Stelios
What the Bolton News can learn from Gordon Brown
Saturday, June 6th, 2009 | BWFC News, BWFC People, El-Hadji Diouf, Gary Megson, Ivan Campo, Nicolas Anelka, Phil Gartside, Stelios | 3 Comments
There’s no such thing as boom without bust for Bolton Wanderers
It’s perhaps not the best time to be taking financial lessons from Gordon Brown, but The Bolton News repeated one of the beleaguered Prime Minister’s biggest mistakes this week.
Top 10 Bolton Wanderers goals of 2008: Day 2
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008 | BWFC People, Stelios | No Comments
Celebrating the best Bolton Wanderers goals of 2008
At number 9 in my countdown of the best Bolton Wanderers goals of the year is…
Top 10 Bolton Wanderers games of 2008: Day 2
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008 | Gary Megson, Grzegorz Rasiak, Kevin Davies, Stelios | No Comments
Celebrating the best Bolton Wanderers games of 2008
At number 9 in my countdown of the best Bolton Wanderers games of 2008 is…
Desert Island Goals: Jay-Jay Okocha v Aston Villa
Saturday, December 13th, 2008 | Alan Stubbs, BWFC People, Bruno N'Gotty, Jay-Jay Okocha, Kevin Nolan, Stelios, Youri Djorkaeff | 1 Comment
Celebrating great Bolton Wanderers goals from history
In the absence of Alan Stubbs’ 1994 FA Cup winner against Villa from You Tube, this goal from the thrilling Carling Cup semi-final in 2004 was the obvious choice for today’s Desert Island Goal.
Desert Island Goals: Jay-Jay Okocha v West Ham
Sunday, October 5th, 2008 | BWFC People, El-Hadji Diouf, Fabrice Muamba, Gary Megson, Gavin McCann, Jay-Jay Okocha, Joey O'Brien, Sam Allardyce, Sammy Lee, Stelios | 3 Comments
Great goals from Bolton Wanderers history (for the benefit of Gary Megson)…
The simplistic analysis of Gary Megson’s tenure as Bolton Wanderers manager says that he restored the tactics and style of play that had brought us so much success under Sam Allardyce.
It’s certainly true that Megson ditched Sammy Lee’s over-ambitious attempt to bring the pass and move Liverpool groove to the Reebok, but I believe Megson’s Bolton Wanderers are considerably different to Allardyce’s.
The most important difference is this: whilst Allardyce stuffed his team with physical players whose main purpose was to upset the opposition, he also understood that you have to find some room in your starting XI for players who are capable off getting you a goal. How do you ever win a game otherwise?
However negative Allardyce’s game plan may have been, he would never have played three defensive midfielders as Megson has done several times this season with Fabrice Muamba, Gavin McCann and Joey O’Brien.
Allardyce would always find room for a player or two who could cause the opposition defence a headache (and keep supporters interested), either with pace (El-Hadji Diouf), skill (Jay-Jay Okocha) or by just being a right pain in the arse (Stelios).
It’s for this reason that we are no longer able to compete against the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United as we once did in head-to-head games. The current game plan still includes the bit about getting amongst the opposition, upsetting their game and making it difficult for them to play. But it no longer includes a section about how to score goals and put teams on the back foot.
It’s also the reason why we’re unlikely to see a goal like the one Okocha scored against West Ham in 2003, when we play the Hammers again today.
So, just for Gary Megson, here’s a reminder that Bolton Wanderers Premier League success wasn’t just about being defensive…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6ahfnopd9I]
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Barclays show how much they value Bolton Wanderers
Wednesday, August 13th, 2008 | BWFC People, Danny Guthrie, El-Hadji Diouf, Fabrice Muamba, Gary Megson, Ivan Campo, Johan Elmander, Stelios | 1 Comment
Official Premier League sponsor reckons we’re worth all of three paragraphs
Bolton Wanderers fans are well accustomed to opening the national newspapers and having to search for references to their club buried away in sidebars and news-in-briefs.
But you might think a 12-page season preview published by Barclays, the bank that sponsors the Premier League, would be a little more democratic in its allocation of space.
Not a bit of it.
The front cover promises ‘Views on every Premier League team’. The only problem is that while Manchester United are sycophantically drooled over for three pages, and the usual suspects – Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham, Man City, Everton and Newcastle – are given a full page each (including stats, facts and transfer ins and outs), the likes of Bolton – clearly the poor relations as far as Barclays are concerned – are given just three derisory paragraphs.
Bolton Wanderers get three paragraphs in the Barclays Premier League preview
And that’s three paragraphs that don’t even bother to mention the most significant developments of the summer months: the departures of Ivan Campo, El-Hadji Diouf, Stelios and Danny Guthrie; the big-money arrivals of Johan Elmander and Fabrice Muamba.
Instead we get three paragraphs of meaningless quotes from Gary Megson and a dig at the fans for not making him feel welcome when he took over last season.
Thanks, Barclays, for letting us know where we stand in the grand scheme of things.
What’s even more surprising is that I found this online-only supplement via The Bolton News website, who saw fit to big this publication up despite the insulting amount of space it gives the Wanderers. If this is an advertorial for Barclays then it should be marked as such and not as ‘Wanderers latest’.
This commenter on the story summed it up…
A piece of syndicated junk. The B(E)N whould think about whether it should be promoting the supplement with photos of other teams. The B(E)N should always put the other teams second. Bolton is the priority
El-Hadji Diouf: Bolton’s Robbie Savage?
Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 | BWFC People, El-Hadji Diouf, Gary Megson, Mustapha Riga, Ricardo Vaz Te, Stelios | 1 Comment
Did El-Hadji Diouf deserve the love he got from Bolton Wanderers fans?
Farewell then to El-Hadji Diouf, who has got his desired move away from the Reebok Stadium to a big club Sunderland.
I always felt Diouf’s cult status amongst sections of the Wanderers support was slightly disproportionate to the number of goals he scored and games he changed. There was a little bit of the Robbie Savage syndrome about it all: we loved him because everybody else hated him so much.
The £2.8 million fee has enabled Gary Megson to go out and buy Mustapha Riga from Spanish side Levante, a player many see as a direct replacement for Diouf.
But it appears I’m not the only one who hopes Diouf’s departure – as well as that of Stelios over the summer – will give Ricardo Vaz Te another chance to shine this season.
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