Bird Food

Owen Coyle is having something of an identity crisis as the number of life-sized models of him increase by the hour.  Some are hung from lamp posts, others have been set on fire, whilst the remainder are having pitch forks stuck in them by seething mobs of savages.  Even the pasty bust of Coyle, manufactured by Holland Pies to celebrate promotion to the Premier League has been broken up and fed to the birds.

For those who’ve been living in a time warp (no, we don’t mean Blackburn) Coyle left Turf Moor last January after giving the impression that he’d be there for some time.  Burnley chairman Barry Kilby was so confident that his man could resist the charms of opposite number, Phil Gartside, that he allowed a meeting to take place, when he didn’t have to.  On the face of it, this seemed reasonable.  There are people on death row with more charm than Garty.

Kilby’s optimism was ill founded. Coyle defected to the Reebok taking everyone with him, from the chief scout to the tea lady.  Kilby was initially offered a job as chief car park attendant, but felt it was a step sideways.

Burnley Supporter's Club. Binge drinking is rife and it's all Coyle's fault

Nine months on and the sense of betrayal is as strong as ever.  The cup draw was greeted with joy, or as near as you get to it, in that part of the World.  Closure could be had with a victory over Bolton.

That isn’t beyond the realms of possibility.  Coyle won’t risk a full-strength side with a game against Manchester United to come, and Burnley have a taste for cup football, in much the same way that Bolton did in the few years prior to their Premier League adventure.
But should that happen it will mean precisely sod all.  Burnley will still be in the Championship, languishing in mid-table, led by a man who got two clubs relegated last season, whilst the Wanderers have had a decent start to their latest Premier League campaign with a promising young manager at the helm.

A defeat for the home side could prove cataclysmic as Blackburn’s poor relation disappears into a black hole of depression, sucking in the surrounding districts.   Residents of Cliviger, Worsthorne and Padiham be warned.  You may face evacuation shortly after 10pm on Tuesday night.

The support from football fans and ordinary people in the street has been inspirational

Click the link to listen to Mark Halsey’s Exclusive  interview.

http://www.zshare.net/audio/751463426e948768/

Despite hailing from Hertfordshire, Mark Halsey has firmly established himself as one of Bolton’s favourite adopted sons. After spending 12 years playing non-league football for Cambridge City and Hertford Town he began his refereeing career in 1989 and a decade later refereed the famous 1999 Football League One Play-off Final between Gillingham and Manchester City at Wembley. The same year he was promoted to Premier League status and shortly after the FIFA List of referees. He quickly established himself as one of the most popular referees in the League.

Mark was kind enough to take time out of his schedule to speak Exclusively to Manny Road & bwfcforum’s Andi Walton. He started by asking him about his current health:

MH:      Yeah I’m feeling very good, I seem to be getting stronger with every game I do and it’s a bonus for me because I never thought I’d be back refereeing again, so every day is a cup final and it’s really great to be back and the reception I’ve received from the two games I’ve done at Rotherham and Port Vale and Oldham and Bristol Rovers, the fans have been absolutely fantastic and it’s been very emotional and overwhelming for me.

AW:      It must have been the furthest thing from your mind getting out on the football pitch when you were in the midst of your treatment but now you’ve got to that stage, it must be a real thrill.

MH:      For me to come back and, you know, I suppose…for what I’ve gone through with all my chemotherapy and my radiotherapy…I mean if you saw me at Christmas, I was nowhere near the Mark Halsey of old, you know, but I’ve worked hard and a lot of people have helped me and it’s been great.  The support I’ve received from people around the country – just ordinary football fans and ordinary people in the street.  They’ve been inspirational to me and they’ve got to really pat themselves on the back for the way they’ve helped me and it’s down to them that I’m back where I am now.

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Click the link to listen to the interview.

http://www.zshare.net/audio/751463426e948768/

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AW:      Tell us about the club Mark, how have they been helping?

MH:      Oh they’ve been fantastic. I come into remission and Adie the fitness coach and you’ve got Nick Worth in charge of the physios, they’ve been brilliant with me.  Then you’ve got the doc who’s been brilliant with me.  Owen Coyle’s been running with me and Adie’s set me running programmes to do to build my fitness back up and without the club I don’t think I’d be where I am now as well because they’ve been absolutely first class with me, first class.

