TheBoltonNews

Roll up, roll up….. Guest Bloggers wanted….

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010 | BWFC News, Marc Iles, Richard McCormick | No Comments

MannyRoad, is opening its famous doors to any and all budding Bloggers….! You don’t have to be a Richard McCormick (he’s already here) or a Marc Iles… Just put your feelings and thoughts about BWFC or football in general down and send them to us… don’t worry if you’re not a keyboard wizard, articles can be tidied up if need be.

The same applies if you have an idea for an article, but don’t feel up to writing it. Let us know what you have in mind and we’ll see what we can do.

Just contact us with your email address and we’ll get back to you…!

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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

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Spurs v Bolton – How the pendulum has swung…?

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010 | BWFC Goals, BWFC News, BWFC People, Eidur Gudjohnsen, Gary Cahill, Gary Megson, Gudni Bergsson, Jay-Jay Okocha, Owen Coyle, Premier League, Sam Allardyce | 16 Comments

This weekend sees Bolton travel to White Hart Lane, and a clash between two famous old clubs that have 16 FA Cup

how times have changed

Finals (12 wins) and a combined total of 146 years of top-flight football between them, not to mention Spurs’ 4 League Cup wins, and 4 European trophies.

Recent history has been very different for the two clubs, with Spurs only spending one year out of the top flight since 1950, whilst Bolton have dropped through the leagues and back twice in the same period. However, looking further back in history paints a different picture of the two clubs.

Prior to 1950, Spurs had spent as much time in the Second Division as the First, and their only FA Cup win had come as a non-league club in 1901. Bolton had already won the cup three times, been runners-up twice, and spent the vast majority of their history in the top flight.

The abolition of the maximum wage in 1961 changed the football landscape at the time, and Bolton’s decline from this point onwards was dramatic and prolonged.

By the end of the 1959/60 season, Bolton were historically England’s 5th most successful club, based on average league position. At the same point, despite one league title success, Spurs were the 20th best team.

By the end of 2008, Spurs – by now winners of the FA Cup eight times, the League Cup four times, and four European trophies – had moved up to seventh in the table of overall average league positions, whilst Bolton had failed to add to trophy cabinet, had spent more time out of the top flight than in it, and slipped to 21st in the overall average league table.

In anticipation of the weekend’s clash, bwfcforum’s Statman takes a closer look at the history of the two clubs for Manny Road. › Continue reading

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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"

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.

› Continue reading

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A tribute to Gary Megson

Thursday, December 31st, 2009 | BWFC News, BWFC People, Gary Megson | 1 Comment

The morning after the night before…

With the celebratory hangover now slowly healing, Manny Road would like to pay this tribute to former Bolton Wanderers manager (how good does that feel?) Gary Megson…

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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 theyre 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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Bolton Wanderers fans should be seen and not heard

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 | BWFC News, BWFC People, Gary Megson, Nicolas Anelka | 5 Comments

Pay your money, site down, shut up and enjoy the one-way ride to mediocrity...

Pay your money, sit down, shut up and enjoy the one-way ride to mediocrity...

Gary Megson’s supporters in the media are totally missing the point

Something’s been puzzling me for a while. Why are the media so keen to criticise Bolton fans for our treatment of Gary Megson?

In some of my previous posts I’ve suggested that it’s caused by people who have no emotional (and therefore irrational) attachment to the club finding it impossible to fully understand how Megson has undermined the spirit that has been slowly built over the last 15-20 years.

But after reading some of the reports of the latest Megson hate-in, against Stoke at the Reebok on Saturday, I’ve come up with another theory.

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Sex, pies and videotape… but not much Bolton Wanderers

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009 | BWFC News, BWFC People, Gary Megson, Gavin McCann, Tony Kelly | 5 Comments

Gary Megson unveils his latest signing (vieux bandit, some rights reserved)

Gary Megson unveils his latest signing (Pic: vieux bandit, some rights reserved)

Let’s play spot the Wanderers… in (extremely unofficial) association with The Bolton News

The Bolton News has had a bit of a redesign recently. Nothing radical, just a few tweaks here and there and some new fonts. One thing that hasn’t changed is the lack of prominence given to the Wanderers in the site’s navigation.

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Children of Bolton, look away now

Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 | BWFC News, BWFC People, Jussi Jaaskelainen | 4 Comments

The Bolton News should be ashamed of itself for condoning such terrible photography

Now this is a picture (from abudardak, some rights reserved)

Now this is a picture (from abudardak, some rights reserved)

Violence is a cancer that has long afflicted football, and sadly we got a glimpse of it again at the weekend when fighting broke out between rival gangs of Wanderers and Hibernian fans following Jussi Jaaskelainen’s testimonial.

Worse still, it appears that as well as their inability to get on swimmingly with each other, football fans are not very good at citizen journalism either.

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Pedro finds another hole in Bolton Wanderers’ season tickets PR

Monday, August 3rd, 2009 | BWFC News, Gareth Moores, Gary Megson | 15 Comments

Pedro gets ready for another trip to the Reebok (from clurr, some rights reserved)

Pedro gets ready for another trip to the Reebok (from clurr, some rights reserved)

Will the Reebok Stadium be a lonely place for BWFC season ticket holders next season?

I wrote over a month ago about the rather vague positive news coming out of the club regarding season ticket sales this summer. The club seemed extremely keen to reassure fans that they wouldn’t be alone at the Reebok next season.

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