paulhanley

The Manny Road North was a terrific and old-school atmosphere! I've got some of the original vids of pre-roadrunner Burnden matches from about 1985-early 88. Pretty grim football but the Burnden atmosphere is there and its fantastic to re-live it. With some of the games being pre-Normid the Embankment is there in its full glory. Some of them are so early in the days of filming matches that they hadn't even hired Dave Higson to commentate on em!

Our record since Promotion in Lancs derbies (excluding the big city clubs) in Prem fixture is poor. As outlined below. Why is this? It can only be because other teams are more up for it than us. Whatever the reason, its about time it was addressed - and Saturday would be a good time to start. v Blackburn: Won 4 Drawn 9 Lost 7 v Wigan: Won 3 Drawn 5 Lost 4 v Burnley: Won 1 Drawn 1 Lost 0 v Blackpool Won 0 Drawn 1 Lost 0 Total: Won 8 Drawn 16 Lost 11

I'd love to send them down as well - it would hurt them badly for us to be the ones to deal the fatal blow. A draw would be good enough to send them back from whence they came. I just doubt we'll get it given our recent spineless form.

There's loads of good Wanderers songs from days gone by that never get a look in these days. 1 Wanna wanna wanna wanna wanna Wanderers ... to the tune of Chameleon by Boy George, a real favourite in days gone by. 2 Bolton score, Bolton score coz once we get one we'll get more we'll sing in assembly when we get to Wembley so score Bolton score. 3 There's also a very simple one that's been forgotten in Bolton but not elsewhere: United have - United, clap clap clap, United, clap clap clap Similar - Burn-el-ey, clap clap clap, Burn-el-ey clap clap clap We used to have Wand-er-ers clap clap clap, Wanderers clap clap clap Delivered at a very fast pace and emanating from the Manny Road North terrace that used to sound particularly menacing and atmospheric.

The Laville/Bergsson combination was fantastic. Gudni then retired and Laville didn't look the same alongside others in the limited portion of the following season in which he was able to play.

And this is the thread in question on the Blackpool site. They don't like us very much, be under no illusion. http://fansonline.net/blackpool/mb/view.php?id=728034

There's a thread on their forum at the moment asking fans who they hate the most. Needless to say Bolton are mentioned several times are we are labelled as 'murdering scum'. I'm still annoyed about the lack of fight at Blackburn. I am hoping against hope that this approach is not replicated at Bloomfield Road because they'll be up for their first home game against us since 1993, make no mistake.

You're right. I just hope the team and the management understand that as well.

If you're right I will be seriously f*cking annoyed with them. Good season overall or not!

obviously these are our next two away fixtures and we're in with an absolutely glorious chance to really hurt both of them. We've suffered often enough at the hands of Blackburn in the last decade and we still get the 53 cup final rammed down our throats by Blackpool. Quite frankly I can't stand either of them. I often have the impression of BWFC that they don't take these Lancashire town derbies quite as seriously as the opposition, hence our comparitively indifferent record v Blackburn (Wigan as well) in the Premier League years (they've both beaten us more than we've beaten them). I just hope OC and the players appreciate that they need to be massively on the case for these two derbies and sharpen up their act away from home - regardless of mid-table security.

I'm less enthusiastic than you but he could hardly be categorised as a failure either. Point is, his contract is coming to its end and his family is all based in the south of England. I could see him leaving for a southern team for ?1m-?2m

Given the expected departures (Cahill, Elmander, Samuel, Taylor, Gardner, Cohen, Al-Habsi - and Sturridge returning to Chelsea) I think we'll need: 1 new central defender 2 new central midfielders (we're threadbare in this position) 1 new left sided midfielder 2 new strikers Apart from Cahill we should get money for Taylor and Al-Habsi. Hopefully we'll have ?20m to spend.

The events of 1958 are often put forward as the reason for the depth of hatred in Bolton towards United. I'm sure they are partially responsible. However, those Wanderers supporting members of my family who can remember pre-58 say there had been a pretty nasty rivalry building up for some years. These were long before the days of segregation - home and away fans mixed on the terraces. United fans were apparently noted for being the only ones who refused to get involved in good-hearted banter and talked across fans of other teams as if somehow they were inferior. Even then United's 'supporters' were full of their own conceit and watched only one team. One other obvious historic reason for Bolton fans to have a particular dislike of United is simple geography. United's locally based support has always had its heartland around Salford. There was a survey recently that found the greatest concentration of North West based United support in the Worsley area (places like Eccles and Irlam also have particularly strong infestations). Our catchment area and these areas cross .... the City strongholds don't really. Its not just City fans who have to live close-up to the the most arrogant football fans in the world - we have to put up with them as well. Hardly a surprise therefore that they are our main rivals. I'd never realised that the bus incident happened in Walkden - always thought Wogdin was the epicentre of Bolton/United rivalry!

