football_fan

If he's anything like he was when he was on loan at Pompey in 2016 then "bang average" is pretty generous.

No more or less happy than when Ian Evatt took over. He's got no record but nor did Evatt. I liked him as a player and his style of play but good players don't necessarily make good managers.

That may well be true.

I've been reading the same sort of delusions of grandeur on the Pompey forum for the last 4 or 5 years and we still haven't got there so I wouldn't be too sure.

I don't trust you and you're not. If you were he wouldn't have wanted Tom White.

He didn't do much at Oldham but was on a bit of a hiding to nothing. Did O.K. at Blackpool as a caretaker for a short time but could be anything. However, they seem very keen on him and picked Evatt when he had no previous record of any kind so we shall see.

I think you're miles out with suggestion. Ian Evatt obviously wanted Tom White and there were certainly 3 players better than Tom in the Barrow team last season and another 4 equally as good. I'm pretty sure Ian Evatt would have loved to have at least 2 or 3 more of them. The fact is that the only Barrow players Bolton could have signed were White and Platt who were loan players at Barrow and Platt came to Barrow because the new manager David Dunn was his coach of the Blackburn U23 team plus Barrow offered Blackburn money for him. The 2 year agreement isn't a big deal for Bolton because even without it, Bolton still couldn't have signed any other Barrow players as any of the best who Ian Evatt would have been interested in signing were on contract and Bolton would have had to pay a transfer fee which it isn't allowed to do. It merely extends the default position for a bit longer. Unfortunately Ian Evatt won't be under-estimating Barrow as much as some on here seem to do. Barrow have a very smart group of owner/directors who were smary enough to get £250,000 from Bolton for Evatt and got another £75,000 from Stockport for Rooney when he wanted to leave. They've already signed another 5 players who look decent for this league and may well surprise a lot of teams next season.

As you know, the official reason given for Rooney leaving Barrow was that he didn't want to play at EFL level. However it could have been that Barrow wouldn't match Stockport's wages for a 29 year old or that Barrow wouldn't give him a 3 year contract at that age. Obviously only speculation and I know nothing more than anybody else but some Barrow fans seem to think he may have moved to Stockport so that you can get him on loan from them or could sign him when your transfer embargo is over which I'm guessing would be earlier than the 2 year agreement with Barrow not to sign any of their contracted players. I suppose the main reason for that speculation is that Evatt and Rooney have the same agent but, as I said earlier, Stockport seem to have rich owners now and are going to make a bit effort for promotion this season. As for White, I read today that Evatt has described him as doing a bit of everything and I would agree with that. He gets around the pitch well, keeps possession well, keeps his position well and is a decent tackler. Unlike Rooney, he doesn't hit many long passes but doesn't give the ball away. I don't think he will score too many goals but a good allround midfield player. I'll be interested to see how he gets on at a higher level.

No. I only saw Bolton against Pompey once and that's not enough to make a judgement. The Barrow/Portsmouth link is because I was born in Barrow and lived there until I moved to work in Portsmouth many years ago. So have an interest in both teams. Pompey and Bolton ended up in the same boat with good teams collapsing because their owners ran out of money and ended up in the hands of charlatans. Over the years that Barrow have been in the National League I try to get to as many away matches in London and the South as I can manage even though it's been painful to watch until Ian Evatt took over and transformed the team. You've now got Tom White on loan and he's a good player who does most things well but the 3 outstanding players in the team were Rooney, Quigley and Platt and 2 will still be at Barrow next season although you might well have got Platt if you had been able to sign him permanently. Rooney was the best of all and the best midfield player I've seen in all the years I've watched matches in the National League although his record was very uninspiring before he came to Barrow and Evatt played the football which meant a skilful midfield player could blossom instead of watching the ball being hit over his head for most of the game! I wouldn't be surprised at all if you end up getting him either on loan or permanent (although Stockport have an owner with money and are ambitious) because he has the same agent as Evatt.

White was good when he came in on loan to Barrow during last season last season but, as you say, you can't be sure if a player can step up a level until you see them for a few matches. However, as somebody who watched both Barrow and Portsmouth last season I would say that there isn't a huge difference between even Division 1 and the National League so I would expect White to be a very decent player for you. Although I wouldn't go as far as saying Barrow were a better team than Portsmouth I would without doubt say they were a far more entertaining team to watch with a far better style of play so I'd be surprised if you didn't get football worth watching under Ian Evatt.

You obviously don't read this forum in that case.

No Matt Platt for Bolton. Signed a permanent 2 year deal with Barrow . Bad luck.