AW:      Let’s go back a bit earlier in your career. You were a player before you were a ref weren’t you?

MH:      Yeah.  I was a player. I played non-league as a goal keeper down in the Ryman’s league and up until I was about 28 really then I gave up playing and sort of…well 30 I was, and gave up playing and took up refereeing.  I got one or two injuries and took up refereeing.

AW:      Do you think that’s given you an advantage as opposed to somebody…well you know, it’s a decent standard you played at.

MH:      It was yeah. It does help you playing the game. I have empathy for the game, I give players a chance, I love football, I’m a football fan and it’s all about 22 players on the field and the fans, you know, it’s not about the referee.  And I think that’s where sometimes we lose sight.  It doesn’t always mean to say that ex-players make good referees.

AW:      So how did you end up in Bolton then, because obviously we can tell from you voice that you’re not born and bred.

MH:      No born and bread in Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire and I married a Bolton lass so obviously that’s when I moved up here and here I am.

AW:      You’ve become an honorary northerner.

MH:      I’m an honorary northerner, yeah and I love being a northerner. I love being a northwester, I wouldn’t move back down south.

AW:      So you’ve talked about the club helping you with your recovery, but how did you come about getting involved with Bolton in the first place?

MH:      When I first moved up here in 2000…Sam Allardyce has been brilliant with me as well.  He was in charge of the Wanderers and I asked if I could come along and train with him and I am and I’ve been there 10 years now, going every day.  I mean the lads have been fantastic with me and over the last 9 months I’ve got to know Joey O’Brien and Sean Davis very well, although Sean’s got on my nerves, in there recovering in the gym because of the long term injuries…but we’ve passed the time away really well and we’ve had a good laugh and he’s a bit of a pain in the backside is Sean!

We’ve had good times.  It’s been great, you know…but that’s why there’s a plus point being in the gym with them two all the time.

AW:            Obviously you arrived in 2000 and that was when the club was just about sort of on the up and up wasn’t it?

MH:      In 2000 first season in the Premier League it was.

AW:      And has the club advanced since you first arrived? I imagine that you’re one of those who have been around for the longest now.

MH:      I think they’ve gone from strength to strength really. You can’t take it away from what Sam Allardyce done.  I mean he’s put the club on the map and he’s done a fantastic job.   And obviously all good things come to an end and you move on.  And we’ve had people come and go and they’ve all done well in their own way and I think now that Owen Coyle’s here.  I mean Owen Coyle…his enthusiasm is second to none.  When I first saw his training session I thought he was absolutely…his enthusiasm was fantastic and he’s got all the lads up there and playing and working for him.

AW:      I suppose you’ll be coming up against Sam now won’t you because obviously you never did while was in charge of Bolton?

MH:      No I don’t referee Sam. He’s at Blackburn and we’re right good friends so they never give me Sam’s club’s.

AW:      Right, so that’s all kind of acknowledged then by the powers-that-be, is it?

MH:      Yeah.

AW:      Who are the best Bolton players that you worked alongside then over the last 10 years Mark?

MH:            Obviously there have been some great players haven’t there? I think Jussi Jaaskelainen  and I’ve trained with Jussi and I think he’s got to be up there, one of the top players, top performers, consistently week-in week-out.  And Ivan Campo was fantastic in the midfield there.  Djorkaeff and Jay Jay Okocha – there are some great names of the past aren’t there.

AW:      I suppose those are the sort of names as well that the fans remember best, particularly those like Campo really had a connection with the fans.

MH:      Oh of course he did.  They were some good days under Sam weren’t they. You know, I think the lads now that have come in are doing well and playing for Owen and if they keep us in the Premier League, which I think they will…I don’t think there’s a problem there…and see if we can kick on and see if they can kick on next season.

AW:      So you’ve said ‘us’ – you said ‘we’ there.  Does that mean that you’re a Wanderers fan? What would you describe yourself as?

MH:      Well you know, obviously being attached to the club you do, don’t you.  But I mean obviously people know I’m a QPR fan but obviously living in Bolton and training in Bolton, you get an affection for the club because as I say, the club have been fantastic with me and, you know, it’s a family run club.  So you do tend to say we, you know what I mean?

I’ve been to most games there this season because of my illness but you do, you use that terminology don’t you?