Neil Whatmore was absolutely brilliant for us. The absolute epitome of the Ian Greaves era. I've got a DVD of a match Bolton played at West Ham in 1980/81 season after Greaves had been sacked and Bolton relegated back to Division 2. West Ham murdered us really - though the final score was only 2-1. Neil's performance shines out in that footage - total effort and dedication to the cause. He had a goal disallowed just before half-time and had a look of sheer disappointment and frustration all over his face - the kind any fan would have. Can't speak highly enough of Neil Whatmore.

I know we've not been to Bloomfield Road for 18 years but this fixture has deep roots and I have as much antipathy towards Blackpool as ever I did. I hope we are in a position to send them down to the Championship. Can't wait for this one.

JLloyd, Cohen, O'Brien and Sean Davis will all go as well. I agree with all of those named above (except maybe Steinsson). I would add that Matt Taylor is not a Coyle player at all - no pace, not very skilfull, too one-footed.

Apart from the fact that 10 of the previous 36 seasons mentioned happened to be in that decade and contained serial throat-slitting moments that help me remember things could be so much worse.

But we are 8th in the Premier League, about to embark on our 11th straight season in the top flight after having had 4 in the previous 36 seasons. I'm sorry, yesterday was shocking - but it was not the end of the f*cking world!!

It would at least make partial amends for me if they win at Blackburn and Blackpool and send the bastards down.

The club will still be there on Sunday and the week after and the week after that. Of course it was sh*te and unacceptable and of course we get let down - but dwelling on it for too long will do more harm than good - players, manager, staff, fans - everyone. It is not utter wank to compare it to the 80s - or even to losing 0-6 at home to the Munich filth. Adding perspective is just my way of dealing with acute disappointment. If you don't like it, feel free to carry on wailing and gnashing teeth.

All true. But supporting Bolton is obviously in your blood otherwise you wouldn't be so angry. In the context of the history of the club, these remain very good times. I'm merely saying lets not get the doom to deep. I felt bad yesterday and still do - but I've felt a whole lot worse on occasions in the past.

I'm proudly wearing my Bolton Wanderers shirt. FA Cup Semi Final defeat? Nowt!! Not if you followed the whites through the wilderness Division 3 and 4 days of the 1980s! Chartlton away (1983) Scarborough away (1987), Darlington (home, Bonfire Night 1985) - now they really were the ultimate lows! Come on you Whites!

Bolton News reckons its 'more than 28,000'as opposed to the 'close to 27,000' described on the official website. http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/8976149.Wembley_prepares_for_the_Whites/

Just posted this on another FA Cup thread but its relevant to this one as well.... The club certainly needs to work hard on sustaining the support base. As people have said, we're encircled by fellow Premier League clubs and we're very unlucky that two sides who would otherwise be lower league fodder (Blackburn/Wigan) found mega-rich owners. The club can't take support for granted within Bolton's traditional geographical support base as used to be possible before 80s. (traditional support base including far more than Bolton - Westhoughton, Atherton, Tyldesley, Leigh, Walkden, Chorley, Wigan etc etc)

But we have averaged more than 26,000 during two seasons in this decade and more than 25,000 in several others. Had the stadium capacity been 30,000 or more I suspect our average would have been higher in some of those seasons (I have 03/4 and 04/5 in mind in particular). There have been several games with capacity crowds of around 27,300 and with a bigger stadium those gates could easily have been larger. The club certainly needs to work hard on sustaining the support base. As people have said, we're encircled by fellow Premier League clubs and we're very unlucky that two sides who would otherwise be lower league fodder (Blackburn/Wigan) found mega-rich owners. The club can't take support for granted within Bolton's traditional geographical support base as used to be possible before 80s. (traditional support base including far more than Bolton - Westhoughton, Atherton, Tyldesley, Leigh, Walkden, Chorley, Wigan etc etc)