Bolton Wanderers Hall of Shame #8: Gary Megson – or is it me?

Thursday February 5th, 2009

Is Gary Megson the villain, or is it fans like me?

Here’s what I said about Gary Megson on the Unofficial Bolton Wanderers Podcast this week (click on the link below to download the MP3 file or alternatively the transcript is at the bottom of this post.)…

Manny Road on the Unofficial Bolton Wanderers Podcast

The gist is this… for the first time I decided to include a current Bolton Wanderers employee in the Hall of Shame: namely Gary Megson.

This wasn’t an easy decision. Like most fans, I want to support my team, and that includes the manager as well as the players.

I’m also aware that in spite of the abuse thrown at Megson at Blackburn last week, there are a significant number of fans who support him, think he’s doing a good and who think that fans like me should get off his back.

If that’s what you think, then please do state your case in the comment box below. Here’s why I think you’re wrong…

I’ve made it abundantly clear over the last few months that I don’t believe Megson is the right man to manage Bolton. Yes, he’s doing OK – kept us up, has brought in two or three good players etc – but for me it’s not just about results on the pitch or league position.

They’re the things that pundits use to analyse the game (see Stan Collymore here). A supporter’s relationship with his/her club is much more complicated.

It’s about feeling like a part of something. It’s about waking up on a Saturday morning excited at the thought of going to see your team play (even though you know they’re not that good). It’s about feeling like the guys in the white shirts and the man on the touchline in charge of them care just as much as you do… that they’re on your side. They have to embody your irrational emotional attachment.

That’s why Liverpool fans stick by Rafa Benitez even when he wastes money on Robbie Keane. It’s why Arsenal fans continue to support Arsene Wenger, even though the trophies have dried up.

Gary Megson is completely unable to stir any of these emotions in me. Whether it’s the style of play, his comments in the press, his poor track record as a manager, I don’t know. But for whatever reason, he’s sucked the strange and unexplainable joy out of supporting Bolton Wanderers.

He also seems hell bent on creating division. Yes, the fans started. Yes, we never gave him a chance. But nor has Megson ever done enough – on the field partly (Sporting Lisbon springs to mind), but mainly off it (his “pathetic” comments are not the first time he’s slagged off the fans)  – to win his detractors over.

In fact, with his comments last week, he probably made it impossible to ever win them over.

As I said on the podcast, I wouldn’t join in with negative chants towards Megson… and certainly not when the team is 2-1 up, it’s just counter-productive. But when the team is performing as badly as it did at Tottenham earlier this season, I can understand why fans vent their frustration.

And ultimately, what other way have they got to make their feelings known? Should fans just keep on backing their team whatever happens, or if there’s something fundamentally wrong with the club should they seek to change it? I believe it is the latter… although I appreciate that it’s a fine line between showing concern and being self-destructive.

Whatever happens for the rest of this season (I think Megson will probably keep us up fairly comfortably), it is now abundantly clear to me that he has to go in the summer, for the emotional wellbeing of club as much as anything else.

Was I wrong to put Gary Megson in the Hall of Shame? Have your say in the comments below.

Download the latest episode of the Unofficial Bolton Wanderers Podcast in full here.

Here’s what I said on the podcast in full…

“For this month’s Hall of Shame I’m breaking the mould a little bit. I’ve always said before that I would never include anyone currently employed by the club, but I’m recording this just a few hours after it emerged that Gary Megson has labelled Bolton fans “pathetic” following another round of negative chanting aimed at him during the draw at Blackburn last night.

I know that a lot of people think that negative chanting by fans is wrong and personally it’s something I would never do… buy I can understand why others do.

The bottom line, though, is that no matter what the fans throw at you – and whatever the rights and wrongs of that are – you should never turn round and call them pathetic, quite simply because it’s the fans that pay the manager’s wages, and without the fans Bolton Wanderers would be nothing but a pub team.

For me this is unforgivable, especially as it seems like Megson is constantly trying to drive a wedge between the players and the fans.

Most managers would rather soak up the criticism themselves to protect the players, but Megson seems happy to blame anyone but himself.

And that’s why he’s in my Hall of Shame. All we need now is for him to get sacked so that I don’t feel so bad about it.”

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10 Comments to Bolton Wanderers Hall of Shame #8: Gary Megson – or is it me?

neil lofthouse
February 5, 2009

here here megson will never be more than a second man on the line. he is not good enough for the premier league, he has no concept of how to use substitutes although he has a full bench of fit players, the man is a moron who is running the club and the fans into the ground.

Andy W
February 5, 2009

It’s you. Look, this isn’t a fan’s forum. It’s one person giving their opinion. Which is fine. However, you are wrong in this. Gary Megson is building a team and a squad for the future, something that we haven’t done in years. What did Sam, for all his success, leave as a legacy? Loads of young players coming through? A scouting network second to none? A superb backroom facility? The answer is none of these. in the first instance he was more willing to bring in foreign players than develop the academy. In the second instance, once Jack Chapman left, our scouting was non-existant. And for the final point, under Sam we had a great backroom staff but he took them all away with him when he left for Newcastle (after saying he wouldn’t). If Megson is developing an improved academy system (and see how many younger players he’s already used), developing a long lasting scouting network that isn’t dependent upon one man and develops behind a backroom that is the envy of other clubs, you and other moaning fans should be able to see the benefits of all that.

