depressingly, some of them have just arrived. Chris Eagles is so far out of his depth, that he is painful to watch. Nigel Reo-Coker is that rare thing – a defensive midfielder who can make you miss Fabrice Muamba. The man who Aston Villa were so pleased to offload usually arrives at the scene a second after he should have done, with the ball already several metres away. In the run up to United’s third goal he was outpaced by the lumbering Phil Jones. Not good. › Continue reading
The Centre-Half Who No One Wanted, and Other Glum Tales
Thursday, August 11th, 2011 | BWFC News, BWFC People, Owen Coyle | 3 Comments
Amidst the carnage visited on shop fronts by the nation’s chav population and the resulting sanctimonious twaddle spouted in parliament, the new football season is upon us, and for fans of a dozen top flight clubs, including the one at the heart of this blog, feelings run from eager anticipation to worry.
A warning up front. At the moment, this fan tends to the latter emotion, so if you want to read an uplifting account of how Bolton Wanderers will storm the top half of the Premier League it’s probably best to look elsewhere. › Continue reading
A Royal Welcome Awaits the Wanderers in Bury
Tuesday, July 26th, 2011 | BWFC News, BWFC People, Owen Coyle | 9 Comments
The mood at Bury FC has reached fever pitch as the lower league outfit readies itself for Wednesday’s visit of Bolton Wanderers, a club regarded as football royalty in the BL9 postcode area.
Bury’s stadium, a quaint construction of clay, sand and animal dung, topped off with a corrugated tin roof has been decked out with bunting for what will be its most important match of the season.
A larger than usual crowd at Gigg Lane
Preparations have extended far beyond Gigg Lane. The town hall has received a much needed wash, and the tramps who usually sleep in front of the building have been rounded up and placed in a holding pen just off the M66. Throw them a sandwich if you’re passing.
The Shakers are in buoyant spirits, ahead of a rare campaign outside of League Two, and manager Richie Barker, recognising the crucial nature of the game has pledged to field a full strength side. His counterpart, Owen Coyle, will be giving a run out to apprentices, trialists and a couple of electricians from Euxton who fancied a game. A close contest is expected.
A big turn out from the home contingent is anticipated, and the hope is that the fans will outnumber the stewards for once. However, a note of caution has been sounded. Bury supporters went on a rampage after victory in the corresponding fixture in 2006, causing almost £25 of damage. The town’s policeman has warned that a repeat will not be tolerated.
Those attending tomorrow’s game are asked to bring torches, so that the expense incurred in turning on the floodlights can be avoided.
- Richard McCormick
Will Owen Coyle Regret Selling Matty Taylor?
Sunday, July 24th, 2011 | BWFC Goals, BWFC News, BWFC People, Matt Taylor, Owen Coyle | 5 Comments
Matthew Taylor has completed his move to West Ham United, for an undisclosed fee, after an amount of £2.2 million was suggested earlier in the week. The news has been greeted with joy by a section of Bolton’s support. It’s a harsh judgment.
Taylor was an easy target for the boo boys. He lacked pace, couldn’t go past a player and his defensive capabilities were of a standard that made the idea that he could stand in at left back seem laughable. Yet he most certainly had an end product.
Matt Taylor pictured left. The man with an enormous right testicle.
The midfielder was signed in January 2008 as Gary Megson* went on a spending spree with money acquired from the sale of Nicolas Anelka. Things did not begin well. Played further forward than he was used to, Taylor was famed for not scoring when he should have done. Most notably he missed a hat trick of sitters against former club Portsmouth as the Whites went down to a 1-0 defeat at home after dominating the game.
The following season he netted ten times, no mean feat for a midfielder, including the highlight of his time at Bolton, a scorching free kick against, ironically, West Ham at the Boleyn. A good goalkeeper would have struggled to save that effort. The Hammers only had Rob Green, whose fumblings have gifted the Wanderers so many points that he’s been assigned an honorary squad number at the Reebok.
