Bolton Wanderers Hall of Fame #4: Phil Brown

Saturday November 8th, 2008

The future’s orange, the future’s Phil Brown…

Bolton Wanderers play Hull City this afternoon and the contrast between the two clubs couldn’t be more marked.

Bolton: fighting relegation, playing with fear, in decline, struggling to keep the faith of disillusioned fans.

Hull: Riding high in the Premier League, in the ascendancy, full of confidence, living the dream.

The reason for these differences is pretty clear: Bolton Wanderers are managed by Gary Megson (dull, confrontational, uninspiring); Hull City are managed by Phil Brown (interesting, engaging, full of personality and verve).

Phil Brown's latest team bonding initiative at Hull. Picture courtesy of epugachev, some rights reserved

One manager has inspired his team to believe that anything is possible, the other has created a culture of negativity and low expectations.

This week Brown has been carefully denying he wants to leave Hull for his ’spiritual home’ Bolton, without actually saying he definitely wouldn’t want the job should Gary Megson get sacked (I believe they call this a non-denial denial).

Let’s just hope his comments about Phil Gartside – claiming he left for Derby under a cloud because the chairman failed to guarantee him a shot at the manager’s job when Sam Allardyce left – haven’t made it impossible for him to return to the Wanderers while Gartside is still in charge.

Because it’s been pretty clear for a while now that the future of Bolton Wanderers is the orange of Brown’s fake suntan rather than the orange of Megson’s hair.

Share this on Facebook or Twitter: