Wolves
Bolton Wanderers 2011 – The Year of the Un-Coyled
Sunday, January 1st, 2012 | BWFC Goals, BWFC People, Lee Chung-Yong, Nat Lofthouse, Phil Gartside | 3 Comments
And so 2011 ends. A year in which Bolton started in sixth position in the Premier League, and finished in bottom place, needing close to a miracle to avoid relegation.
Mark Davies gets to grips with his defensive duties.
The last game, a home draw against fellow strugglers Wolves has aroused much anger, but there were signs of things on which to build. Owen Coyle’s side moved the ball around well at times and in recent outings Mark Davies has at last started to fulfil his potential as a creative midfielder, as well as improving his tracking back and tackling.
But the same defensive frailties remain and there is a lack of fire power up front, to which David N’Gog isn’t the answer, despite his other qualities. Even if the Wanderers put a consistent run of results together, there may simply be too much to do.
Off the field, things have been at least as bad. Burnden Leisure PLC, the parent company of Bolton Wanderers announced losses of £26 million bringing the total debt to £110 million. Some parties did well out of it. Moonshift Investments, a company controlled by club owner Eddie Davies which provides loan facilities, took £5 million in interest payments and is owed a £2.8 million ‘player success fee’. › 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
Will the Real Bolton Wanderers Please Stand Up?
Wednesday, May 25th, 2011 | BWFC Goals, BWFC News, BWFC People, Owen Coyle, Stuart Holden, Zat Knight | 6 Comments
And so it ends. A season of thrilling highs and crushing lows; flowing football and the Megsonesque; stirring fightbacks and feeble surrenders; fine home form but the worst away record in the league. Will the real Bolton Wanderers please stand up?
The campaign has ended with a small black cloud hanging over the Reebok and a genuine fear amongst fans of what might happen next time around, after five defeats on the bounce and a disastrous last day that saw the club drop five places in the Premiership and lose over £4 million in bonuses.
Martin Petrov finishes off Spurs, eight seconds after the ball had been on the edge of Bolton's penalty area.
It seems a long time ago that the Whites were sweeping aside Spurs, Wolves and Newcastle in quick succession with the sort of pass and move football that supporters had been longing to see. The roar of anticipation as the side broke from defence hadn’t been heard since the promotion season of 1997.
There were special goals too, the result of both individual and collective brilliance. Johan Elmander’s triple turn on a sixpence at Wolves that left four defenders needing to have their internal organs unplaited; Stuart Holden finishing off a move involving twelve passes in the same game; Mark Davies starting and finishing a move that saw a late equaliser against Blackpool; Elmander skipping around Newcastle goalkeeper Tim Krul to complete a passing sequence that started on the half-way line; Holden’s half volley at home to Blackburn that put a stop to Sam Allardyce’s victory jig on the touchline, and his managerial tenure at that club.
Lee heads the winner at Birmingham. It was going to be our year.
The FA Cup run was long overdue and much appreciated, even if it did end in disaster. Beating three Premier League teams away from the Reebok is no mean feat, and victory at Birmingham City was the best away day Wanderers fans had had in years.
After beating Newcastle, there was a slump in form and another, more significant one, in the final games. In both cases, Stuart Holden’s absence was the key factor. The American’s astute reading of the game and his ability in recovering possession after his colleagues had lost it, covered up a major problem with Bolton’s midfield organisation. There wasn’t any.
Failing to deprive the opposition of space in that vital area isn’t a luxury that any top flight side can afford, yet Owen Coyle didn’t come anywhere near to remedying the problem. Coyle has a different idea of how football should be played than Sam Allardyce, but he could learn a thing or two in that respect, from the man who used to occupy his chair.
The manager’s persistence with Zat Knight at the expense of David Wheater was also a puzzle, as the new signing seemed to gel better with the rest of the defence. One wondered if Knight had footage of the supposedly tee-total Scot doing unnatural things with the club mascot, whilst swigging from a bottle of Buckfast.
Oh no it wasn't.
