paulhanley

I reckon it was purely and simply because John is on his way out. It could have happened in August, it probably will in January.

The last time we scored from open play in the first half of a league game was Charlton. Seventh game of the season on September 3rd. That's 12 games ago. Never known owt like it.

Chuffed we salvaged a point but it's the same pattern ..no first half goal, huffing and puffing a lot and then a late facer saver/face savers. It can be exciting but it's not the stuff of solid promotion contenders.

Eleven blokes off our street could beat these. Commentator said they'd been in a training camp for six weeks. What have they been practicing at? Connect Four?

Was just thinking that's completed the first round of games against the dregs that count as local derby games this season - Morecambe, Accrington, Fleetwood. Played three, won three. So much for them being jinx teams. In fact looking at our overall record against them in this (hopefully not much longer) phase of lower divisions football and it's only Accrington who've been a problem. * Fleetwood: Played 7, Won 6 Drawn 0 Lost 1 * Morecambe: Played 5, Won 2 Drawn 3 Lost 0 * Accrington: Played 6 Won 2 Drawn 1 Lost 3

Big gamble. It'd be his first job in management. Someone should give him some sound advice. Clearly no experienced manager wants anything to do with them.

The BWFC supporting side of my head is dazzled and excited by another incredible late comeback. All three of our most recent league wins have now been of this nature - Accrington, Burton, today. The calmer side of my head is saying we'd have had less chance of winning any of them without the big summer rule change re the ability to use more subs. A lot to think about! But for now the ale sunk tonight will be tasting mighty fine.

Good un. We all remember the players under Big Sam when we had those four top eight consecutive finishes but there were some great players after he'd left in the remainder of the Prem years. This guy is well and truly on that list.

It's what happens when you have big unaccountable organisations with loads of money swilling around and little transparency. Folk like them two think they can act with impunity.

The whole thing is a farce. A World Cup in November for Christ's sake! Blatter has admitted now that it was a mistake. What an absolute tool. Just now I don't know when England are playing and out of the make-up of each group I only know England's. Says it all.

It's likely we're again going to be in the market for prospects whose contracts expire in Summer 2023. All fine as long as our scouting has picked out genuine talent and we strengthen in areas that need strengthening.

It's a conversation that puts me in mind of Steve Thompson rather than McAteer. It was obvious from minute one how good McAteer was. With Thompson it took him a good three or four years to mature into the quality product he became. Some develop late or gradually. Thomason and Morley do still have some time.

Horrible. I'd rather we bided our time than go up there and get tanked every time we play Blackburn and PNE. Burnley currently looking good for the Prem. There's obviously a fair chance that Wigan and Blackpool will be in League One. Early days though.

Hillbillies 3 Dingles 0. A goal for every other finger. Was amused to see that one team had a Benson and the other had a Hedges.

Can't abide Blackburn, don't care for Burnley. Always support Burnley in this fixture and always PNE when they play Blackpool.

Given we and Barrow are both out of the cup they should play this on the last Saturday of November.

Relieved we saw it out for a point while down to ten men and in the context of recent results a hard-fought away point will do for now. But...... we've not broken the troubling recent pattern in any way. Still no goal from open play in the first half of a league game for more than two months and we still generally look stodgy. Beggars can't be choosers. Could have been a whole lot worse.

All three are much larger than Wigan. Neither of Huddersfield or Barnsley are tinpot and although Blackpool are they're a more respectable, antique variety of tinpot than Wiggin. I still hope the tinpot new v tinpot old derby fixture today ends in a drab 0-0 draw and leaves the pair floundering. It'd be the ideal outcome for us Blackpool loathing old uns and the Wigan hating yoof.

Working in the Wigan Athletic ticket office. Christ that must be one of the cushiest numbers on earth. Peak working would be selling two tickets in the same hour.

