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Wanderers Ways. Neil Thompson 1961-2021

17th February, 1996

Sluffy

By Sluffy
in Terrace Talk - 'Classics'

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Sluffy

Sluffy

Posted
Posted
In fact, Sluffy's around: he'll tell you that before last season, we hadn't won there since our 4-1 win in 1996.

 

Quite correct Traf - 17th February, 1996 was the last time we won at Boro before Megson's back-to-back wins there - Big Sam never won there with Bolton.

 

Cue for a Sluffys Date's -

 

Premier League - Middlesborough 1-4 Bolton - 17th February, 1996

 

 

Injury woes spark dream return for super Simon

 

_817073_simoncoleman300jpg.jpg

Simon Coleman

 

COLIN Todd smiled today as he revealed the secret of his greatest Premiership success - an injury crisis!

 

The delighted Burnden boss, who refuses to accept relegation as a foregone conclusion, saw Wanderers tear beleaguered Boro to ribbons down by the Riverside and reflected on their long-awaited first away win: "We've been threatening to do that for a while.

 

"But what made it even more remarkable was the team I had to put out.

 

"We had setbacks galore but, as they say, in times of adversity ..."

 

With Gudni Bergsson already sidelined and Gerry Taggart and Andy Todd being put into plaster for three weeks with ankle injuries, Todd had his centre-back resources decimated when Alan Stubbs failed a morning fitness test.

 

But that simply paved the way for Simon Coleman to make a hero's return to one of his former clubs - 51 weeks after breaking his leg. Coleman was at the peak of his form and running away with the Wanderers' Player of the Year award when he suffered the career-threatening blow at Derby - another of his old stamping grounds. Almost a year on, he had just 75 minutes to prepare for his dramatic comeback but it was as if he had never been away.

 

His second coming was reminiscent of his debut at Burnley 16 months ago - solid defending, impressive distribution and a goal to put the icing on the cake.

 

That afternoon at Turf Moor he snatched a dramatic derby draw but this time his eye for goal was even more decisive, regaining the lead just before half time after Jamie Pollock had cancelled out Nathan Blake's opener and leaving Boro to fret over the latest stumble in their amazing fall from grace. Playing his third game in six days and having saved his team's blushes with a late equaliser in the friendly at non-league Fleetwood, Coleman climbed above two defenders to head home Alan Thompson's corner for a goal that backed his manager's view that he's the club's most dangerous player at set-pieces. Yet the blond defender wouldn't have been eligible for his shock recall if Todd hadn't refused his request for a move a fortnight ago.

 

"Simon wanted to go out on loan because, with there being so many centre halves at the club, he didn't think he'd get his chance," he explained.

 

"But I told him he wasn't ready at the time. When I spoke to him again a few days ago I said I couldn't say when the opportunity would come but when it did he would have to be ready.

 

"All of a sudden he's got a lifeline and he's taken it. He's a remarkable boy." Wanderers are a remarkable team. They've already been written off as relegation certs but they still have the ability and the determination to make a fight off it and Saturday's emphatic win has made the rest of the Premiership sit up and take notice - including beleaguered Boro who are running scared after eight successive defeats.

 

Only time will tell whether it's a flash in the pan or the start of a revival that might yet save their Premiership skins but there will always be hope, if they can take teams apart as clinically and as often as they did the fallen heroes of Teesside. And they couldn't have timed it better as they prepare for Sunday's Burnden duel with Manchester United - the biggest game of the season as far as the fans are concerned.

 

Todd might have been forced to make adjustments but he refused to let the injury crisis deter his attacking intentions. Thompson switched to centre-midfield to fill in for Stubbs, Scott Sellars was recalled to operate in his favoured left flank role and David Lee probably got the shock of his life when he saw his name and not John McGinlay's on the team sheet. The result was the most attacking midfield quartet Wanderers could possibly field, combined with a strikeforce that is threatening to prove the critics wrong.

 

Blake and Fabian de Freitas were in grave danger of being dumped after the Villa defeat a fortnight ago but Todd's perseverence has paid off handsomley.

 

Blake, goalless in ten previous starts following his ?1.5 million move from Sheffield United, sent Wanderers on their winning way and de Freitas chipped in with the decisive third, prompting a premature exodus of home fans with half an hour still to play while the ecstatic Bolton contingent chanted "Easy! Easy!" and taunted "Robson for England!" Their pace, power and growing understanding had the Boro defence in a constant state of unease and with the midfield springing frequent, high-speed counter-attacks, it wasn't a question of whether they could win but by how many.

