FACup
Bolton Head South after Sinking the Swans
Sunday, January 29th, 2012 | BWFC Goals, BWFC People, Chris Eagles, Darren Pratley | No Comments
Bolton Wanderers face an away tie at Millwall or Southampton after disposing of fellow Premier League Swansea City. Azreal reports from the Reebok.
Bolton knocked Swansea out of the FA Cup to progress to the 5th round on Saturday. It was a deserved win for the Whites, but far from plain sailing. Goals from Daren Pratley and Chris Eagles secured the win for Bolton, after Luke Moore had given Swansea an undeserved lead.
Luke Moore. Won't be looking quite so bloody smug now. Photo ©Getty Images
Bolton started brightly, with Eagles offering the most consistent threat – combining well down the right with Joe Riley, whose swashbuckling runs were dangerous all game. Swansea played a second-string, and it showed from the offing. Eagles is never shy about getting at his fullback, and he clearly meant business whenever he got the ball. However, Eagles love of a shot is not best served on the right of midfield and his attempts to cut in onto his left usually ended in pitiful efforts on goal.
It was from a set-piece that Eagles offered his first moment of creativity, but his ball into the box was headed right at the ‘keeper. Next, Eagles cut inside for another left-footed effort, and having had a few sighters the crowd expected him to worry the goalie – he instead worried the corner flag. Chris isn’t a player who lacks confidence though, and he continued to try and make things happen, winning a corner shortly after. The ball was swung in by Martin Petrov and, as the second ball dropped, Swansea were forced to throw bodies in the way to block a shot.
Wanderers were dominating the game, yet it was a subdued performance from Bolton’s central midfielders. Darren Pratley is still finding his feet at the club, and his advanced position meant Mark Davies had to play a deeper role. Davies is at his best pushing up and looking to link play and, in trying to incorporate Pratley, Wanderers lost some of their recent rhythm. Nevertheless, Swansea’s distinct lack of bite and energy in the middle meant the Whites remained comfortable for most of the game; and getting Pratley up to speed could prove vital for Bolton in the run in. › Continue reading
Bolton’s Bottlers Deserved their Beating
Monday, April 18th, 2011 | BWFC Goals, BWFC News, BWFC People, Football Association, Richard McCormick | 1 Comment
And so the cup run ends. Not with glory, but in a haze of disappointment and humiliation. As Bolton rolled over in Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final, the most surprised people were the players of Stoke City. They’d expected to play a side placed eighth in the Premier League. Instead they were faced with what appeared to be a pub team who’d prepared for the game with a particularly gruelling bender.
How high do I need to raise it Owen ?
In case what follows appears grudging, it should be acknowledged that Stoke deserved their win and that the margin of victory did not flatter them. As stated on these pages previously, Tony Pulis’s side are more than the one-dimensional hoofers that they often portrayed as. They are admirably organised in midfield and have willing runners who are prepared to carry the ball through the centre of the park and place it in an area inconvenient to the opposition. Should they beat Manchester City in next month’s final, it will be a good day for football.
That said, the Wanderers didn’t just dig their own grave. They embalmed the body, drove the hearse to the cemetery and heaped soil on the rotting corpse. › Continue reading
Its not over yet cocker…..!
Sunday, April 10th, 2011 | BWFC Goals, BWFC News, BWFC People, Football Association, Gary Megson, Marc Iles, Nat Lofthouse, Owen Coyle, Premier League, Sam Allardyce, Stuart Holden | No Comments
Sunday 22nd May 2011 – the day the 2010/2011 Barclay’s Premier League comes to an end. Champions will be decided (although, if Arsenal continue to falter, Man Utd may have clinched their nineteenth league title long before the final day), teams (hopefully Wigan and Blackburn) will be relegated, European places will be confirmed and, for the remaining twelve teams, midtable obscurity / survival will be secured.
Can someone turn off those lights on your way out...!
However, reading several posts on various Bolton messageboards over the past three weeks, more than a few fans consider the season to be over already. In their minds, our season ended on 19th March 2011 at approximately 16.35.
This was when the boot of Manchester United’s Johny Evans collided with the knee of Bolton’s Stuart Holden. The initial reaction was not good: Holden was stretchered off the Old Trafford pitch in obvious distress and Bolton fans feared the worse. Two days later, those fears were realised: Holden was out for six months (‘gutted smilely’).
Evans, to his credit, called to Holden to apologise for the challenge, an apology that Holden has yet to receive from De Jong for a similar tackle twelve months earlier. Holden has accepted Evans’ apology conceding that, unfortunately, injuries are a risk in a contact sport such as football. Arsenal fans take note, it’s not just your players who can suffer injury as a result of a mistimed challenge, a fact that poor Holden knows only too well. › Continue reading
Bolton’s Greatest Ever Manager …
Thursday, May 13th, 2010 | BWFC Goals, BWFC News, BWFC People, Bruce Rioch, Premier League | 3 Comments
In reality, we do not have an outstanding list of candidates for our greatest ever manager. We’ve only had 23 full-time managers. Of these, you can pretty much discount dismiss Tom Mather, who was manager throughout WWI, and the short spells of Jimmy Meadows and Sammy Lee and even shorter (in duration) reign of Jimmy McIlroy.