After events of the last couple of months, the Bolton boss doesn’t quite have the God-like status he enjoyed before, with some wondering if he is too inflexible to be a truly great manager. Time will tell no doubt, especially if he is afforded the funds to make the squad truly his own over the summer months.
The habit of gifting points to teams in desperate need of them was seriously irritating, the worst instance being the visit of Sunderland. The Wearsiders hadn’t scored away from home since January when they arrived at the Reebok in May, and had no recognised strikers available. So there was a grim inevitability about their 2-1 win, with Bolo Zenden running the show after stopping off for his pension on the way to the game.
Liverpool under Roy Hodgson were the worst they’d been for decades, yet secured two wins. Chelsea were in dismal form on meeting the Whites but managed the same. Relegation threatened Blackburn were grateful for the easy three points at Ewood Park after not winning for months, as were Blackpool at Bloomfield Road, although it wasn’t enough to save them.
Has there been progress overall? It can be argued either way. More points have been gained than last term, with fewer goals conceded and the highest number scored since Bolton returned to the Premier League in 2001. Yet the finishing position is exactly the same as last year and one place lower than Gary Megson managed in his one full season.
There has been a glimpse of what Bolton Wanderers could be, tempered by harsh reality that comes from a squad lacking in depth. The season may be over, but the next mission, one that involves building a side to compete at the top level for an eleventh straight year is already underway.
- Richard McCormick
Jussi Jaaskelainen and the Black Bin Bag
Thursday, February 3rd, 2011 | BWFC News | 3 Comments
Last night’s game between Bolton Wanderers and Wolves was only a few minutes old when home goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen faced a dilemma. A black bin bag had appeared just outside his penalty area. Where the item came from hasn’t yet been discovered. Both Asda and Tesco have outlets on the nearby Middlebrook shopping complex, but so far, neither store has claimed responsibility.
Is this your bin bag? If so, it's not too late to claim it.
Jaaskelainen isn’t accustomed to advancing off his goal line, so it took a measure of bravery to deal with the situation. The former Finland international approached carefully – today’s bin bags move much more in the air than their counterparts from years gone by, and the evening was windy. Then in a rare moment of stillness he made a clean take, bundling the bag into a small, manageable ball.
From here, the Whites stopper had one more thing to do. Disposing of the bag himself, might have left him open to a charge of time wasting, so he wisely handed it to match referee Peter Walton.
Northampton based Walton, an experienced operator, now had his own decision to make. Did he put the bag in his pocket, alongside the signed photograph of Sir Alex Ferguson that all Premier League referees are obliged to carry, or would it be better to get rid of it altogether? After considering the options he chose the latter and jogged to the touchline, handing the offending article to a fat bloke off Bolton’s coaching staff. The home fans breathed a sigh of relief.
What happens now is still to be determined. Initially the plan was to put the bag in a bin, with the rest of the rubbish, where it would have probably ended up as land-fill. However, this was without the intervention of Phil Gartside. In his spare time the Bolton Chairman is a keen eco warrior and can often be seen swinging through the trees or digging tunnels at sites of great natural beauty that are under threat.
The bag will now be tested for biodegradability, and if it meets the required standard will be buried in a special area at the Reebok, reserved for such items – The Johan Elmander Memorial Garden for Ineffective Flapping Objects.
On other, lesser, web sites you would have read about a dreary, error prone encounter between two teams, one witless, the other thuggish, but on Manny Road, we feel an obligation to draw attention to rare moments of competence.
Footnote: Bolton won 1-0 as debutante Daniel Sturridge stabbed the ball home in the final minute of added time, after receiving of the best pass of the night. That he was played in by a member of the opposition said it all.
- Richard McCormick
It’s Time for Owen Coyle to Earn His Money
Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011 | BWFC Goals, BWFC People, Johan Elmander, John McGinlay, Mark Davies, Owen Coyle | 1 Comment
Bolton take on Wolves at the Reebok Stadium tonight with a section of the home support close to panic. It’s not surprising. Since thumping Newcastle over two months ago, the Whites haven’t played well and the last two games have seen a gutless loss to Chelsea, and a failure to beat Wigan reserves in the FA Cup.
John 'Popular in Wolverhampton' McGinlay
No one realistically expected Owen Coyle’s men to maintain the heights reached in November, but the difference in the level of performance is striking. The team has been toothless up front, disorganised in midfield and shambolic at the back. Most worrying is the complete evaporation of confidence, given that the man in charge is famed for his powers of motivation. There’s even been a new word coined to describe the situation. It’s ‘Megsonesque’, appearing in a dictionary near you soon.
Coyle has the chance to freshen things up after acquiring two new players in the transfer window. Both Gary Cahill and Zat Knight have their qualities, but as a unit they don’t work, so the arrival of David Wheater is welcome.
Up front, Kevin Davies looks old and Johan Elmander is still in a sulk that started when his contract negotiations broke down. It hasn’t occurred to the Swede that he’s still being rewarded handsomely for his lack of effort. Given that, Daniel Sturridge, on loan from Chelsea ought to start.
Johan 'I Can't be Arsed Anymore' Elmander
But it’s in midfield where the main problems lie. Matt Taylor doesn’t work on the right, Martin Petrov doesn’t work at all, Stuart Holden has suffered injuries and Fabrice Muamba relapsed to his gormless worst. The only player to emerge from that area with credit of late is Mark Davies.
Wolves are on odd side, inconsistent and physical to the point of being psychotic. But there’s a better reason to dislike them: They’re Wolves.
There’s never been much love lost between supporters of the two clubs, but things intensified in the 1990s, as Bolton won promotion to the Premier League at the expense of the Dingles, as they’re known to fans of near neighbours West Brom. Hopefully John McGinlay will be wheeled out at some point in tonight’s proceedings and club mascot Lofty the Lion will have a target pinned to his chest so that the visiting scrubbers can throw pies at him again. Ain’t nostalgia great?
The Wanderers (the real ones) have slipped into the bottom half of the table and need three points from this game. An early goal will help as will forward play that involves more than sending the ball down the channels and then hoofing it into the penalty area to no one in particular.
Bolton aren’t as good as they appeared to be late last year, but they aren’t as bad as they seem now. They should certainly have enough to see off Mick McCarthy’s side. With difficult games to come, a failure to do that could have heavy consequences. It’s time for Owen Coyle to earn his money.
- Richard McCormick
‘It’s Stuart Holden…and it’s Fantastic!’
Tuesday, November 16th, 2010 | BWFC Goals, BWFC People, Stuart Holden | No Comments
The words came from a match commentator on Saturday’s game at Wolves, as Bolton’s favourite US import rifled home his first league goal for the Whites.
That tribute to a flowing move was well deserved. Holden dispatched Lee Chung-Yong’s finely-angled cut-back with aplomb, the Korean having received the ball from the sweetest of threaded passes by Kevin Davies. (The bit in bold is for the benefit of Fabio Capello, if he can tear himself away from the Daily Mail.)
But then the words ‘Stuart’, ‘Holden’ and ‘fantastic’ are easy companions in the same sentence. If there’s been a better midfield performer in the Premier League this season, it isn’t obvious who.
The former Houston Dynamo player joined Bolton in January of this year and although his season was cut short by the psychopathic Nigel De Jong whilst on international duty, he secured a three-year contract a few months later. To date, it’s Owen Coyle’s best piece of business.
Some doubted the American at first – including this writer. He seemed lightweight, easily bundled off the ball and prone to running into blind alleys. But the way he has adapted to a faster, more physical game than he was used to is impressive. ‘There’s only one Stuart Holden’ may be a convenient chant, but it could be wrong. You wonder sometimes, if the American has managed to clone himself, such is his ability to appear as if in more than one place at the same time.
The stats back up that impression. No Premier League player has made more tackles this season, and for someone so much involved, he commits few fouls.