Phil D
February 5, 2009

The trouble with fans that dont back megson is that they havent got the intelligence to understand how finances run a football club.
Megson is slowly but surely building a better squad given the transfer kitty and wage budgets he has to work with .
I SUGGEST WE ALL GIVE HIM A CHANCE rather than showing the rest of the premiership our inability to get behind our team and manager .
I was at blackburn and couldnt believe how fickle and stupid some af the fans were . It was plain to see that megson was trying to get his back four not to defend so deep but they didnt listen .
GET BEHIND THE WHITES BEFORE WE BECOME A LAUGHING STOCK.

booboo
February 5, 2009

Andy W, I agree with you.
It’s been well documented we were rubbish in at least the last 12 months of Sam’s reign. Yes he had that aura and fans felt that he had the best interests of the football club at heart…..but did he in the end? One spat with Gartside and he throws his toys out of the pram and tries to dismantle what he built after he left!
We were (wrongly) lambasted for our negative style of football under allardyce by a biased/jealous london media but the real fans will know that despite our relative success with him, the football was rarely exciting to watch compared to Rioch’s team. Super jon, tomo, curcic etc.
I feel for Megson. He has done well for us considering lots of premier league clubs are now owed by billionnaires and despite ediie’s backing we cannot compete at that level. He’s no Mourinho or Ferguson but along with Bruce he’s the best English mam
nage rin the league…..just my opinion though. Please lets just get behind him. If we push him out wewill get relegated anyway and who do you think we will realistically get that can give is success, exciting football, good media/fan realtionship and passion to BWFC all in one? I can’t think of anyone

Kushal
February 5, 2009

I agree with the above two posters… I would not like Megson to get sacked at this point and time… He has started building his own team and the players enjoy playing under him, a change in the management would be devastating for the club at this point and time. The fact is, he did bring in some quality players who seem to like him (along with our existing players). He is also building a team for the future, which Allardyce never tried to do.

It’s not just about the players he bring in, he is also making us a hard working team, with all the players in the squad willing to run up and down the posts for the team! I and many like me (who pledged to support the club through thick and thin) are still excited about “waking up” in the morning and being excited about Bolton Wanderers Football Club.

Maybe it’s you who has the problem, that you don’t feel excited about our current management.

Chop and changes in a club would take us down. It’s never good to sack managers and expect the team to keep performing. Newcastle and Spurs are 2 examples of what happens when you have a revolving door policy when it comes to management! Both of the teams are under performing by their own standards.

TRUST Megson and the only way possible is up tables… By your admission, we are going to finish above compared to last season… :-)

happypete
February 5, 2009

booboo – Owen Coyle.
And if Megson is planning and building for the future why doesn’t he come out and say so and try to build some rapport with the fans?

booboo
February 5, 2009

Owen coyle was half Scottish half Irish but I know what you mean happypete…a true wanderer. He is an up and coming British manager but they have been punished in the prem leage recently (Ince and soon to be Adams). There is no way we can succeed with him right now. He needs to earn his bacon…get promoted to the prem league and stay up (ie what megson has achieved with westbrom). only then can we take such a huge gamble on 9 years of club stability.

peter
February 5, 2009

yeh, you got it right !!its you mate !!theres always been people like you at bolton , back in the 50s it was dennis stevens , he was driven out , went on to win the league the fa cup and played for england . the last boo boy was pederson , you made his life hell too.get over sam hes gone , he lost all confidence from the board , the men with the dosh , megson doing o.k the board trust him and team spirit is magnificent, see standing ovation for young davies , what a find, get off all our backs

Adrian
February 6, 2009

Give Megson a chance, true he has the personality of a wet sponge but I don’t think that anybody can argue against the fact that he has brought in players that have improved the squad.Fat Sam brought in the one season wonders Jay Jay and Le God all towards the very end of their career and certainly not long term investments but he left with a team that was going nowhere but down. Time will tell but its not as if we are ever going to get a Mourinho mangaing us so give him a chance. It could be worse Sammy Lee could come back !

Mike
February 6, 2009

The whole style of play thing is a poor excuse. If anything the quality of football has improved (and by a fair bit in my opinion), how many goals have we scored through some brilliant passing moves? Both against City spring to mind.

Megson was spot on. The fans singing “Ginger Mourinho”, then “Gary Megson, you’re a Barclays Banker” at Ewood ARE pathetic. His ‘pathetic’ comment wasn’t directed at the likes of you, who don’t like him and boo him at any given opportunity. I think most people who think Megson’s doing a good/decent/passable (delete as appropriate) job, agree with his comments entirely.

And if he said he was building for the future, you know people will moan with things like needed experienced (read ‘old’) players if we want to stay up/go to Europe. Poor old Gary is damned if he does, and damned if he doesn’t.

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