I don't want to jump in with the bed sheet brigade but I also don't think Gartside should get a free pass. I've heard it said that he was chairman during our most successful period so he must be done something right. Well he got lucky with BSA, wasn't his first choice and without that one appointment we would have been nothing more than a one season wonder in the Premier League. He is/was nothing without Big Sam.Everything else he has got spectacularly wrong, managerial appointments, woeful financial performance,sticking with Coyle,fax in his pocket, no relegation ballooning etc etc and now taunting the richest club in the world over £400,000 he ripped them off for. Like that isn't going to bite us in the ass at sometime.

 

Not so long ago he and Duckworth were taking almost half a million pounds a year out of the club in wages. That might be par for the course for as big an organisation as BWFC, but the fans are entitled to ask if he is really worth that much.

I hear a lot of what you're saying while at the same time acknowledging he has done a lot of hard work for Bolton.

Just think the time for a change is getting close. It is now getting on for 15 years since Gordon Hargreaves jacked it in and handed over the reins to Gartside.

His time at Bolton co-incided with my earliest days watching the Wanderers.

 

I don't honestly remember how good he was but he held down a place in the first division team that survived with Franky Worthy as top scorer in 78/9.

 

If I have one memory it would him scoring at home against Leeds in 1978 as Bolton turned a 0-1 half time deficit in to a 3-1 home win amidst ever worsening scenes of bedlam on the terraces.

 

Always really sorry to hear news like this about players from my era as a Bolton fan, Chris Thompson being another recent sad loss.

I have to admit I have come around to the idea that Phil Gartside's time with should maybe draw to a close fairly soon.

He was responsible for a fantastic managerial appointment in Sam Allardyce and I still believe in Freedman. All else between has proved pretty poor. Plus, most people in his role have a natural shelf life and we probably need some fresh direction with Eddie D still at the helm overall.

 

Some of our dismal recent signings - including people who just haven't fitted in at the club or who have been paid wages far higher than their talent warrants - leads me to believe our recruitment policy needs a big overhaul (albeit Freedman has so far been reasonable in this department). I am still to be 100 per cent convinced by the move some clubs (notably Spurs/WBA) have made toward Director of Football posts overseeing recruitment. However I am guessing had we had such expertise in place over the past few years we may still be in the Prem. I emphasise "may"....

 

Just a few random thoughts that haven't taken on the form of absolutely entrenched views as yet......

Not a fax?

Beat me to it by seconds.

Good game that.

Arsenal celebrations are a bit manic. I know it is their main derby but you'd think it was Bury beating Bolton the way their fans are carrying on.

We need:

 

1. Seven points from those four games.

2. A couple of clean sheets along the way.

3. A striker scoring a goal or two.

 

The game after those four is Blackpool away (Oct 1) - and that's one venue I would love us win at this season.  

Leave Eddie alone.

 

There's a lot of thrashing around for a scapegoat going on at the minute.

 

We need to tighten up that shoddy defence and pick a couple of wins up. It isn't time for revolution and upheaval yet ... even if a 4-1 defeat away to the Dingles might hurt.

Think this is what you call relegation form what we're in right now

 

Why can DF not get them to look like they can play football at the moment?!

 

Can't see us bringing in anyone better than what we've got, can't imagine Dawson will be chomping at the bit to jump ship, DF doesn't like loan, wonder who the players were that Andy gray thought would mean we walk the league?

 

Got two home games to get things back on track, if Leeds and Derby are considered to tough games on paper it's going to be a long old season...

We've scored 3 goals in 5 games (none by strikers) and we've conceded 10. Very hard to be positive about anything just now but you're right, we've three home games out of the four games in September and we need 7 points from those games at least otherwise it is going to be a very long slog.

Feeling lower about BWFC than I've done for some time after that.

 

Not sure what else to say .....

Can remember both Wolves and Chelsea turning up at Burnden while banned. Chelsea in the early 80s - away travel for their fans banned after all kinds of naughtiness. Bolton away was the first game after the ban. They scored and half the Lever End was celebrating - they were marched around the ground to the Embankment with the away section having to be opened.

 

Then, Wolves in the fourth division (87/8) ... not a huge turnout from them but certainly a good few in the Burnden Stand. Bit of commotion when they were spotted but don't recall any serious trouble.

Was delighted yesterday to see that all six Europe League matchdays are now actually occupied by a match. Until recently, there were 5 teams in a group, so there were four matches to play. Now there are four teams and six matches to play with each side playing each other home and away. That means Wigan will definitely have a fixture in the midweek before they play us in mid December. Let's hope Coyle wants to go "toe to toe" with whoever they are playing.

They won't all be fit. Half of what is said in Friday afternoon press conferences is chaff to confuse the opposition manager. When the teamsheet comes out tomorrow there'll be a few absentees due to injury.

Poor fucking gibby getting nicked at the end of the video, he had to go to court three times in Southend.

Forgot they used to sing: "Hark now hear, the Burnden sing" rather than "the Bolton sing".

First day of the season for a couple of 1980s seasons.

