paulhanley
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Posts posted by paulhanley
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For those with longer memories (AKA owd gits like me) yesterday's slightly chaotic goal-fest sparked a memory of a couple of similar scenarios in the 80s. By which I mean seasons that had started poorly only for a home game to go mad right out of the blue a few games in. Who remembers these?
* 1984/5: Bolton 7 Plymouth 2 - We'd played 5, won 0, drawn 1, lost 4. Then we suddenly murdered Plymouth on a weird and wonderful day at Burnden. I have a memory of Plymouth's injured keeper ending up playing on the wing.
* 1986/7: Bolton 4 Darlington 3: We lost our first two league games and buggered up a two-legged league cup tie against Bury. Then just after half time at home v Darlo we were 4-1 up. Only to then concede two dreadful goals very late in the game. I remember our keeper Mick Salmon nonchalantly palming a cross in to his own net. Trouble on the terraces this day too I think.
We need to avoid this season going the way of the above two campaigns by the way!!
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PNE v Blackburn today. These are the games we need to be involved in.
#impatient.
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9 hours ago, Casino said:And some of us hope there is
Either way, I bet hes gutted at your opinion of him
Probs keep him up all night fretting
Not sure there's any call for that. Everyone has strong opinions at the moment. Hardly like I'm in a minority.
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I can't buy in to optimism. It's great that we've registered a win and ended the barren run of goalless league games but in the grander scheme this proves nothing. We have stood accused for two years or more of being flat track bullies. Today was a pretty flat track. Last week told us far, far more.
Defensively we look very concerning. Since conceding once in the first two games its been 2-2-4-2. That ain't getting us nowhere.
I'm sure I'm not on my own in saying this does not give Mr Evatt a clean slate. Far from it. There has to be "more to come" as he's fond of saying. A lot more.
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34 minutes ago, Wanderlust said:
I remember it well. All the REALLY big names came when ED started throwing big money at it. But it was a quality team SA inherited from Colin Todd - a team that was unjustly relegated from the Premiership on goal difference just two seasons before (I'm talking about the goal against Everton). Allardyce inherited Eidur Gudjonssen, Per Frandsen, Dean Holdsworth, Jensen, Gudni Bergsson, Feeeeeesh, Mike Whitlow and Ricardo Gardner amongst others from him FFS.
We were absolutely expecting promotion when Allardyce came and even though his early recruitment wasn't as inspiring as say Bruce Rioch, he delivered the expected promotion. Our excellent scouting and recruiting network was still in place at that time. The only reason Todd left was our slow start to the season versus our massive expectations and I still believe he would have got us promoted (again) that year anyway but he was gone by September.
All of which is vastly different to what Evatt inherited - remember THAT squad???? - and the budget he has worked with to build the club back up from the edge of non-league.. IMO SA has no right to shoot his mouth off about a situation he has no experience of - parroting things that were already discussed months before - and undermining our team and manager at a difficult time. The fucker should be helping, not hindering.
I'm not sure we can say we were expecting promotion when Big Sam arrived. We'd started 99/2000 poorly because the defensive flaws of the previous season had not been rectified. We'd signed Newsome and Warhurst on loan and that did the job for a while but then it all went bad again.
Indeed the reason Todd left was because defensively we'd been poor for quite some time and it was costing us. Equally we'd developed a tendency to be bullied by physical teams - a tendency that had been entirely absence in the 96/7 team that he constructed.
There are some parallels between Todd's later days and Evatt right now.
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He's living beyond borrowed time for me. Scapegoating Craddock doesn't pull the wool over anyone's eyes. We need results. We don't just need them against Reading at home, we need them against top sides in the division and after last season's embarrassments we want them against Wigan and Blackpool too.
I have absolutely no confidence in him to deliver those things or the Championship football that Bolton Wanderers and its fanbase demands both now and throughout history. I hope he proves me wrong.
It's all too cozy and comfortable.
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What will this game prove?
Lose or draw: Not good enough and still in a rut at the start of the season.
Win: Evatt's sides are powder-puff flat track bullies and generally win this type of game but not the ones against top of the table sides or derbies.
Not looking forward to Saturday afternoons from a BWFC perspective.
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6 minutes ago, Marc505 said:
At least L1 has probably never looked as prestigious as it does this season with some of the clubs in it
Our impressive gates in recent times may also attract names that would otherwise be a bit out of our reach. But still not sure if Wagner would come here.
.... anyway we need to pot IE first.
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5 minutes ago, Blondi said:
David Wagner?
That's the name that's been at the front of my mind. Whether he come down as far as League 1 I really don't know.
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7 minutes ago, only1swanny said:
I might get proven wrong here, but reckon Evatt will stick it out, he's said he doesn't want this as his legacy.
I'm hoping he does, I'm hoping he looks at the team and rejig, we have some cracking players but this current game plan doesn't work. . Once we're stable then bring back the pretty football that created 100+ goals last year.
We've got a team that will walk into any other team, as shown by fringe players leaving and doing just that.
Come Saturday ill be behind the lads, worth having one thread without any negativity?
Some might struggle with this..
No. The time for those types of thought processes is gone. He has to go.
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14 minutes ago, Eddie said:See this is where I think managers are protecting their own future prospects as well.
There is clearly a desire higher up the leagues to play a certain brand of football - most owners want their team to be like City.
Someone like Duff will just never get a shot at a prem job as his ‘brand’ doesn’t fit. He might be more successful in the lower leagues than Evatt, but IMO he’s actually got/had a lower chance of going higher just due to how he’s perceived.