AW:      I imagine at times that it didn’t make you feel much better with some of the performances

MH:      [laughs]

AW:      Tell us about the rest of the league then.  You talked about Wanderers players.  Any other players that you’ve jut enjoyed being on the same pitch as?

MH:      Oh I mean there’s loads.  I mean there’s some fantastic players around isn’t there?  From refereeing, you just look at the likes of Alan Shearer, Henri, David Beckham. I had the privilege of refereeing Zidane and he was got to be one of the best, you know…it’s great to be on the pitch with players like that.  And you’ve got there some great players now.  You’ve got Rooney, you’ve got John Terry, you’ve got Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, they’re absolutely fantastic players aren’t they. And it’s one everyone would want to pay to see, whether you’re support for Chelsea or support for Arsenal, cos you’ve got Fabregas who’s outstanding as well, so there’s some fantastic players.  And instead of all the supporters booing and when they come to their grounds, they should be clapping them because you don’t want them players leaving the Premiership and going playing back in Spain and Italy and things like that cos we want to be the best league in the world and we need to keep those players in the Premier league.

AW:      Yeah, there’s the sort of well-known story of Wanderers fans of when Ruud Gullit played at Burnden Park, you know, he just absolutely played us off the park but the fans just clapped him off cos they hadn’t seen a player of that standard for 20 / 30 years on the pitch there.

MH:      But that’s what it should be like every ground…life’s too short.  I know that. You just don’t know what’s round the corner.  And instead of, you know, the fans…yeah of course they get emotional don’t they, with people, so it’s just great to have all these great players gracing our football pitches.

AW:      That brings me onto how you deal with the fans’ reaction to you.  We all know some of the choice language that fans can use about refs if things don’t go the right way.  How hard is it when the whole ground – they question your parentage or whatever it might be?

MH:      [laughs] It’s emotional.  People get emotional.  Football’s emotional.  And I mean 9 times out of 10 you don’t hear it because you’re concentrating and focussing on what you’re doing, so you don’t really pay any attention to it to be honest.

AW:      Do you understand it though?  Say there’s the FA Cup semi final over the weekend and John Terry’s tackle on James Milner has come in for a bit of scrutiny and then there was the penalty in that game as well.  Howard Webb doing that game and obviously someone that you know well.  But can you understand the frustration of the Villa fans there for instance?

MH:      Well obviously I can’t comment.  I honestly haven’t seen any of the incidents, obviously because I was refereeing my game at Oldham, so I’ve not seen.  And I was at Manchester City so I can’t really comment on that because I’ve not seen any of it.

AW:      Well speaking in general, you can understand how…because you know, fans spend a lot of money.  They travel to Wembley for instance in that case and you know, we as Wanderers fans have had loads of decisions, as of course all clubs have over the years, and you do remember them.

MH:      Yeah, it’s just…as I say, these things happen don’t they?  As I say it’s very difficult for referees.  They get a split second, you know, and so it’s very difficult for referees to referee at the top level.  As I said, they get a split second whereas you get all these replays and then you can make your mind up afterwards after watching it two or three times can’t you?  If you look at Fabio Capello, he said the English league’s got the best referees in the world.

But it’s just one of those things.  We all make mistakes.  I make mistakes.  It’s just one of those things.

AW:      Would you appreciate some help from cameras though Mark?

MH:            Obviously that’s not gonna happen because FIFA have said no so that’s the end of the matter so there’s no point, no matter what I say.  It can’t be used and that’s it.  I think we can make good use of them but obviously we cannot…

AW:      What’s the best match you’ve ever reffed at?  The City Gillingham playoff final, I know you did that.  That was an extraordinary match wasn’t it?

MH:      Oh it was fantastic.  Every game I referee is good.  You know, I treat every game the same.  You know, I just love refereeing.  I just love football and I treat every game the same, whether it be at Rotherham, Morecambe, Accrington or wherever it be…at Goodison Park, I treat every game the same.

AW:      You’ve done a league cup final, a charity shield.  Would the FA Cup Final be the dream?

MH:      Oh yeah it would be. I mean with my illness and obviously, you know, being out all season, there’s that carrot there and it would be great if I could come back and referee that FA Cup Final, on merit and not on sentiment.

AW:      How’s the restaurant going on?  You still involved?

