Top 10 Bolton Wanderers player spots
Wednesday November 19th, 2008
Have you spotted a Bolton Wanderers player?
When not writing this blog I work at a digital publishing company at Oxford Circus in London, which is probably the busiest street corner in Britain. It’s not unusual to see the odd celeb hanging around. Some people in our office regularly see A-listers, but somehow my own celebrity spots always seem a little less glamorous. In the last few months they include Mark Foster (the Olympic swimmer who was rubbish on Strictly Come Dancing), the gobby girl off The Apprentice who got to the final but didn’t win (Claire?) and Bradley from Eastenders.
Of course back in the days when I lived in Bolton the only celebs I ever saw were Bolton Wanderers players. So here, for no another reason than seeing Wanderers players was more exciting than my Bradley encounter, are my top 10 Bolton Wanderers player spots (not including seeing them in football stadiums, obviously)…
1. Dean Holdsworth in Atlantis night club, the night after we lost to Ipswich in that infamous play-off semi-final in 2000. He stood out like a sore thumb because he was the only guy in the place wearing a suit and smoking a cigar. He looked pretty cool too, until he started doing the YMCA. This incident became known as Holdsworthgate amongst my friends, although I’m not sure what was more scandalous: the cigar, the YMCA or the fact he was out partying the night after such a devastating defeat.
2. Michael Johansen in Atlantis on the same night as Holdsworthgate. Paul Ritchie and Allan Johnston were also there but Johansen stood out because he was the only player who’d brought a bodyguard with him.
3. Ricardo Gardner, also in Atlantis on the night of Holdsworthgate. Gardner’s antics were notable for allowing a young lady to buy him drinks all night before getting in to a taxi and quickly shutting the door before she was able to get in.
4. Michael Ricketts driving up my arse and then cutting me up on the dual carriageway next to the Reebok, circa 2003.
5. Dave Higson in The Academy (a bar near the train station that was notorious for terrible bands – including my own – and allowing under agers to binge drink the night away). OK, so he wasn’t a player but in many ways this is the best of the lot. He told me that they’d offered him a regular slot on Match of the Day but he couldn’t do it because of his health problems (his sacking as the club’s commentator is still one of the most scandalous things the club ever did).
6. Fabian De Freitas wandering down Bradshawgate looking a little disappointed that more people weren’t recognising him (he had just scored two goals in the play-off final against Reading, after all).
7. Per Frandsen dropping his kids off at the well-to-do Clevelands School on Chorley New Road, circa 1998.
8. Radhi Jaidi loading up his car in Tesco car park, circa 2005 (Jaidi had parked his car correctly, unlike Jussi Jaaskelainen, who was spotted recently at Tesco parking in one of those bays that’s boxed off with yellow lines, just so he didn’t have to walk too far to the door).
9. Neil Cox standing outside Asda on Middlebrook reading a copy of The Bolton (Evening) News, circa 1999. I was later told by someone I worked with, who had known Cox in his Watford days, that he was obsessed with how much other players were being paid. I can only assume that he was checking the B(E)N for news of his team mates signing new contracts.
10. Robbie Elliott on various occasions (this one’s a bit of cheat because he lived at the end of my street).
If you’ve ever seen a Bolton Wanderers player out and about let me know in the comment box below.
And for those two young to own a Bolton Wanderers goals compliation commentated by Dave Higson, enjoy…
[youtube=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=u0zfV3WHYf0]
Allan Johnston, BWFC People, Dave Higson, Dean Holdsworth, Fabian De Freitas, Michael Johansen, Michael Ricketts, Neil Cox, Paul Ritchie, Per Frandsen, Radhi Jaidi, Ricardo Gardner, Robbie Elliott
2 Comments to Top 10 Bolton Wanderers player spots
i saw Fabian De Freitas at some club in Bolton called “Funky Monkey” or something, not long after the Reading game. i let him know in no uncertain terms that he’d been recognised but he didn;t seem too chuffed about it. i was gurning live a goon at the time though so..
TassietigerNovember 20, 2008
When working in Glasgow I popped out to buy a sandwich for lunch (about a 200yrd walk) and bumped into Andy Walker. He was playing for Celtic at the time (about to sign for Sheff Utd) we chatted for a few minutes. I think he was surprised to bump into a Wanderers fan on the top end of Sauchiehall Street.
Ironically I bumped into Glen McGrath today, he was just walking down the street. I know he doesn’t play for Bolton, but I don’t think I’ll see any players in this part of the world.
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November 19, 2008