EPL Talk » Bolton Wanderers

Premier League Say No Again To The Old Firm

Paul Bestall — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:37:02 +0000

Like leaves fall from the trees in Autumn, it seems every year some chairman in the Premier League wants to try and get the Old Firm into it. This time Phil Gartside, the Bolton Chairman once again tried to get the League to agree to invite Rangers and Celtic in to the fold. Thankfully, the request has been voted down. It was described as “not desirable or viable”.

To say this constant speculation regarding the potential involvement of the Old Firm is becoming as tedious as the often mooted European Super League. Gartside, for all his bluster about strengthening the league and increasing the international presence of it, is simply thinking about cash. Adding the Old Firm would add nothing to the league at all and irrevocably damage the Scottish game. Coupled with a request to add a second Premier League simply smacks of self preservation on the Bolton chairman’s behalf and nothing more.

Most English Premier league fans don’t want them, but we get used to our feelings and opinions being completely over ridden when the influence of cash comes in to the equation. Coupled when you see how poorly the Old Firm cope with European football, you have to question what the point would be of adding two poor sides to the mix.

Of course, Rangers and Celtic are desperate for the cash, but Scottish football is its own worst enemy. It has always astounded me how a league with 42 clubs has 4 divisions and they play each other a minimum of 3 times a season. They then split in to play offs with the top half and bottom half playing each other. What a dull and uninteresting format.

Why they don’t have two leagues and play home and away like virtually every other league in the world astounds me. Yet, the answer is obvious when you look into it. Whilst the other Scottish Premier League sides shout down how much power Rangers and Celtic have, they enjoy the additional revenue that potentially two home games against them brings them in. So the league stays unfairly balanced, they all complain about it but continue to keep the status quo.

People like Phil Gartside are so far removed from what fans really want, that they keep bringing these daft ideas to the table. I also read that he wanted an Irish franchise adding as well, which reminded me of the time Wimbledon were thinking of moving to Dublin and ended up moving to Milton Keynes instead, a shameful decision by the authorities to this day.It took MK Dons 7 years to stop using Wimbledons history and correctly allow AFC Wimbledon to have the rights to their real history. I can’t wish anything but the worst of luck to MK Dons for as long as they exist, but that’s another story.

Whilst the idea of franchise sport is nothing new to American fans, to the British it is unthinkable. Quite how they would cope if their team moved such as the Raiders and the Rams moving cities twice would be interesting to see but unthinkable in British sport.It’s certainly not unusual for NFL teams to move, I must admit after a ten year hiatus from NFL, I was stunned to see how many new sides were in the league when I started watching it again in 2003. Unfortunately, The Redskins still can’t beat anyone, so somethings never change.

Also, the recent incidents with trouble involving Rangers fans in Manchester has certainly poisoned most English fans to the idea of welcoming the Ibrox faithful on a regular basis.It would be like a red rag to a bull for some of the more unsavory supporters of Premierships sides. The issues of sectarian chanting, and the potential for major trouble is a real concern. Of course not all the fans partake in such behavior, but it is still there and that is an additional concern.

Rangers and Celtic need to stop courting the Premier League and concentrate on fixing the problems they face in their own back yard. With no Scottish teams at any level in the English football pyramid, the last one, Gretna, showed just how strong Scottish football was, leaving the 7th tier of English football and romping all the way to Scottish Premier League in 3 seasons. Now if that doesn’t concern the Scottish Football Association, nothing will. Scrap the 4 league system, scrap the top/bottom play offs. Have two leagues, 3 up and 3 down and see how quickly the money spreads through the game more.

Gary Megson Is Unloved and Unwanted

Paul Bestall — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 23:14:47 +0000

Well you’ve got to hand it to him, Gary Megson must have the thickest skin in professional football. I’ve seen him barracked by his own fans at 4 different clubs over the years and that’s some going, even in the fickle world of the football supporter. At a Nottingham Forest game, I saw fans come to blows trying to get to him, at Leicester I saw a fan throw his season ticket at him in his 3rd game in charge. At Bolton he famously finished last in an online poll with 1.7% of the vote behind A.N Other before being announced as manager.

It’s a weird situation when this kind of vitriol follows someone around throughout their career and he’s continually knocked noses out of joint wherever he’s been. Even as a player, whilst highly regarded, Brian Clough was disgusted with his pre-match ritual of throwing up before playing, so much so that he sold him on after only 4 months.