MH:      Yeah, it’s not too bad.  It’s been a struggle.  It’s been a massive struggle but you know…it’s been difficult.  But yeah, my wife’s been running that so I’ve not had a lot of involvement with that.

AW:      Where do people go if they… you’ve been good enough to talk to us so we might as well give you a plug.  Where do people go if they want to get involved?

MH:      It’s Ristaurante Sottovento, 69 Worsley Road in Farnworth.  So come along and speak to us or whatever, and support your local restaurant.

AW:      Just a couple of final things then, just on more general reffing issues.  Are players more disrespectful now and does that really affect kids watching them?

MH:      No I don’t think so, no.  To be fair, I think the Respect Programme’s working very well from what I’ve seen of it and, you know, I can only talk for myself and I get the utmost respect from players and I think that the players give the referees the utmost respect as well to be fair.  You know, I think that’s been working well.

AW:      You know when players do surround you though and obviously we’ve talked about the passion that’s involved, and they do get right in your face and, you know, you only have to watch Match of the Day to see that there is some fairly choice stuff being said by the players.  Are you not tempted just to get the yellow card straight out?  That would stop them soon enough, wouldn’t it?

MH:            Well…as I say, football’s a very emotional game and, you know, that’s what it is, it’s very emotional.  And referees manage the occasion, they take that into consideration, so they may just be doing it to themselves and it may look as if it’s at the referee.  I mean the referee on the whole; I think the referees in England do an excellent job.  And the players and the managers do respect that.

AW:      And how’s it different when you’re refereeing an international game or a European game?  Is it more difficult with the language and that kind of thing?

MH:      No they all speak English.

AW:      So you make yourself understood?

MH:      Yeah.

AW:            Refereeing an international game must be a real honour as well.

MH:      It is yeah.  It’s a great honour to represent your country, just like a player, it’s a great honour to represent your country abroad with the three lions and the FIFA badge.  It’s fantastic.  So it’s just the same for a referee as it is for a player representing your country.

AW:      And what’s the future hold Mark?  Obviously you’ll try and keep your recovery on track and get back as a regular Premier League ref next season?

MH:      Yeah, well hopefully I’d like to get a game this season.  But we’ll see how my fitness goes and I’m getting stronger all the time and as I say, it’s not been easy, considering another 2 weeks I wouldn’t be here standing talking to you, it’s been amazing and the Christie  has been a fantastic hospital and my professional team has been brilliant with me and as I say I’ve got a charity dinner on May 7^th at Lancashire Cricket Club, which we’ve got Roberto Mancini, Sir Alex Ferguson, Owen Coyle and Sam Allardyce is guest of honour so it should be a great night.

AW:      Brilliant, how do people find out more about that if they want to?

MH:      They can contact Lancashire County Cricket Club. There’s a Lancashire website and if they want to make a donation, they can text Mark to 78070 to help raise money for the Christie. Or they can visit the Just Giving website…www.justgiving.com/Mark-Halsey

AW:            Fantastic. We wish you all the best with your recovery and it’ll be great to see you back on the pitch in the premier league.

MH:      OK thanks very much.

Click the link to listen to the interview.

http://www.zshare.net/audio/751463426e948768/

As well as battling the illness he is actively fundraising to raise money for The Christie, the leading cancer centre in Manchester. You can help him reach his £50,000 target by visiting www.justgiving.com/mark-halsey or goto http://www.lccc.co.uk/index.php?p=news&id=3495 for details of Mark’s charity dinner on May 7^th at which Sir Alex Ferugson, Owen Coyle, Roberto Mancini and Sam Allardyce will be in attendance.

All the goals from the Wanderers 3-1 Carling Cup win over West Ham (minus the last goal for some reason)…

Your views welcome below…

I asked yesterday whether selling Kevin Nolan to Newcastle is a good idea. The response was mixed, but on the whole in favour.