Evatt will have seen Russell Martin and absolutely convinced himself that he can follow that route (but then be successful when he gets there). To do that he needs to stick to his ‘brand’, although clearly that style of football needs to then produce results. Up until the play off final it was all working well - goals like that one away at Barnsley that got a lot of media attention last season is exactly what he’s after, it highlights just what his ‘style’ can achieve.
Unfortunately for him, getting sacked doesn’t fit that plan but he can’t, and won’t, switch now.
Just to add to that - I think it’s the key driver of why you see so many L1/L2 teams pissing about passing it out from the keeper with players that can’t do it. It’s trying to prove that the manager is progressive and ‘keeping up with the times’.
I agree with this. There's a group-think that's descended on football and Evatt is one of the devout worshippers. At some point there'll be some revisionism. That won't involve a full-scale reversion to the Charles Hughes doctrines of leathering the ball long "in to the channels". But it will see more pragmatism mixed in.
The contrast between Spain at this summer's Euros and the Spain team of the previous six or seven years was stark. Wingers were used, they got in early crosses and the game was played at a really high tempo. That was a marker for change.
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10 minutes ago, waffer cup 07 said:
Unbelievable, he was a hero six months ago. Think where he's brought us from, give him some respect.
He does deserve respect. This time in 5, 10, 20 years he'll bd getting it for keeps it if he just goes now. If this situation festers, he won't.
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A completely unscientific way of looking at who may come in to the frame if/when Evatt gets sacked is to look at out of work managers whose most recent club was at Championship level. If nowt else it throws up interesting names:
Michael Beale, David Wagner, Valerian Ismael, Tony Mowbray, Alex Neil, Gary Rowett, Gareth Ainsworth, Ryan Lowe, Leam Richardson.
Some of them may be interesting, some I wouldn't touch with a barge pole.
There are other methods: Up and coming managers in a role in League 1 or League 2 or a manager from abroad.
It'll be a popular vacancy!
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The time is now Sharon. No debate. No shade of doubt. It's painfully obvious to everyone. Make the decision.
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I can understand why the Irish might be a little bit annoyed at Declan Rice given he played for them three times. But he was born in Kingston-upon-Thames. Grealish was born in the midlands and has a brummie accent. It's not like we've got lads from County Meath or Donegal turning out for us. Our lot didn't turn up with flags saying "The snake returns" when Jackie Charlton managed them against us either. Not to mention the countless others with dubious qualifications to play for Ireland.
I love the Irish, they're brilliant people. But come on....
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19 minutes ago, TrickyTrotter said:
Iles said post Barrow that some problems had emerged - without elaborating.
Ah so we're going in to the rest of the first half of the season one light of the squad size we're allowed.
Clever.
Tricking League 1 in to a fall sense of security.
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Where's this bloody free agent signing then?
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13 minutes ago, Lt. Aldo Raine said:
Heard it all before now haven't we.
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Just now, W.cramp said:
Who ? Just who would we look towards here ? I just don't see many names coming forward.
No use trotting that line out. Football clubs change managers. There'll be all kinds of names linked. Big Sam will be one of them, whether that's realistic or not who knows. Alex Neill mentioned above. Ryan Lowe will get linked, so will Leam Richardson. That's just off the top of my head and no research.
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18 minutes ago, Farnywhite said:
Question Is this our longest period of our history of being out of the championship if we don’t go up this season ?
We had 10 years from 1983 to 1993. I've lost count of how many this is. Not 10 yet. .
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19 minutes ago, dusan nikolic said:
I still think there is an apathy all around the club since Wembley and other than some excitement regarding various transfers i don't think it has or will shift. And certainly won't be helped with spineless displays like those.
I've seen this before at Bolton and other football clubs. Indeed you can see it generally in places of employment where the workforce loses faith in the management and "the project". We're outsiders looking in and its guesswork but that's how it appears to me.
There's only one solution if we have indeed reached this state of affairs. Ian Greaves once used a phrase "its sacking time", he was gone weeks later. Some boards would have done the deed already or would do so after that pitiful showing today.
This is the first time I've spoken like this about Evatt, but I'm not sure what other conclusion to draw now. All the tell-tale hallmarks are there.
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That's appalling.
It's a result and performance that changes people's minds.
I'm starting to have a 1991/2/Phil Neal feeling.
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2 hours ago, tomski said:
Few rumours it’s Brandon Williams
I think he's in some legal trouble, so that'd be a risky do.
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The fact that we are moving on from Iredale says a lot. We signed him one year after promotion from League 2. He's been a reasonable signing, done OK for us, far from a washout. But he wasn't quite the type of signing that was going to get us to the Championship. I actually think the same about Sheehan. Dare I say it, Santos and Gethin may be in this category too. It makes me think of the early to mid-1990s when we started moving on from players we'd valued - Reeves, Philliskirk, Cowdrill, Felgate, Storer. None of those players were in the side that Bruce got us promoted with. Darby had fallen to the fringes a bit.
On the downside I think we look a bit thin again. It's probably only because Forrester, Lolos and CMG are all injured but I'm definitely a fan of us getting a free agent in to bolster things up a bit.
One or two real prospects coming through the B team would be really handy at this point, especially with Freight Rover games on the horizon. Not sure we've got that up our sleeve though.
Reading (H)
in Match Threads 24/5
Posted
Borrows was a quality player. McGovern signing him for £10K was daylight robbery. I remember we sold him to Coventry for £80K in the summer of 85 and Chandler left too. We were all excited because we'd made five new signings, all experiences pros who'd played at much higher levels - Sutton, Cross, Scott, Hartford, Allardyce). But we missed Borrows and Chandler badly.
Didn't Oghani, Caldwell and Chandler all get 20 goals in 84/5?