 

August 27, 1983: Bolton 2 Wimbledon 0 at Burnden. First game in Division Three after relegation on the last day of the previous season at Charlton. Debuts for Tony Caldwell and Peter Valentine. Baking hot day, very low crowd. Bolton murdered in the first half and hanging on against a barrage of long-balls from Dave Bassett's hoofers. Second half, Bolton got a hold on the game and Simon Rudge and a Jeff Chandler Pen secured a 2-0 win. I remember the silence on the terraces in the first half as fans contemplated how they could hardly name any of the youngsters on show in a white shirt and the fact we were looking outclassed.

 

August 27, 1988: Southend 2 Bolton 0 at Roots Hall. First day of the return to Division 3 after the one year sojourn in Div 4. Following the celebratory pitch invasion on the last day of 87/8 at Wrexham, the fans staged a repeat with a pissed up rush across the pitch down in Essex. All kinds of trouble outside the ground throughout the day. Barry Cowdrill and Phil Brown made Wanderers debuts with Bolton being comfortably defeated.

 

Who was at these fixtures and what do you remember?

 

Season certainly started much later in those days!!   

I'd have Lonergan in goal, Knight and Mills at centre back (put Mills in the shop window), Tierney at left back.

Vela, Pratley, Moritz, Odelusi and Hall in midfield.

Beckford and Craig Davies up front.

One or two run-ins with Port Vale down the years. Didn't one of our fans stab one of theirs before a Vale Park match in the 80s?

 

Ironic if they are being racist given some of the good black players they've had in the past. Think they had Robbie Earle, and there was a big centre half they had as well who was high quality at that level and loved by their fans. Name escapes me.

QPR had a shot that crossed the line but wasn't given as a goal.

BUT

QPR's actual goal was a good couple of yards offside.

Be interested to see what the gate is at the Pie Stadium this evening......

I always remember the lad that did that as a big ginger fella in my head

 

Am I miles out?

Don't remember that detail. I wish I had the Roadrunner video of that night.

Sure I remember a Bolton fan running on the pitch at hull just before the kick off?

 

Obviously before 4000 others did the same a bit later on.

Yep. One ball left on the pitch after the warm up, minutes before kick off. No sooner had the words "somebody's going to be on the pitch to boot that in the net" left my mate's lips than there he was, arse hanging out of his trousers, pissed as a fart, running towards the home end nets with the ball.

I remember that game. 1-1 iirc. Willis scored early on for them and loads celebrated on Manny Road North. They soon regretted that.

 

Andy Walker equalised.

Was just going to say that. By that time the Manny Road North had calmed down a lot compared to the 80s. However there were evidently enough "sleepers" in there to deal with the Brummies. Talk about awakening a monster!

Bolton have been far, far better than most when it comes to realistic pricing. There's an argument to say we had no alternative with so many other clubs on our doorstep, not least the rags, City, Liverpool etc.

 

I'd support any further initiative to increase support, even if I lost out financially as a season ticket holder. I would like to see the stadium full and our support base maintained and expanded.

I can remember that Grimsby game well, I was only 7 and we were on a family holiday in Wales. My Dad left my mum on the beach and drive up to the top of multistory car park so we could listen to the game on the radio as its the only place we could get signal.

 

Mixu, what a hero!

Last game of that season we played Burnley at home. We were already in the play offs, they were already down. Against all expectations they were winning 0-1 going in to the last min with a goal from, of all people, Tony Philliskirk. Mixu scored a last min equaliser but had been getting underserved abuse throughout the match from many fans. He didn't celebrate the goal and looked pissed off with the fans.

For those with longish memories these two second tier seasons might be at the fore of the mind just now given our start this season. Both seasons we went the first three games without a win.

 

93/4 was our first after promotion under Bruce. Started off with a 0-0 draw at Grimsby that could quite easily have finished 4-4. Alan Thompson made a very impressive debut on a hot day in front of about 4000 Wanderers fans. Then we had a 1-1 home draw at home to Stoke who'd been promoted with us. Owen Coyle scored his first for Bolton before they equalised. We then got hammered 3-0 at Charlton and wondered whether we were out of our depth. First win came in game 4 at home to Oxford, 1-0. Ended up being a mid table consolidation season with a fantastic cup run.

 

94/5 was an even worse start than the year before, even though we were all optimistic with our first foreign signings for years over that summer (Mixu, Sneekes, De-Freitas). One draw and two defeats. Another start at Grimsby, this time it did finish 3-3 with Mixu impressing on his debut. However we then had a dismal 0-2 home defeat to Bristol City and a 1-0 defeat in a hard fought match at Middlesbrough who eventually finished champions. Bryan Robson was their new manager, thousands turned out at Ayresome Park. Season ended up with promotion at Wembley against Reading. First win game in game 4, 1-0 at home to Millwall

 

Any memories out there of those two Augusts 19 and 20 years ago?

This was always going to be a very hard start to the season but we do make life complicated for ourselves by going a goal down inside two minutes. We need to get that first win on the board and we need some defensive reinforcements before the deadline.

 

On the evidence thus far I'd say we're going to struggle to challenge for the play offs but it is very early days and Freedman is no mug.