All the hallmarks of crazy owners are evident here. As others have said though they have this annoying habit of coming up smelling of roses. The turd that just never quite flushes. As for Dyche - he'll surely smell a rat.

The Lancashire derby of relegation haunted Bolton hating cunts is on Saturday, Wigan v Blackpool. I wish they could both lose.

This game and Fleetwood need to see gritty and battling away performances from us. There have been many times in our history when a dodgy run of form has been turned around on the back of a scrappy but effective away performance. Was thinking about it earlier - who remember these from times gone by? Orient 0 Bolton 1 in 90/91 - we'd lost six of our first 11 but this ugly October result helped sparked an exceptional run of games without defeat that lasted until February Boro 0 Bolton 1 in 93/4 - a televised game in the snow. We were bottom of the second tier as a newly promoted side but after John McGinlay's winner we went on to stitch together a decent unbeaten spell and get to mid table. Ipswich 0 Bolton 1 in 98/9 - Following a very dodgy month a last-minute Bob Taylor goal secured an unexpected 0-1 win at Portman Road under Colin Todd. It was the foundation for a big long run unbeaten. Birmingham 1 Bolton 2 in 2004/5. In a season that was to end with our first European qualification we went 10 gruesome game without a win during November and December. On a cold night in early January at St Andrews we battled like hell and Kevin Nolan grabbed a last-minute winner. Boro 0 Bolton 1 - under Megson in 07/8 we'd gone eight games without a win. That had ended with a 1-0 home triumph over West Ham the week before but Gavin McCann's famous winner at Boro suddenly opened up an escape route that nobody thought would be possible Swindon 0 Bolton 1 in 16/17 - we'd won our first four games but then didn't win any of the next 7. In the dying minutes of this game at the County Ground a comical own goal secured all three points. We won nine of our next ten games. No doubt there many other examples - but a drab game ending Cambridge 0 Bolton 1 with an 85th minute winner after a goalmouth scramble would be just what the doctor ordered. Forget the airs and graces, these are the types of showings we need in these two November away games.

It's starting to feel like Evatt plays five at the back because at heart he doesn't trust our defenders. Maybe we've been compensating for a lack of quality at the back by playing five there. It was working because we conceded so few but it was at the expense of our attacking play. Perversely - considering our comparative lack of goals this year - perhaps we need to sign better defenders in January. Anyway - another match goes by with no first half goal. Another game in which we fall behind and shove all our subs on in a scramble to get ourselves back in the game. Deja vu really. We need to keep developing and January will be interesting in terms of what route we go down. The problem IE and the board have is that Bolton fans are always going to be impatient with third tier football. Where we've come from and the brush with extinction tempers that... but it's still there and that sentiment will incrementally grow. Rightly so too - any third tier BWFC set up should be straining at the leash for Championship football. Phil Neal would recognise this exact mix of emotions and thoughts at Bolton Wanderers.

They keep getting lucky. But one day's it's all going to go sour. They have a nasty habit of being able to put off the inevitable and the new ownership is the latest delay. We'll be above them again in the pyramid at some point. We've got several gears to go through as a club and their support base and set up is in top gear trying to retain Championship status. Being above them is one thing. Having the chance to give them a couple of really good hammerings along the way is another. That relies on circumstance and serendipity. I hope it happens. The day when we get these cunts by the scruff of the proverbial neck will be a good one.

Went to watch an FA Cup First Round tie between Slough and Harrogate Railway many years ago, it was a surprise 1-2 away win with a large Yorkshire following. No trouble but quite a lot of verbal hostility. Hopeless floodlights and the game was completed in semi darkness FA Cup First Round weekend is pretty special. Not sure there's much else like it in the world. Before the internet the Sunday papers were a treat. The results page was stacked with fixtures of teams of whom we'd barely heard playing league sides. Real tussles on misty, gloomy November days at grounds not much better than parks football. The only other decent non-Bolton first round tale I have is watching Preston v Blackpool in 1994 - a true grudge match.