SeanBW

That Rioch didn't really do enough to be great. At a club of Bolton's size I don't think it's possible for a manager who only worked in the 2nd and 3rd Division to be great.The hardest job is keeping us in the top division not getting us there.Rioch opted out of that challenge

Getting Burnley into the Premier League is arguably a bigger achievement than getting Bolton there...now which managerial great did that?

Rioch jumped ship after 3 seasons, Allardyce was still fresh and optimistic after 3 seasons.He turned down a big payrise at Sunderland after 5 or 6 seasons IF Rioch had stayed 7 and a half seasons would he not have got disillusioned with the lack of transfer funds? In any case Rioch would probably have been sacked before he got to serve 7 1/2 seasons.In two seasons top division management Rioch was sacked twice

No ill feeling at all if some people would apply the same thinking to Sam Allardyce, but it seems to me that despite doing less for Bolton it was ok for Rioch to go and get his big payday at Arsenal but a huge problem when Allardyce went to Newcastle for his. If Allardyce had said he had a sick aunt in Consett perhaps some people would think he was a hero like Rioch?

Tuppence ha'penny that he spent on hasbeens and neverwases like O'Brien, McCann, Braaten and Wilhelmsson iirc. The decline from top 6 material to the relegation battle started almost overnight.We went from drawing at Chelsea to losing at West Ham in a week.

How much money was Sammy Lee given to "buy a squad for Europe"?

It is a different story at each club,perhaps Pablo could explain where all Everton's funds have come from to keep them there so long.

?It was a sad season for Bolton but it was bound to happen. ?When you don?t spend or invest in the future, you can't always get away with it. Nail on the head.The clubs who stay in the Premier League long term all spend money.

To paraphrase Martin Samuel who is spot on as usual "At the age of 27, Grant Holt moved from Nottingham Forest to Shrewsbury for ?170,000.That's how good a player Grant Holt is. He was fortunate that Paul Lambert picked him up late in his career and has a way of playing that gets the best out of him."

We'd have got a 0-0 draw at home to Derby today if that cunt Coyle hadn't switched to 4-4-2

German and Spanish fans don't have a track record of killing the opposition supporters at the Final.

I think Gartside would have spoken about it this week in his relegation excuses interview if there was. I don't listen to anything Gartside says so that doesn't necessarily mean there isn't.

Even Sam had some failure at Bolton in his early days when he was learning the job.Ipswich, that semi final against Tranmere.Stick with Coyle and give him a chance when the injuries have cleared up.

OK then Big Sam is back where he belongs and that means Whelan will have to pay more money to finish 4th bottom than if Blackpool had gone up.

I think most of us would but Bolton won't pay for the top managers.All we can do is take a young manager on and hope he becomes a top manager like Big Sam did.