With the exception of the Leicester City job, out of his 8 managerial positions, he’s been sacked from 4 and resigned from 2. The two he left freely were Blackpool and Nottingham Forest, though for his own safety, I think he did well to get out of the City Ground alive. It’s the one thing that astounds me about managers, that whilst I appreciate the mangers success can only be as good as the tools at his disposal, why do so many bad managers keep getting work.

Now it may seem churlish to label Megson as a bad manager, but there is no doubting he is unpopular wherever he goes, with the exception of West Bromwich Albion. Albion were on a slippery slope when he came in and he got them in to the Premiership and they’ve been yo-yoing back and forth ever since, but good lord he plays awful football and that’s where the problem lies. My biggest criticism of him as manager of Bolton is his over reliance on the long ball game and consistently negative outlook.

The constant arguments between Megson and the Bolton fans took a new twist the other day when he said “We’re not Real Madrid”. I don’t think any Bolton fan is under the delusion that they expect the team to play as if they were, but surely Megson could try and pacify the fans rather keep coming out with statements that seem to deliberately antagonise them. With the players he has at his disposal, it’s not too far a jump for them to play football now and again.

The nucleus of a good side is there, with the likes of Matty Taylor, Sean Davis, Johan Elmander, the underrated Jussi Jaakelainen & Kevin Davies and Gary Cahill. Yet the negativity of the fans is beginning to drive a wedge between everyone at the Reebok Stadium. Did the Sam Allardyce reign give them a false level of optimism?

Some Bolton fans have never forgiven Megson for playing a reserve side in their biggest game for 50 years in the UEFA Cup. Megson’s idea was to rest the players for a Premier League game against Wigan the Sunday after, which they ironically lost. That game against Sporting Lisbon was the high point of some Wanderers fans football lives and they resent the fact he didn’t care enough.Staying up was all that mattered and to some fans, that was a bridge too far.

No doubt, the most vitrolic Bolton fans are wanting him out, in 6 League and Cup games they’ve won two, both away from home. The win against Tranmere was no surprise, they are in big trouble already. If anything Megson would have been relived to see the pressure John Barnes is under at Prenton Park. The only win in the league was at troubled Portsmouth who can’t buy any luck at present.

Yet when Megson starts a home game playing with one striker what does he expect? By playing negative football at home, he promotes the negativity in the stands. Each fuels each other, Megson is now scared to lose games, the fans expect defensive, boring football. The fans boo, he complains about lack of support. Trouble is, if Megson does go, who on earth will they bring in to replace him?

Legends Of English Football: #1 Sir Stanley Matthews

Paul Bestall — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:26:39 +0000

“The man who taught us the way football should be played” Pele

Well if you’re going to start a series like this, there is only one person to start with in my opinion, Sir Stanley Matthews, the wizard of dribble. Matthews is a name that will always be mentioned as one of the greatest footballers of all time, never mind a legend of the English game. He was probably the first superstar footballer that we had as the growing medium of television began to creep into houses up and down Britian.

Born in 1915, in Hanley near Stoke on Trent, Matthews was a prodigious talent and was playing for England schoolboys when spotted by Stoke City. He signed for them in1932 and by the following season had become a mainstay of the Potters side. His England debut followed in 1934, even scoring one as England beat Wales 4-0. His reputation and talent touched all that saw him, and by 1935 at 20, he was easily the biggest footballing star in the country.

Matthews had three abilities that would bamboozle opponents, he was lightening fast, could cross a ball on to a sixpence from the wing and made the ball seem to stick to his foot. If anything, Matthews created the position of winger by the power of his own talents. He looked set to take the world by storm, and after scoring a hatrick for England in another 4-0 win, history was beckoning. He almost left Stoke City in 1938 but a crowd of nearly 4,000 fans came to the ground and begged him to stay.

By the time he was 24, in 1939, Sir Stan had played 256 games for Stoke City when World War II broke out. For the next 6 years, Matthews was a member of the Royal Air Force, but played in numerous friendlies for Manchester United, Blackpool and Arsenal as well as still representing England. For most players, losing those prime years could have been the end for their careers but Matthews hadn’t finished. In 1947, he joined Blackpool, aged 32 for £11,500 and the manager at the time hoped he could get another 2 or 3 seasons out of him.

By the end of that season, he’d won the inaugural Footballer of the Year award and a runners up medal in the F.A.Cup. He was still playing for England and infamously against Italy beat his marker by so much distance, whilst wasting time in the corner, stopped to put his hair back into place. The legend became that Matthews had pulled a comb out of his shorts pocket and combed his hair, such was the time he had waiting.