The 2009-10 campaign was blighted by glandular fever which was undiagnosed until late February. Still, he got on the score sheet eight times, including a brace at Stoke that virtually guaranteed Premier League survival for Bolton. From then on he was a bit part player, struggling to hold down a place after the arrival of Martin Petrov and failing to string two good games together when given a chance.
At his best, Taylor was a deadly striker of the ball, an expert set piece taker and an accurate long range passer in open play. His main problem was that he didn’t produce his best frequently enough, which left the lesser parts of his game more open to criticism. But there was never any doubt about his commitment, with the stats frequently showing that he’d covered the most ground during a game.
There were claims that he was Megson’s man, but touchline arguments with the Ginger One test that assumption. His response, when asked if the former Bolton manager’s constant yelling bothered him, was also interesting.
“I don’t have a problem with it,” he said. The body language and tone of voice suggested that the words were not an accurate reflection of his thoughts.
Not that Taylor was averse to making his feelings known. There are some who claim that paying the entrance fee to a stadium entitles them to barrack an individual they see as underperforming. That’s another argument, but those people shouldn’t complain when the abuse is returned, as it was with Matt Taylor. Yet no player enjoyed the crowd’s adulation more when he scored.
Will Bolton miss him? Possibly. A set piece specialist is always useful in a side that lacks creativity. The counter argument is that this move brings in much needed revenue for the club and gives the player a chance of regular first team football and therefore an opportunity to regain his form.
Fans at Portsmouth still regard Matthew Taylor with affection. On the whole, that isn’t the case at Bolton, which is regrettable given his overall contribution. This supporter for one, wishes him well.
- Richard McCormick
* Note for lazy journalists. Matt Taylor will not be re-united with ‘former boss’ Sam Allardyce
Is Owen Coyle Trying to Get Bolton Relegated?
Saturday, July 23rd, 2011 | BWFC People, Owen Coyle | 11 Comments
Those within hearing distance of the Reebok Stadium will have noticed an odd noise this morning. It was the sound of a barrel bottom being scraped. At last there is Bolton Wanderers transfer news. It’s not good news.
Late on Friday evening the Daily Mail broke the story of Owen Coyle’s attempts to sign Chris Eagles from his old club Burnley. At this stage, there is nothing official, but the Mail has a better record than most of getting its facts right in such matters, one that’s certainly better than that of Daily Mirror muppet in chief Alan Nixon.
Promoting pies in the Championship is the right level for Chris Eagles
It’s been a desperately dull window for Whites fans, with the only new player so far being a free transfer from the footballing colossus that is Swansea City. There were tears of joy at a story linking Birmingham City’s Cameron Jerome, but only when it was found not to be true.
At the other end of the silly scale, a rumour that Coyle was in for Thiago Alcantara raised spirits briefly, but a series of superior performances at the European under-21 championships put paid to that idea, with Barcelona offering a new contract.
Other players might be available, but don’t want to come. Last season’s, hit and miss loanee Rodrigo has pledged to fight for his place at Benfica, and Sean Wright Phillips won’t leave Manchester City while he still has a central part in the weekly dwarf throwing competitions that take place at Eastlands, or whatever they’re calling it these days.
All of which leaves a squad at the Reebok that’s seriously short of numbers with Ali Al-Habsi having departed for the not so verdant pastures of Wigan and Matt Taylor heading South to join Bolton Wanderers Old Boys, London Branch, or West Ham United as they’re otherwise known.
Coyle has trimmed the already small pool of players available to him still further over the summer. The move was sensible, as was the Bolton manager’s desire to replace those who had left with better.
“I’m not going to substitute quality for a quick fix,” he told the Bolton News earlier in the month.
That is at odds with his pursuit of Chris Eagles. The man with the alice band isn’t a Premier League footballer. He might look good in a two minute segment on TV, but his contribution over the course of a whole game does not meet with the required standard. Added to which he’s lightweight and has on over inflated idea of his own capabilities.
This is one Eagle that should not be allowed to land.
- Richard McCormick
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