 

"We could have had seven!" Todd suggested after seeing a handful of late chances go begging. "But I'm pleased for the two strikers. In fact I'm pleased for the 11 who played.

 

"It's not happened so often but something like this has been threatening to come for a while."

 

The threat will always be there as long as Sasa Curcic continues to run amok. His tendency to go one tackle too far on his many mazy runs dribbles can be frustrating for fans and teammates alike but he is showing more awareness with every game and the selfless side of his nature led to three of the four goals as Wanderers ran riot. Curcic combined with Sellars and de Freitas for Blake's welcome first goal, produced the telling touch for de Freitas to notch his fifth in the Premiership and opted against his go-it-alone policy when he paved the way for Lee to cut inside and claim his first with a low left footer from the edge of the Boro box.

 

For all the problems that are conspiring to create the first crisis of Robson's managerial career, Boro have the talent to pose a threat - even without Juninho. But once Wanderers had stood firm in the face of an early second half onslaught from Barmby, Hignett and Fjortoft, Pollock's surperbly worked equaliser was their only consolation.

 

Stand-in skipper Chris Fairclough paid tribute to Coleman - his fourth centre-back partner of the season - to support his belief that the survival dream is still alive. "It is still going to be very, very difficult," Fairclough conceded, "but yes, I do believe in miracles.

 

"People will probably look round and say it's a bit of a miracle Simon coming back after so long, scoring a goal and being on the winning side. But it's happened."

 

And the manager might even have found a lucky charm to help them on their way.

 

Todd cast off his familiar tracksuit and wore a suit, shirt and tie in the dugout - a fashion statement he might just be tempted to stick with as Wanderers continue to clutch at survival straws.

 

"Why not?" he joked. "I've tried everything else!"

 

 

 

http://archive.theboltonnews.co.uk/1996/2/19/858887.html

Guest Biff

Guest Biff

Posted
Posted

That day was the first time "Can we play you every week" was heard.

LKAFG

LKAFG

Posted
Posted

Don't normally post on here, but Simon Coleman always interests me. I had a brief chat wih him shortly before McFarland left, and he thought he was going to be sold because (direct quote) "The Gaffer doesn't fancy us much". Apparantly they had history. I always thought it a shame that he never regained his place, cracking player for us. And I got absolutely sh*t-faced after this game, one of my Uni buddies at the time being a massive Boro fan I also took the p*ss.

Sluffy

Sluffy

Posted
  • Author
Posted
1. Why don't you post very often?

2. Do you know Mike Hunt?

3. Do questions like 2. explain 1.?

 

 

I'm guessing that the initials LKAFG, stands for Lord Kangana a footballing genius, which if so was the name of a poster on 606 who now posts regularly on tw under the shorter name of 'Lord Kangana'.

 

If it is indeed you LK, then welcome.

 

LK is a poster of whom I am always interested to read his views and opinions and who I would recommend to the readers of this site if he did decide to post on here more frequently from now on.

Bigtoe

Bigtoe

Posted
Posted

SC was a top player for us.

 

Wonder what Jamie Pollock is doing these days?

 

Did he retire early due to an excessive pie diet ?

Traf

Traf

Posted
Posted
This thread is far too cheerful. Remember what happened the week after that win at 'Boro?

 

Aye, Black Sunday.

Traf

Traf

Posted
Posted
SC was a top player for us.

 

Wonder what Jamie Pollock is doing these days?

 

Did he retire early due to an excessive pie diet ?

 

Pollock retired in 2002, aged 28.

I can't believe he's only 34 now, he looked older than that when he played for us.

 

He's currently manager of Spennymoor United in the Unibond league.

glennboltw

glennboltw

Posted
Posted
Pollock retired in 2002, aged 28.

I can't believe he's only 34 now, he looked older than that when he played for us.

 

He's currently manager of Spennymoor United in the Unibond league.

Top bloke Pollock, he was on Radio Manchester on saturday afternoon talking about his career, I had the opportunity to speak to the guy often when he was playing for us, he always found it amusing when he played on the wing for us, always quoting sarcasticly "my blistering pace".

Traf

Traf

Posted
Posted
Top bloke Pollock, he was on Radio Manchester on saturday afternoon talking about his career, I had the opportunity to speak to the guy often when he was playing for us, he always found it amusing when he played on the wing for us, always quoting sarcasticly "my blistering pace".

 

He meant his blistering face.

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