Far from giving Blackpool 2 or 3 seasons, he actually spent 15 seasons at the Seasiders, reaching another F.A. Cup final in 1951, but once again Blackpool contrived to lose once more. The feeling was that the nations favourite footballer would never win a domestic honour, but in 1953 he finally earned his reward. Nowadays, the 1953 final is known as “The Matthews Final” but Blackpool looked dead and buried at 3-1 down shortly after half time but Matthews had other idea’s.

Even at 38, Matthews’ skill had not diminished and he took the game by the scruff of the neck, tearing Bolton to shreds with his pace and dribbling. With 22 minutes left, he crossed the ball to his partner in crime, Stan Mortensen to make it 3-2 and Blackpool were back in it. With time running out, Matthews kept going and Blackpool managed to win a free kick which Mortensen smashed home to bring them level.

Everyone thought they were going to have extra time, but Sir Stan had other idea’s, he broke free in the final minute and tearing down the wing for last effort. He seemed to take too long but at the last second he crossed the ball to the onrushing Perry who fired the winning goal home and finally get Matthews a medal his career so richly deserved. In 1956 he won the first European Footballer of the year award at 41!

This is a player that continued to play for his country until he was 42! His England career of 23 years will probably never be beaten and even as he moved in to his mid 40’s, he was still a regular for Blackpool. At 46 when most players are long retired, he returned to Stoke City and amazingly scored the goal that guarenteed them promotion in 1963! He also won the Footballer of the Year award again that season. Can you imagine a Second Division player achieving that these days?

He finally retired in 1965, just after his 50th birthday but felt that he retired too early. His final appearance in a football match was in a testomonial in 1981 aged 66. Matthews was also the only footballer to be knighted whilst still playing, such was the warmth that was felt toward the man. Sir Stan passed away in February 2000, 3 weeks after turning 85.

He put his longevity down to daily runs and never touching alcohol as a player, and he never received a booking or a red card in his entire career. Renowned as a gentleman, his influence far outweighed the skinny lad from Stoke on Trent born during World War I. A true legend, not just of English football but of the World game.

“I grew up in an era where he was a god to those of us that aspired to play the game. He was a true gentleman and we shall never see his like again” Brian Clough

795 games for Stoke City and Blackpool, scoring 81 goals
54 games for England, scoring 11 goals
Never booked or sent off
Missed 6 seasons due to the Second World War

Bolton Slowly Sliding

Christopher Walker — Thu, 14 May 2009 20:13:05 +0000

Bolton Manager Gary Megson

In October 1999 Sam Allardyce breezed into his office at the Reebok Stadium to take over a club at the foot of the first division table. Amazingly, he guided Bolton Wanderers to the play-off semi finals the same season as well reaching both domestic cup finals.

The following season Wanderers finished in third place and again competed in the play-offs – this time they dispatched Lancashire rivals Preston North End 3-0 in the final. Allardyce had led Bolton to promotion in his first full season. The first two years in the Premier League were understandably spent fighting off relegation which they did successfully. What we didn’t expect was for the Trotters to then finish in the top eight four season’s consecutively - qualifying for the UEFA Cup twice in the process and even achieving sixth place in 2004/05.

These highly succesful seasons in the Premier League owe no small part to Wanderers’ success in the transfer market. During this era Youri Djorkaeff, Jay Jay Okocha, Fernando Hierro, Ivan Campo and Nicolas Anelka all donned the the white shirts of the Lancashire club. Not only did Bolton qualify for Europe, they made it to the League Cup final in Cardiff where they were beaten by Middlesbrough.

However those days of European qualification, cup finals and regular top ten finishes seem like a distant memory. When Big Sam left to take over at Newcastle United in April 2007, Bolton turned to his assistant Sammy Lee. Lee’s tenure was disastrous. Despite ensuring qualification for Europ in the month after taking over his name sake, Little Sam lasted lasted until October of the next season with just one win to his credit. In stepped Gary Megson and the continual battle against relegation. Despite the direct style of football not really changing since Allardyce’s reign, it seems poor signings have led the club to the position they are in.

Johan Elmander arrived at the club in 2008 for a whopping fee of £8.2 Million from Toulouse with Daniel Braaten going the other way. He has managed a pitiful 5 goals in his 28 games for the club. For the sake of pointless statistics that is £1.64 million pounds per goal, tad expensive for a centre forward you feel?

Gary Cahill was signed last season from Aston Villa for £5 Million. Now I want to go on record and mention that I watched Cahill on loan for Sheffield United in the same season and make 16 appearances for the Blades. He looked an outstanding player in the Championship but £5 Million quid is a big fee when you consider that Everton landed Phil Jagielka for £4 Million.

