http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkfvJp5awJc

1 hour ago, paulhanley said:

Maybe 22? I'd have to check. He just never quite edged to the top of the list. The fans often called for him to be picked but Phil Neal knew better. Maybe on this occasion he actually did know better because Stevens never really played about 3rd/4th tier later in his career.

I've mentioned it before, I went to the TR 85 meeting when Phil Neal met the fans in the Balmoral & Neal was asked about Stevens & got quite snotty about it in a " I know best" kind of way. It was clear that Neal was going to dig his heels in rather than bow to fans' pressure.

As it turned out, he was probably proved to be right.

15 minutes ago, dusan nikolic said:

I spoke to him the other year and he said then he was fond of his beer at that time , wasn't every footballer . He also debunked the myth that he left to join his boyhood club West Brom , apparently he didn't support them ( Walsall I think he said) and that he actually wanted to stay but Phil Neal had other ideas.

I might have this wrong but from memory he'd signed Philliskirk and Reeves before Thomas left so he'd clearly decided to move on from JT. We were left with Ian Stevens and Mick Jeffrey as the back-up strikers. According to Wikipedia he only scored 7 goals in the remaining 5 years of his career - so maybe Neal wasn't a bad judge!

16 minutes ago, bolton va va said:

I've mentioned it before, I went to the TR 85 meeting when Phil Neal met the fans in the Balmoral & Neal was asked about Stevens & got quite snotty about it in a " I know best" kind of way. It was clear that Neal was going to dig his heels in rather than bow to fans' pressure.

As it turned out, he was probably proved to be right.

He probably was right to be fair. But you could see why the fans thought the way they did. Stevens looked bright whenever he played.

3 minutes ago, paulhanley said:

I might have this wrong but from memory he'd signed Philliskirk and Reeves before Thomas left so he'd clearly decided to move on from JT. We were left with Ian Stevens and Mick Jeffrey as the back-up strikers. According to Wikipedia he only scored 7 goals in the remaining 5 years of his career - so maybe Neal wasn't a bad judge!

Yes , he had a poor spell at West Brom , then he joined Preston , but he had a bad leg break at Burnden I think , and in his words he said he was never the same player.

Just now, dusan nikolic said:

Yes , he had a poor spell at West Brom , then he joined Preston , but he had a bad leg break at Burnden I think , and in his words he said he was never the same player.

Bolton v Preston seemed to be the fixture for leg breaks over those years. Robbie Savage suffered as well (video posted last week from 89/90). 

Often forgotten now but his 87-89 spell at Bolton was his second with us. He looked fairly decent for us in Div 2 in the early 80s for a while - as a much younger player.

21 minutes ago, bolton va va said:

I've mentioned it before, I went to the TR 85 meeting when Phil Neal met the fans in the Balmoral & Neal was asked about Stevens & got quite snotty about it in a " I know best" kind of way. It was clear that Neal was going to dig his heels in rather than bow to fans' pressure.

As it turned out, he was probably proved to be right.

I spoke to a bloke the last time we played at Derby , and he was saying about one of these fans meetings with Phil Neal and he told me about him getting prickly when his team selections were discussed. He said he hated him for the rest of his reign with us.

 

The music sounds like one of my hangovers but didn't he score some gigantic goals for us.

15 hours ago, Marc505 said:

 

The music sounds like one of my hangovers but didn't he score some gigantic goals for us.

some belters in there

I did enjoy his diving header v Plovdiv from a inch perfect cross field pass from Hunt

but the ones I remember most fondly are his two in two mins v Newcastle, topped off a great away weekend on the toon that did

I love his cupped ear celebration.  The accompaniment to so many of his goals are outraged home fans giving him dogs abuse!

In response to a request from Dusan earlier this week, here's Derby 2 Bolton 1 from the tail-end of the 85/6 season. Our league season was petering out and the minds of everyone was on the Freight Rover Trophy run. Derby were promotion bound with players like Gary Micklewhite, Steve McLaren and Jeff Chandler in their ranks. 

All of the goals are good - Hartford's for Bolton is a class effort that we wouldn't associate with this period in our history. 

First time I've ever posted a Bolton defeat. 

 

1 hour ago, paulhanley said:

In response to a request from Dusan earlier this week, here's Derby 2 Bolton 1 from the tail-end of the 85/6 season. Our league season was petering out and the minds of everyone was on the Freight Rover Trophy run. Derby were promotion bound with players like Gary Micklewhite, Steve McLaren and Jeff Chandler in their ranks. 

All of the goals are good - Hartford's for Bolton is a class effort that we wouldn't associate with this period in our history. 

First time I've ever posted a Bolton defeat. 

 

Thanks again Paul , I remember going to this with an old bloke from our miners welfare (who was a Derby fan ).when the mini - bus pulled up the derby fans asked him who I was , to which he said 'he's a new fan" they said hello , then he said " yes a Bolton fan" to which they all booed and jeered, I was only 11 at the time.  ( all good natured probably) , but christ did I go red as anything.

I remember Asa Hartfords goal being class ,didn't realise Steve Buckleys opener was such a rocket , his mum used to live opposite our house , I got invited to her birthday party that year , and Steve bollocked  me for keep talking about that match to him.

Good memories and thanks mate.

Edited April 10, 20206 yr by dusan nikolic

10 minutes ago, dusan nikolic said:

Thanks again Paul , I remember going to this with an old bloke from our miners welfare (who was a Derby fan ).when the mini - bus pulled up the derby fans asked him who I was , to which he said 'he's a new fan" they said hello , then he said " yes a Bolton fan" to which they all booed and jeered, I was only 11 at the time.  ( all good natured probably) , but christ did I go red as anything.