'Nice turn Elmo, but my goal had more passes'
Having wrapped up the defensive side of things, Holden has been getting forward more of late, and if his contribution at Molineux is anything to go by, there are juicy times ahead. Johan Elmander has been rightly lauded for his exquisite finish for the second goal, but it was Holden’s late, driving run into the penalty area that produced the opportunity. Much merriment was had when Richard Stearman headed past his own goalkeeper after less than a minute, but who gave Lee-Chung Yong the ball to cross? Yup.
Wanderers fans are a little conflicted at present. The points and the league position are most welcome, and the manner in which they’ve been achieved has even the most die-hard anti-Bolton hacks rewriting their copy. But there’s the prospect of a team that’s starting to gel being dismantled as the club hierarchy seek to find a way of reducing that whopping £93 million debt.
The prime candidates for departure are Elmander and Gary Cahill, but it may be someone else who is first to leave. If Stuart Holden’s time at the Reebok proves to be as short as it’s been sparkling, no one who has seen him play will be the least bit surprised.
- Richard McCormick
Has Al-Habsi’s Move to Wigan Been Scuppered?
Monday, August 30th, 2010 | Adam Bogdan, Ali Al-Habsi, BWFC People, John McGinlay, Jussi Jaaskelainen | 2 Comments
The loan of Ali Al Habsi to Wigan Athletic was seen as beneficial to all parties. It gave the player a chance of first team football, eased the load on Bolton’s wage bill and provided Wigan with a goalkeeper who wasn’t:
a) Always injured
b) Crap
Yes, Chris Kirkland, that’s you we’re talking about.
However, there have been a couple of snags. After being roundly thrashed by Blackpool and Chelsea, Roberto Martinez’s side were expected to go the same way at Spurs. Instead they scored an unlikely victory and the big Omani stopper performed heroically to keep a clean sheet for the second time in five days.
Wigan. Clean sheet. Same paragraph. Doesn’t compute does it?
Agent Al-Habsi appears to have misunderstood his instructions. He was supposed to keep the result respectable, not stop the other lot scoring altogether.
Secondly, events at the Reebok on Sunday, have got some fans in a panic, frantically calling for Bolton’s reserve ‘keeper to be recalled. Jussi Jaaskelainen will receive a three match ban for violent conduct after giving Roger Johnson what John McGinlay might have described as a ‘wee push’, albeit in a somewhat girly fashion. › Continue reading
Reebok round-up (16.02.09)
Monday, February 16th, 2009 | Ali Al-Habsi, BWFC News, BWFC People, Danny Shittu, Gary Megson, Jlloyd Samuel, Johan Elmander, Kevin Davies, Mark Davies, Matt Taylor, Nat Lofthouse | No Comments
What Manny Road has been reading (and thinking) about Bolton Wanderers
Reebok Round-Up (06.02.09)
Friday, February 6th, 2009 | BWFC News, BWFC People, El-Hadji Diouf, Gary Megson, Kevin Davies, Mark Davies, Matt Taylor, Sebastien Puygrenier, Youri Djorkaeff | No Comments
What Manny Road has been reading about Bolton Wanderers over the last week or so
Wanderers window shopping dispatch #3: Is that the sound of a barrel being scraped?
Sunday, January 25th, 2009 | BWFC News, Danny Shittu, Jlloyd Samuel, Ricardo Vaz Te, Ricky Sbragia, Sam Allardyce, Sebastien Puygrenier, Tamir Cohen | 1 Comment
Image via Wikipedia
The ins, the outs and the shaking it all abouts at Bolton Wanderers this January transfer window
Ins
The Guardian estimates that we have £5 million to spend, which is why Joey Barton (thank God), Jimmy Bullard (another person who thinks Phil Brown is a better bet than Gary Megson) and several others (see shaking it all abouts below) will not be donning the white shirt any time soon.
Instead, Megson will be searching the bargain basement bucket for the remainder of this season’s January transfer window, for example…
Swindon Town striker Ian Cox is wanted by Bolton and, er Barnsley and Huddersfield (to be fair Spurs and Fulham are also being linked). Other cheap options could be Grant Leadbitter (Sunderland), Szabolcs Huszt (Hannover) and Mark Davies (Wolves).
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