ManchesterUnited
Bolton v Birmingham – Part Two: Post War Years
Thursday, May 6th, 2010 | BWFC Goals, BWFC News, BWFC People, Football Association, Premier League | No Comments
BWFCforum’s resident anorak Wakey continues the decade-by-decade review of the league history of Bolton and Sunday’s visitors Birmingham, covering the period 1940 to 1989.
Trevor Francis lines up for his league debut
1940-1949
The resumption of the league programme saw only three completed seasons in the 1940’s. Bolton struggled in the bottom half in all three, and were 19th best overall, whilst Birmingham – relegated in 1939 – missed out on promotion in 1947 before winning the Second Division the next year and finishing 17th in 1949, leaving them with the 22nd best average league position for the period.
Manchester United were top dogs, finishing 2nd in each of the three seasons, with Villa 6th, with league finishes of 8th, 6th, and 10th.
1950-59
The 1950’s were another successful period for Bolton, spending the entire decade in the top flight, enjoying five top ten finishes and two FA Cup Finals, including the 1958 win over the post-Munich Busby Babes. Over the decade, Bolton were the seventh best league side, although this was to precede four decades that were to see Bolton drop down the leagues and back up again twice.
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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.
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Time to ‘get real’ about Bolton Wanderers. Here goes…
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010 | BWFC News, Gary Megson, Owen Coyle | 10 Comments
Keeping it real, unless you're a journalist of course (via nimish gogri)
Keeping it real, unless you're a journalist of course (via nimish gogri)
Football fans will ‘get real’ when journalists do too…
Disliking Bolton Wanderers has become default mode for most journalists and pundits these days. Their main problems with us are that we bullied Gary Megson out of a job and have ideas above our station when it comes to what we think our team should be capable of.
The first point has been covered at length on this site, but I will just link to a comment I left on this article, which repeated the misleading argument that results had nothing to do with Megson’s sacking. I added a bit of realism.
On the second, am I the only person who finds it incredibly ironic that Sky and the newspapers, who have spent the last 15 years hyping the ‘promise land’ of the Premier League, are now telling us that we should ‘get real’?
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Alex Ferguson doesn’t give a toss about Gary Megson
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 | BWFC News, BWFC People, Gary Megson | No Comments
Alex Ferguson goes in to hiding after hearing Gary Megson thinks they're mates now. Pic from tpower1978
Alex Ferguson goes in to hiding after hearing Gary Megson thinks they're mates now. Pic from tpower1978
The Bolton News falls for the United boss’ mind games
I Twittered last night about the appalling levels of hypocrisy on Five Live Sport, who went seamlessly from talking about how out of order football fans are for abusing players to then justifying Alex Ferguson’s abuse of referee Alan Wiley.
But Five Live aren’t the only ones who’ve swallowed Fergie’s spin.
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Manchester United 2-1 Bolton Wanderers: Video highlights
Saturday, October 17th, 2009 | BWFC Goals, Matt Taylor | No Comments
For those who’d rather not watch Match of the Day
Goals from the Wanderers 2-1 defeat to United at Old Trafford today, although sadly minus Matt Taylor’s consolation for the time being (I’m working on it)…
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Gary Megson is kissing the wrong backsides
Friday, October 16th, 2009 | BWFC News, Gary Megson | No Comments
A young Gary Megson prepares for later life with foot in mouth, pic from Qole Pejorian
A young Gary Megson prepares for later life with foot in mouth, pic from Qole Pejorian
The Bolton Wanderers manager should concentrate on brown-nosing fans, not Alex Ferguson
If there’s a Gary Megson interview taking place in the national media these days, you can guarantee that one of the questions on the journalists’ list will be something along the lines of: “So Gary, how does it feel to be hated by your own fans?”
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Sky targets Bolton Wanderers fans with new version of ad campaign
Saturday, September 12th, 2009 | BWFC News | 3 Comments
How Sky’s Premier League marketing campaign would look in the real world
We know how you feel about supporting Bolton Wanderers, because we feel the same (Image courtesy of ElPablo)
Sky’s subtle and understated-as-ever marketing campaign for their Premier League coverage this season is a series of TV adverts and posters featuring the line ‘we know how you feel about football, because we feel the same.’
Leaving aside the rather patronising assumption that all football fans are replica-shirt wearing, 606-calling halfwits (OK, a lot are), the other problem with these ads is that they’re too general, aimed at fans of every club without thought for the fundamental differences in the emotional make-up of fans of clubs as diverse as, let’s say, Bolton and Manchester United.
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Give this man a job on Match of the Day
Friday, September 11th, 2009 | BWFC News, BWFC People, Gary Megson | 1 Comment
The Fuhrer gets ready for Megson's backlash. Pic from Freenerd
Gary Megson becomes Hitler’s latest victim
The latest internet craze is a series of videos posted on You Tube in which Hitler gives his verdict on topical events.
So far the Fuhrer has delivered damning verdicts on, amongst many other things: Michael Jackson, Usain Bolt, Oasis splitting up, Cristiano Ronaldo leaving Manchester United and – in the ultimate parody – the video craze itself.
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Are the vultures circling for Gary Megson already?
Monday, August 17th, 2009 | BWFC News, BWFC People, Gary Megson, Phil Gartside | 15 Comments
Manny Road gets ready for battle (Pic: Gidzy, some rights reserved)
Manny Road gets ready for battle (Pic: Gidzy, some rights reserved)
The media are looking for a victim and the Bolton Wanderers boss might not get such an easy ride this season
Disclaimer: Before we get started, it’s worth pointing out that in preparation for writing this post Manny Road has kitted up in full body armour in anticipation of the backlash likely to come my way. Manny Road is well aware that it’s a marathon not a sprint, that it was only one game, and that but for the legs of Marton Fulop we might well have got a point against Sunderland on Saturday.
So what’s my point? Why is Manny Road stoking the fires of negativity after just one game?
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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.
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