I remember Asa Hartfords goal being class ,didn't realise Steve Buckleys opener was such a rocket , his mum used to live opposite our house , I got invited to her birthday party that year , and Steve blocked me for keep talking about that match to him.

Good memories and thanks mate.

Good tale. Not too long after the miner's strike. Steve Buckley played for Derby for years and his brother was Alan Buckley who I remember at Walsall as a player and a manager.

4 minutes ago, paulhanley said:

Good tale. Not too long after the miner's strike. Steve Buckley played for Derby for years and his brother was Alan Buckley who I remember at Walsall as a player and a manager.

Yes , I think he was manager for the 8-1 game.

I think Steve Buckley married a girl from westhoughton

26 minutes ago, Casino said:

I think Steve Buckley married a girl from westhoughton

I think is wife was called Vera .

Cheered myself up today with both play off final wins (reading and pne), Bayern Munich and Wigan when Kelly scores receiving the ball on half way.

 

just magic

That “on this day” in the Bolton news has been good reading, some nice flashbacks to some great games

From 17 minutes on, some fantastic BWFC footage from 1945 when we won north cup beating Man U and then beat southern cup winners Chelsea at Stamford bridge, great scenes from Bolton town and Burnden park and good quality footage. 

Edited April 11, 20206 yr by Mounts Kipper

Someone said the other day that highlights/goals from the very late 90s have become rare to see. Here's something that fits that bill - and a great derby win over Blackburn at that.

Our banjo playing friends had been relegated the previous season and Brian Kidd as boss did not work out. In early February the dingles came to Bolton with Nathan Blake and Per Frandsen in their ranks. The former scored one of his powerful headers to give them the lead but the rest of the afternoon was ours with goals from Gudni Bergsson, Michael Johansen and Eidur Gudjohnsen. 

Our tremendous late surge in to the play offs came to naught thanks to Barry Knight - but Big Sam's era was beginning to take shape.

 

Edited April 11, 20206 yr by paulhanley

2 minutes ago, paulhanley said:

Someone said the other day that highlights/goals from the very late 90s have become rare to see. Here's something that fit that bill - and a great derby win over Blackburn at that.

Our banjo playing friends had been relegated the previous season and Brian Kidd as boss did not work out. In early February the dingles came to Bolton with Nathan Blake and Per Frandsen in their ranks. The former scored one of his powerful headers to give them the lead but the rest of the afternoon was ours with goals from Gudni Bergsson, Michael Johansen and Eidur Gudjohnsen. 

Our tremendous late surge in to the play offs came to naught thanks to Barry Knight - but Big Sam's era was beginning to take shape.

 

What a great team that was , Eidur scoring a carbon copy of the Charlton F .A .Cup goal .

I wonder how things would have panned out if that team would have got promoted.

37 minutes ago, dusan nikolic said:

What a great team that was , Eidur scoring a carbon copy of the Charlton F .A .Cup goal .

I wonder how things would have panned out if that team would have got promoted.

Even by going up we wouldn't have been guaranteed to keep hold of Eidur and Claus Jensen. Michael Johansen had signed a pre-contract deal back in Denmark irrespective of whether we ultimately went up or not. Sam would have had us scrapping whatever panned out.

3 minutes ago, paulhanley said:

Even by going up we wouldn't have been guaranteed to keep hold of Eidur and Claus Jensen. Michael Johansen had signed a pre-contract deal back in Denmark irrespective of whether we ultimately went up or not. Sam would have had us scrapping whatever panned out.

Eidur would more than likely have gone , but if we had of gone up we would have had the finances to dig our heels in and command a fee that resembled his worth, but Claus would have surely have stayed with us over Charlton in the Premier , we would have probably have been able to persuade Paul Ritchie and Allan Johnston to stay as well.

In fairness though waiting another year didn't do any harm in the scheme of things.

3 minutes ago, dusan nikolic said:

Eidur would more than likely have gone , but if we had of gone up we would have had the finances to dig our heels in and command a fee that resembled his worth, but Claus would have surely have stayed with us over Charlton in the Premier , we would have probably have been able to persuade Paul Ritchie and Allan Johnston to stay as well.

In fairness though waiting another year didn't do any harm in the scheme of things.

Nah. On the whole it was worth waiting that extra season. Some great wins that year.... although we could have done without the 1-4 home defeat to the dingles in the equivalent fixture 12 months on.

1 minute ago, paulhanley said:

Nah. On the whole it was worth waiting that extra season. Some great wins that year.... although we could have done without the 1-4 home defeat to the dingles in the equivalent fixture 12 months on.

Yes , we started with a virtual clean slate , and I didn't have a clue where we would finish. But a great start to the season and away we went.

I've got to be honest , I was mighty relieved when Preston beat Birmingham , I think when that match finished I knew we was up. 

1 hour ago, paulhanley said:

Someone said the other day that highlights/goals from the very late 90s have become rare to see. Here's something that fits that bill - and a great derby win over Blackburn at that.

Our banjo playing friends had been relegated the previous season and Brian Kidd as boss did not work out. In early February the dingles came to Bolton with Nathan Blake and Per Frandsen in their ranks. The former scored one of his powerful headers to give them the lead but the rest of the afternoon was ours with goals from Gudni Bergsson, Michael Johansen and Eidur Gudjohnsen. 

Our tremendous late surge in to the play offs came to naught thanks to Barry Knight - but Big Sam's era was beginning to take shape.

 

What a great find that is! Right in the middle of that lost era as you say.

Reebok in its pre tall ad boards behind the goal period as well.