Either way, Kevin Nolan’s contribution to the last decade of Bolton Wanderers has been immense. Here are 10 of his greatest moments in a White shirt…

1. Emerging from the academy to make his debut at the age of 17 against Charlton.

2. Scoring his first senior goal against Crewe. Shortly before it, Sam Allardyce had said the only thing missing from his game was goals… and they were about to start flowing…

3. Two goals in that brilliant 5-0 win at Leicester on our return to the Premier League in 2001.

[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=u3-g7TZ4t7U&feature=related[/youtube]

4. Scoring at Old Trafford a few weeks later…

[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=gJYkD0IZXZI&feature=related[/youtube]

5. Scoring at Old Trafford again a year later, this time the winner.

6. Being made captain for the day against the team he supported as a boy, Liverpool, at Anfield… and then pointing to the armband after scoring in a 1-1 draw.

7. Scoring eight goals from midfield in his first season in the Premier League (how the likes of Jermaine Jenas and Kieron Dyer were getting in the England team ahead of him is a complete mystery).

8. Two years later he got 11 in all competitions, including two in a thrilling 4-3 win at Ewood Park and one that helped us reach the Carling Cup Final at the Millennium Stadium. He also got 11 in 2005-06, including this belter against Portsmouth…

[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=nrTa85_62Hc&feature=related[/youtube]

9. Another goal that season came at White Hart Lane, which is one of my personal favourites because I’d just moved to London and it was my first away game in the capital. Jay-Jay Okocha had hit the bar about 84 times before Nolan grabbed the winner late on. It’s not on You Tube, but this screamer, also against Spurs is…

[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=woVQ3hSmjFo&feature=related[/youtube]

10. Scoring an absolute screamer against Blackburn last season, even if his form had noticeably started to dip…

[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=N40wuZK6Et0&NR=1[/youtube]

Share your favourite Kevin Nolan moments in the comment box below…

Read  more about Kevin Nolan here.

Visit the Bolton Wanderers Hall of Fame here.

Is Tony Kelly talking rubbish about ‘concentrating on the league’?

I’ve said before that I think Tony Kelly is doing a good job as Fans’ Liaison Officer. His one downfall, though, continues to be his column in The Bolton News, which is unerringly optimistic and only serves to wind most fans up.

This week, after our capitulation against Sunderland in the FA Cup, he wrote:

I’m told the performance at Sunderland wasn’t so good but I don’t see why the manager should be getting stick for it.

I know Bolton fans have a strong feelings for the FA Cup but I’m not too disappointed to be out of it, if it allows us to concentrate on getting some much– needed points on the board.

For some time now, I’ve been starting to think the exact opposite. After eight years in the Premier League and having achieved pretty much everything we can, wouldn’t you be prepared to accept relegation – even if it meant spending the next five or ten years in the Championship – in return for winning the FA -(hell, even the Carling) Cup?

One glorious trip to Wembley (pictured) would be far better than spending the next five years playing negative football and finishing 15th in the Premier League… right?

What do you think? Have your say in the comment box below.

Over the last week or so I’ve been counting down my favourite 10 goals, games and players of 2008. You can see the results here.

But in the interests of fairness and balance I thought it only right to reflect on some of the low points of 2008 too and use them as new year’s resolutions for 2009…

1. If the January transfer window proves frustrating, don’t panic buy third-rate Championship strikers like Grzegorz Rasiak.

2. Don’t allow fans to pay hundreds of pounds for a Uefa Cup tie at Sporting Lisbon and then put out a reserve team (OK, so we’re unlikely to see much European action in 2009, but a bit of effort in the FA Cup would be a good place to start).

3. Don’t lose 3-2 to Arsenal when you were 2-0 up and playing against 10 men.

4. If you’re fighting for your lives at the bottom of the table, don’t get battered 4-0 at Aston Villa.

5. If you think you need another centre-half in the squad, don’t waste £2 million on third-rate Championship defenders like Danny Shittu.

6. If you fail in the FA Cup, let’s have a bash at the Carling Cup… therefore don’t capitulate at home with a half-hearted effort against lower league teams like Northampton.

7. Don’t play Kevin Nolan, Gavin McCann, Joey O’Brien and Fabrice Muamba all in the same midfield at the same time ever again.

8. If you do play them, expect that your negativity may prompt some fans to call you names and question your ability to do your job.

9. If it’s 0-0 against Everton at home after 80 minutes, consider making a substitution.

10. Don’t assume that defeat is inevitable against the top four.

Share your own Bolton Wanderers new year’s resolutions in the comment box below.

