Fulham
The Strange and Wacky World of Mrs Kevin Davies
Sunday, July 10th, 2011 | BWFC People, Kevin Davies | 7 Comments
‘What’s up with teachers? Short days, long holidays, inset days?’
The words came from Emma Davies, wife of Bolton captain Kevin, as she tweeted on the day of the recent public sector strikes. It was an inane comment to make, perhaps revealing long held prejudices, as the cause of the dispute was not the amount of time spent in class, but the erosion of pension rights.
Unsurprisingly, given that the man who supports her works short days, has long holidays and gets paid more in a week than most teachers earn in a year, there was some disagreement. Big Em did not take kindly to it.
‘People will know it’s me anyway by all the knives in my back,’ she advised later in the week after being seen in the local coffee shop. That, and her claims that she’d been abused, were melodramatic distortions of the truth. Granted, some of the replies were a little testy, but they only sought to highlight the crass nature of what she’d written. › Continue reading
Relegation fodder …
Monday, June 20th, 2011 | BWFC Goals, BWFC News, BWFC People, Premier League | 3 Comments
Would you buy a second hand car off these boys?
Aspirations have changed at Bolton since the dark days of Gary Megson. The arrival of Owen Coyle followed by our impressive start to the season had the more optimistic of us counting air miles and dusting off our Bulgarian phrase-books. Even when European qualification had passed us by – embarrassingly so in the cup – a top half finish was still on the cards right up to the end of the season.
Never mind. Coyle’s inherited Megson’s bunch of cloggers. Once he’s had the summer to make serious changes, we’ll be back to chasing Europe again. Surely relegation battles are a thing of the past? Aren’t they?
Maybe not. Our form after Christmas was relegation-standard, and the end of the season – five defeats on the bounce – was abysmal. It wouldn’t be the first time poor form at the end of one season has carried over to the next. Add to that our tough start to the season and it wouldn’t be a great surprise to see us rock-bottom after the first seven games. We’ll have easier runs to follow, but everything looks that bit tougher if you’re sat at the bottom and confidence may have taken a bit of a battering. › Continue reading
It’s Time to Have Stuart Hall Stuffed and Mounted
Monday, August 16th, 2010 | BWFC News, BWFC People, Johan Elmander | 4 Comments
A game between Bolton and Fulham was never likely to be a classic, this being the fifth 0-0 draw in ten fixtures between the sides at the Reebok. Maybe that’s why only 20,352 turned up for the first game of the season. Given the weather, there were more enjoyable things to do.
Expecting Owen Coyle to immediately transform Bolton’s dysfunctional game into something more dynamic would be foolish. He is after all, working mainly with the squad that his predecessor assembled in order to play dull football. But more evidence that he’s moving in the right direction is required.
The centre back pairing coped easily with Bobby Zamora, but the defence as a whole is still too easy to get behind, particularly on the side that should be occupied by Gretar Steinsson. Up front, the Whites were toothless, incapable of putting the opposition under sustained pressure.
The most damning criticism of Gary Megson, is that his players looked as if they were strangers to each other. After a pre-season with Coyle and a whole host of friendly games, little progress has been made in that department. Can we have some movement please?
A scoreless draw, against a side notoriously poor on their travels is not a satisfactory result (Fulham won one game and lost eleven away last season.) Especially with a difficult September to come in which the points tally is likely to be zero.
Worse was to come for those Wanderers fans who tuned into Five Live on the way home where the BBC demonstrated their continuing contempt for Bolton by giving the match summariser’s gig to Stuart Hall.
Hall is many things, an irritating wanker being one of them, but he’s no football reporter. The use of language is bad enough. It reminds you of On Again, On Again, the song that Jake Thackray wrote about his wife. › Continue reading
Oh Goody. Yet Another Bolton Pre-Season Preview
Friday, August 13th, 2010 | BWFC Goals, BWFC News, BWFC People, Kevin Davies, Lee Chung-Yong, Mark Davies, Matt Taylor, Owen Coyle, Phil Gartside, Premier League, Ricardo Gardner, Sam Allardyce | 1 Comment
Things couldn’t be more different. This time last year there was a collective gloom amongst Bolton fans. The previous season had ended with one win in eleven games, the summer signings were uninspiring and Gary Megson was still in charge.
There was an inevitability about the opening day defeat to Sunderland, which was far worse than the 1-0 score line suggested. That Steve Bruce’s men won only once more on their travels said it all.
St Owen of Lostock Acknowledges the Throng
This time round there’s a quiet optimism and it’s all due to one man. Owen Coyle arrived in January on a tidal wave of approval that’s yet to subside. Where Megson was dull and uninspiring, Coyle has the energetic enthusiasm of a new puppy. So much so, that you want to slap him sometimes. Putting so much faith in a manager with precisely one year’s top flight experience might not be the wisest thing, but what the hell, football supporters need hope.