I'll blow all my rivals out the water......!
We can also discount the fledgling tenure of current manager Owen Coyle, and Roy McFarland’s strange half-season spell as co-manager.
This leaves seventeen full-time managers who held the position for a season or more, but includes short-ish unsuccessful spells for Nat Lofthouse, Stan Anderson, George Mulhall, and Charlie Wright, all of less than two years.
Taking these out, we are now down to thirteen contenders.
Of these thirteen, I would immediately dismiss six as candidates.
John Somerville and Will Settle managed us in the early part of the twentieth century, and during their tenures we were the 17th best and 14th best team in England respectively. Given that there were only two divisions and forty league clubs by the end of Settle’s tenure, the fact that we were in the top half of the Football League does little to enhance either manager’s claim to greatness. Additionally, Somerville managed to get us relegated four times between 1899 and 1910. › Continue reading
Bolton v Birmingham – The Modern Era
Friday, May 7th, 2010 | BWFC Goals, BWFC News, BWFC People, Football Association, Premier League | No Comments
BWFCforum’s Wakey continues with part three of the decade-by-decade review of the league history of Bolton and Sunday’s visitors Birmingham, covering the modern period: 1990 to present.
1990-1999
another close encounter....
The 1990’s are a strange decade for Bolton fans. Whilst they only spent two seasons in the top flight and four in the third, and had their second worst ranking of any decade, most of us look back on the decade with a great deal of fondness. It was undoubtedly the decade that started the revival in the club’s fortunes after the misery of the 1980’s; that brought Bruce Rioch’s free-flowing football to the club; that saw great giant killing acts, including knocking cup holders Liverpool out of the competition in a replay at Anfield, before repeating the feat the following season at Highbury against then cup-holders Arsenal. It was the decade that saw a return to the top flight for the first time in fifteen years, a record breaking promotion campaign under Colin Todd, the move to the Reebok, and local legends like John McGinlay, David Lee, and even commentator Dave Higson.
The 1990’s started for Bolton with a 6th place finish and a play-off semi-final defeat to Notts County. The following season saw a 4th place finish, and this time a trip to Wembley in the play-off final, again ending in disappointment with defeat to Tranmere. › Continue reading
Every Day’s a cup final for Mark Halsey….!
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010 | BWFC Goals, BWFC News, BWFC People, Football Association, Ivan Campo, Jay-Jay Okocha, Nicolas Anelka, Owen Coyle, Phil Gartside, Premier League, Premiership referees, Sam Allardyce, Youri Djorkaeff | 11 Comments
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.
Another season, another lesson in how to patronise northern football fans
Friday, August 14th, 2009 | BWFC News, BWFC People, Gary Megson, Kevin Davies, Sam Allardyce | 4 Comments
It's like looking in a mirror (Pic: Terry Wha, some rights reserved)
It's like looking in a mirror (Pic: Terry Wha, some rights reserved)
By ‘eck, The Guardian thinks we all wear flat caps and work down mines…
Regular readers from last season will know Manny Road is not a huge fan of match previews. I attempted to hijack the ridiculous notion that stats and facts based on past events have any bearing on upcoming matches with the regular ‘… things you didn’t need to know about Bolton Wanderers v Team X‘ series.
Manny Road won’t be doing that this season, partly because I think I made my point, but mainly because I’ve got better things to do on a Saturday morning (like sleeping off hangovers, for example) than trawling through endless, tedious football fan sites reading anodyne facts about how many times Kevin Davies has used his enormous backside to win a free-kick.You can read this nonsense for yourselves over at NewsNow.
Jlloyd likes to talk, but has he done the math?
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009 | BWFC News, BWFC People, Jlloyd Samuel | No Comments
- Image via Wikipedia
Jlloyd Samuel feels nice and rested… but will it do him any good against West Ham this weekend?
Jlloyd Samuel seems to have become Bolton Wanderers’ official spokesman during this international/FA Cup fallow period. A whole host of Samuel-based stories – not all of them especially fascinating, it has to be said – have kept the Wanderers news pages churning out copy during this terminally-slow-news couple of weeks.
11 things you (probably don’t) need to know about Everton v Bolton Wanderers
Saturday, February 7th, 2009 | Ariza Makukula, BWFC News, BWFC People, Ebi Smolarek, Gary Megson, Kevin Davies, Matt Taylor, Sebastien Puygrenier | No Comments
- Image via Wikipedia
Your guide to all the hot air and pointless historical facts ahead of Bolton’s trip to Goodison Park
Reasons to be cheerful…
1. Everton played 120 minutes on Wednesday night in the FA Cup against Liverpool, while the Wanderers were sitting at home with their feet up enjoying ITV’s, ahem, excellent coverage of the game.
Bolton Wanderers goal and game of the month: January ’09
Saturday, February 7th, 2009 | BWFC News, BWFC People, Ebi Smolarek, Kevin Davies | No Comments
And the winners are… Kevin Davies and the victory over Tottenham › Continue reading
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