At number 9 in my countdown of the best Bolton Wanderers games of 2008 is…

9. Tottenham Hotspur 1 Bolton Wanderers 1

Who?
A Bolton side desperate for points against a Tottenham team who were playing with no pressure with the Carling Cup already in the trophy cabinet.

What?
Despite Grzegorz Rasiak putting in one of the worst individual performances I’ve ever seen as he deputised for the suspended Kevin Davies, the Whites somehow fended off Tottenham and hung on for a precious point on the road to Premier League survival.

Why?
Because Gary Megson hauled Rasiak off at the break and brought on Stelios to score his last-ever Bolton goal… and how important it was.

Where?
White Hart Lane

When?
April 26th, 2008

You can see the top 10 Bolton Wanderers games of 2008 in full here.

If you disagree with any of my choices or have any views on the games I’ve picked, please feel free to have your say in the comment box below. I might even argue back.

I wrote before the Aston Villa game last week  about how watching Kevin Nolan’s goal from the 2004 Carling Cup semi-final made me realise how much the Bolton captain’s game has changed over the last few years.

This Desert Island Goal against today’s opponents Portsmouth is another reminder that Nolan was once not only a great goal scorer (for a midfielder, anyway), he was also a scorer of great goals.

I’ll say now what I said last week… that it’s difficult to imagine him scoring a goal today like this belter against Pompey from 2005…

[youtube=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=nrTa85_62Hc]

Why has Kevin Nolan’s goal threat decreased so much? Is it Gary Megson’s fault? Tell me your views on Nolan in the comment box below…

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.

You’ll have to sit through the other six goals on this clip before getting to Jay-Jay Okocha’s free-kick (no bad thing because some of the other goals were belters too), which raised a couple of interesting points as I rewatched them just now.

Firstly, listening to some of the names in the commentary – Okocha, Djorkaeff, N’Gotty, Stelios – there can be no doubt we have a significantly weaker team now than we had five years ago.

Secondly, when was the last time Kevin Nolan made a run like he did for the second goal here?

Enjoy…

[youtube=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=SKgCXWGM3wY]

There was an interesting discussion on the Times’ The Game podcast recently about how strikers don’t score goals any more. Their evidence was that the only three of the Premier League’s top 10 goalscorers are still playing (and none of them are at the top of their game any more).

The history of Bolton Wanderers in that same period certainly backs this up. Where we once had John McGinlay and Andy Walker both banging in 20 plus goals a season, we now have Kevin Davies struggling to get in to double figures.

I’m not knocking Davies, who does a great job for the team, but fans love a goalscorer, and if Gary Megson could pull one out of the hat (Johan Elmander, perhaps?) then you’d soon see some of those empty seats at the Reebok filling up.

In this context, my assessment of the achievements of Owen Coyle’s contribution to Bolton Wanderers has changed a lot.

Coyle was always in the shadow of Walker and – when he left – McGinlay. Even Mixu Paatelainen seemed to get more affection from the fans, who were quick to change the words of Coyle’s song to ‘gets the ball and does f*** all’ as soon as he missed a chance or mis-controlled (which, to be fair, he did to quite often).

I remember laughing out loud when they built the McDonald’s on Middlebrook and put Coyle’s name on a Wanderers wall of fame alongside McGinlay and Nat Lofthouse.

But compared to today’s strikers, not only was Coyle a fairly prolific striker (check out Coyle’s stats here), he also scored some incredibly important goals: against Everton and Arsenal (twice) in the FA Cup, and more importantly, this goal against Reading in the 1995 play-off final…

[youtube=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=4zXec-Czwd0]

Everyone remembers Fabian De Freitas’s brace from that game and Keith Branagan’s penalty save, but few remember Coyle’s contribution, playing out of position on the left wing in an injury-hit team.

I don’t think I’m the only Bolton Wanderers fan who has changed their view on Coyle, either. I noticed quite a few congratulatory messages on the various Wanderers discussion boards this week after Coyle’s Burnley side knocked Arsenal out of the Carling Cup.

There was a certain evocation of the spirit of Bruce Rioch’s giantkilling Bolton side in all this bonhomie, of course. But it’s not every day you see Wanderers fans extending the hand of friendship to their Lancashire neighbours. For that, Owen Coyle, we salute you.

How highly do you rate Owen Coyle’s contribution to Bolton Wanderers? Have your say on Coyle in the comment box below…