Not many clubs have splashed money about in the transfer window. Bolton certainly haven’t. That’s because they haven’t got any. The much desired prolific goal scorer hasn’t arrived, but then only Nicolas Anelka and a pre-blubber Michael Ricketts, qualified for that description in the last decade, so it was always a forlorn hope.
Instead, there’s Robbie Blake, late of the unwashed hordes in Burnley. Blake’s a capable operator. It’s just a pity he’s older than God. But he may be a useful player to have on the bench, providing he doesn’t succumb to arthritis or senile dementia. Or have his zimmer frame nicked when the scallies from Liverpool come to visit.
Concessions have already been made to combat the advancing years. Drinks bottles for the other players contain Lucozade, laced with electrolytes. Robbie has Sanatogen in his. › Continue reading
The night I found Jesus
Sunday, February 7th, 2010 | Alan Gowling, BWFC Goals, BWFC News, BWFC People, Owen Coyle | 2 Comments
Come breezeblock, let us spread harmony amongst the forumites
Here’s a brilliant contribution from ‘breezeblock‘ a prolific poster on bwfcforum
I went to the Fulham game by train. I don’t do it very often because it’s quicker to drive and no-one complains about the smell on the M60. The trains were slightly messed up because of some essential repairs in Preston…probably having electricity or running water installed. Met up with Wayne and some of the old BWFC board regulars and had a couple of Australia’s finest auburn blush hops-based beverage served in a delightful polyethylene terephthalate decanter (Fosters in a plastic bottle). Would have been nice to have a pint at half time but the queue at 3.39pm was already fourteen deep and I gave up by 4.53pm when that number was down to seven deep. Not only does the beer taste like sheep dip but you have to suffer a similar queuing process as the animals themselves do.
13 things you (probably don’t) need to know about Chelsea and Bolton Wanderers
Saturday, April 11th, 2009 | BWFC News, BWFC People, Gary Megson, Gavin McCann, Kevin Davies | No Comments
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Your guide to all the pre-match predictions and Mystic Meggery ahead of Chelsea v Bolton Wanderers
Reasons to be cheerful…
1. Only Arsenal have a better record at Stamford Bridge than Bolton in recent years… in fact we have only lost once in our last five visits to Chelsea.
2. Kevin Davies isn’t too disappointed that his rumoured January move to Chelsea never materialised. In fact, he thought it was as funny as everyone else did.
12 things you (probably don’t) need to know about Bolton v Middlesbrough
Saturday, April 4th, 2009 | Andy O'Brien, BWFC News, BWFC People, Gary Megson, Kevin Davies, Mark Davies | No Comments
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Your guide to all the predictions and Mystic Meggery ahead of Bolton Wanderers v Middlesbrough
Reasons to be cheerful
1. Middlesbrough have far more injury concerns – Tuncay, Adam Johnson, Robert Huth to name a few – than Bolton, although Andy O’Brien will be back in contention for a place, so…
2. Boro are currently 19th in the Premier League, largely because they have failed to score in 10 of their last 13 league games.
3. Gareth Southgate’s men suffered a demoralising defeat at Stoke last time out.
It’s divide and rule at Bolton as Megson sends out more mixed messages
Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 | BWFC News, BWFC People, Gary Megson | No Comments
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The Bolton manager really does need to think before he speaks…
It’s been another bad PR week for Gary Megson. Not for the first time, the messages coming from the Bolton manager’s office have done little to help his already fragile relationship with Wanderers fans.
It all started with another round of booing, both during and after the 3-1 defeat to Fulham at the weekend.
Bolton 1-3 Fulham: What the papers say
Monday, March 16th, 2009 | Andy O'Brien, BWFC News, BWFC People, Gary Megson, Gavin McCann | No Comments
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How the national press reported Bolton’s 3-1 home defeat to Fulham
The Guardian‘s match report focuses on Gary Megson berating Andy O’Brien and Gavin McCann for their woeful performances. As ever with Megson, though, there was a little bit of left-over criticism for the fans:
By the sound of it you’d think we had taken over Real Madrid, and there’d never been a poor performance here before.
Bolton 1-3 Fulham: The fans’ view
Monday, March 16th, 2009 | Andy O'Brien, BWFC News, BWFC People, Chris Basham, Ebi Smolarek, Gary Cahill, Gary Megson, Gavin McCann, Jussi Jaaskelainen, Mark Davies | No Comments
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The Bolton Wanderers match report you won’t read in the papers (or see on Match of the Day)
Here’s what the various Bolton Wanderers discussion forums made of the 3-1 home defeat to Fulham on Saturday…
Positives
- “It was just a bad day at the office. There are no major problems.”
- “Gary Cahill had a good game considering who he was playing next to, he was Man of the Match” … “and Mark Davies played well too.”
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