Bolton were once incredibly shrewd in the market but have splurged on mediocre players since the days of Sam Allardyce. Add Gretnar Steinsson (£3.5 million), Danny Shittu (£2 Million basic) and we add further weight to the issue. Matt Taylor has been a reasonable acquisition, a tad over-priced at £4 million but at least he has 10 goals to his credit. Yes, the £8.2 million striker Elmander has been out-scored by a left back/midfielder.

I know that transfer fees for players are forever spiralling upward, but does anyone out there not think that Allardyce wouldn’t have spent that cash better than Megson? Considering that the Trotters sold Nicolas Anelka to Chelsea in January 2008 for £15 Million those transfer funds have been poorly distributed. Maybe Bolton saw Megson a fit appointment in relation to his direct style of physical football – it can’t have been his charisma. A quiet character by the name of Neil Warnock once commented on Megson releasing an auto-biography by saying ”Oh he’s writing a book is he? Well it’ll be the best f**king cure for insomniacs that’s ever been published”.

I fear that Bolton, a good family club may join the likes of Southampton, Coventry and Middlesbrough in domiciling in mid-table anonymity for years before finally suffering the drop. Bolton have been good for the Premier League and have been a model for other promoted clubs to base their for model for success on. However with the current man in charge I cannot see Wanderers firing back up the table – particularly if they don’t replace Kevin Nolan.

Big Sam Sparks Rovers’ Revival

Michael Scallon — Sun, 10 May 2009 18:37:41 +0000

Allardyce's Arrival Has All But Staved Off Relegation

Who else could have saved Blackburn so effortlessly? Sat second bottom of the Premier League, five points from safety with just 13 points from 17 games, Sam Allardyce succeeded Paul Ince as Blackburn Rovers’ manager, and in less than 20 games he has made them all but safe – almost in second gear.

He took Bolton up, took them into Europe and developed them into a club so stable that even Gary Megson can keep them afloat with ease. His over-eagerness to join Newcastle perhaps has meant that he probably will be firefighting with clubs like Blackburn forever, but even that “marriage made in hell” was not as bad as first seemed: Mike Ashley sacked Allardyce with the Toon in the heady heights of 12th place, and subsequent failings have shown that Big Sam’s performance - in the cold, hard textbook of results – was in fact a relative success as he seemed - initially at least – to be able to wring the best of Mark Viduka and Obafemi Martins (the latter’s brace at Bolton on opening day the highest peak of his short managership). Ashley’s happiness to jump into bed with the fans meant that he immediately replaced Sam with Kevin Keegan – a man who, even four years previously had looked to sign a host of ageing nineties’ superstars for Manchester City (Robbie Fowler, Peter Schmeichel, David Seaman, Michael Tarnat, need I go on? ) and whose work in football for three years amounted to running a childrens’ “Soccer Circus” in Glasgow. It was like replacing Fabio Capello as England manager with Glenn Hoddle – and it was shabby treatment for a manager who, whilst not putting any trees up was definitely not going to make Newcastle relegation candidates.

Of course there are mitigating factors: Newcastle were in a shocking run of form, and the “brand of football” issue raised its ugly head once the results started to turn. He is oft-mocked for his “agricultural” style at Bolton, but with signings like Youri Djorkaeff, Ivan Campo, Nicolas Anelka and Jay-Jay Okocha, can you play completely long-ball football? His football tends to be direct, of course, but his organisation and motivation of players is second to none – at Bolton he came away with two draws from three games at Stamford Bridge during the José era, and with consecutive wins at Old Trafford in his first two seasons in the Premier League, surely he was the man to take Newcastle to the level they had slipped from since Bobby Robson left in 2005. I guess Mr Ashley had other ideas.

So Sam ended up at Blackburn. What had become (under Ince) a gung-ho football team with a brittle underbelly, became a drilled, structured outfit with an underbelly made of titanium. Benni McCarthy went from the outskirts of the side to a prolific Premier League goalscorer, Jason Roberts went from an Ade Akinbiyi impression to a spirited strike partner, and Ryan Nelsen has remembered how to defend: In other words, Blackburn are now a worthy Premier League side, who, with Big Sam at the helm can perhaps look towards Europe next season – after all, since Allardyce’s arrival, they have taken 27 points from 19 games, which is European form and would place them comfortably in seventh if taken over a whole season. He is no Mourinho, no Benitez, no Ferguson, but he has sparked a remarkable revival from a team on it’s knees, and – this becoming an increasing Big Sam trademark - has got the best out of a (relatively) small Premier League club.