Manny Road

You’ll be missed.

Sorry that made it sound like you were dead. Manny Road will be missed.

I agree with a lot of what you wrote here Chris. I’ve tried to support Megson as best I can, but I’m not fooling anyone anymore after that performance. The thing is, there are the foundations for something half-decent. For every two bad signings Megson has made, he’s made one decent one e.g. Zat Knight and Paul Robinson for Gretar Steinsson, Sean Davis and Gavin McCann for Lee Chung-Yung/whatever the house style is. This hit-and-miss style is identical to his selection policy. We have a solid team – when they are picked. After some poor performances, Megson dropped Knight this weekend. Great decision. But he then changes the midfield to a duo that never worked at the start of the season or throughout last season – Gavin McCann and Fabrice Muamba. The pair can’t shoot for toffee, and there’s more creativity in…well…I can’t even finish this metaphor they’re so terrible together. I don’t know any other manager who insists on playing two defensive midfielders at home against a team we should be drawing with at the very least.
And still Megson keeps the man, the myth, the legend that is Johan Elmander in the team. Now I want this to be as clear as I can possibly make this. Johan Elmander is the worst striker I have ever seen in a Bolton Wanderers shirt. But will he start our next match? Probably. He must be kissing some serious arse in the dressing room to keep getting in the team.
The thing that is most frustrating is that we have played well this season, and we have the players to play well. Against Tottenham and Everton this season, our attackers played with freedom and confidence, running at players and going past them. We have the players to play well and to attack effectively. Ideally, my perfect team would be: Jaaskelainen – Samuel, Cahill, O’Brien, Steinsson – Gardner, Muamba, M Davies, Chung-Yung – K Davies, Klasnic. Pace, power, aggression and creativity. I don’t see why this team can’t be picked, or why it couldn’t succeed. Oh wait, there’s one thing – How do you solve a problem like Megson?

[...] a comment » I wrote this as a comment on Manny Road’s post about him leaving the BWFC blogging scene because of his disilluionment with the clubs [...]

Thanks a lot for all the quality blogging you’ve provided.

You cannot solve a problem like Megson. He has succeeded. His career average is a point a game so with 38 games Bolton should get 38 points which is usually just enough to survive. Selling off and getting rid of players who had a touch of class reduces the wage bill, one of the prime reasons he was appointed – a point he constantly makes. So on two counts the Board consider him a success – so how can he be removed? Nice to see the players he sold/got rid of now in teams that have creativity scoring lots of goals. Nice to see the chairman recommending the manager to Burnley – obviously he was too good for Bolton as with more limited resources he can keep his team above Bolton, but then he might have been a more independant spriit than a Board yes-man.
This week Megson has criticised supporters (he has done that for two years) and players following four games in which 15 goals were conceeded with hardly any scored (£4 million per goal this year from Elmander)but although he picked the team, many of which he signed for the club, told them to play to certain tactics (presumably pass to the opposition whenever poosible and if that is not possible boot the ball upfield anywhere, and if the opposition have the ball just watch them score)and tried his best to ensure there was no entertainment value, there is no responsibility on his shoulders.
As he keeps telling us – when he arrived Bolton were in a relegation position; just look at what two years management can do – keep them in a relagation position. At least he is consistent.
By the way have you noticed the official BWFC site has banned supporters voicing an opinion – I wonder why.

Thanks for all your comments, you’ve made it worthwhile!

Ben, I agree with your team. I don’t understand what Steinsson has done to be dropped this season. To me Ricketts is no better than Nicky Hunt.

Mike – yes I mentioned the switch off of the BWFC message board not too long ago… http://mannyroad.com/bolton-wanderers-digital-pr-strategy/24/09/2009/

Also, the BWFC Facebook fan page, which I had some involvement with, appears to be gone, which is a real shame as it had over 6,000 fans. I suspect some oficial intervention here too, but have not been able to get hold of the page admin to find out – I just hope they didn’t have him ‘disappeared’ too!

Steve sent me a message about the Facebook page (I worked on it too for a while), there was official intervention. Apparently the bureaucrats at the club didn’t like some of the sentiment expressed on the page and decided to start their own instead of collaborating with Ste. He was pretty angered by the whole affair and said he would no longer be following the club either. Yet another loss for Bolton Wanderers

First of all, the loss of Manny Road is saddening. But I can honestly understand why.
I’ve had a season ticket for 5 years now but have been going to matches home and away since the mid 80’s. Never in all that time have I seen Trotters fans looking so utterly despondent about the club. Megson is an easy target, he picks the team, he sets the tactics and training. I can understand why fans are calling for him to go. Yet I fail to see how getting rid of a manager, unsettling a team and trying to find a replacement are going to improve our season. Its a tough choice. Risk Megson dragging us to the Championship, or risk a new manager and hope changes can bring results. ( didn’t work for Newcastle as I remember.)

My greatest concern is how we are going to keep up with the majority of other premiership clubs in terms of finances. Many clubs now have owners who are not short of cash and are looking to take clubs forward. Bolton however seem to be struggling with each passing year to compete with the clubs around them in terms of finances. This has lead to the situation we face now of every season becoming one of merely surviving another season rather than attempting to improve on the previous years.
This willingness to try and simply preserve the status quo has stagnated the club and will eventually strangle the heart and soul of the fans who no longer feel the club listens or cares about what they want.

( on an interesting historical note, my father, just having wandering in and determined to have his say makes the observation)

” Its nothing new this situation the clubs in, was no different back in the 60’s when the clubs board lacked any ambition and the fans began to stay away. ”

Seems nothing much has changed in 40 years…………..

Kidfos
I presume you’re talking about Alan Shearer with Newcastle, but the fact is that he only managed them for 8 games and was completely untested at any level. We’ve still got 26 games to go. We sacked Sammy Lee in October a couple of years ago and Megson (just) saved us from the drop that season, so I don’t see why a different manager can’t do the same this time around.
Regarding the cash issue, according to The Guardian, we were £52m in debt in June(http://bit.ly/Ag4R). That’s just less than what Portsmouth owed (£57.7m). And we all know what a great state Portsmouth are in at the moment…

[...] I read something very sad. Manny Road has left the bloggy ranks. I don’t know if you ever visited the site, but it was home to good writing, good jokes, and [...]

Manny Road will be sadly missed, more than can be said for the ginger one . Vitriol to apathy as you rightly say is the way we all feel and the board of BWFC doesnt give a toss about our feelings ……never has …..never will .

Perhaps as the fizzy pop league looms ever more clearer into view they may have the great vision yet again to get the CoOp or De Vere Whites Hotel to invest in the club and build into the actual stadium ( over the empty stands) for next season, for that cosier fuller feeling .

The overall long term ambition and vision of our club was lost a long time ago by the Warby’s Board as the Berlin Wall went up at the Burnden Embankment End.

Despite of everything “Come on you Whites”, lets keep the faith !!!

Wake up! He’s gone!