Sporting Lisbon away - our last game in Europe........

 

 

I can't understand that, its fucking inexcusable. The Prem is/was their bread and butter, the whole reason why they are multi millionaires in the first instance and they want to fucking sulk about....Wankers!! They are professional footballers, not fans like you and me.

 

I was a huge KD fan at the time, but as more light has been shed over the years he wasn't quite the honest, Mr BWFC he likes to portray.

 

Sorry - didn't properly explain myself - I can understand why they thought the way they did, but like you say, that is what they are paid to and they should be big enough to rise above it.

 

Not to be able to beat 10 men over 89 minutes with whatever the team was inexcusable and I think made the whole situation for the fans even harder to understand.

Even though we’d scraped 10k for Braga. Shit support as ever.

 

Exactly, a massive 10k for Aris at home with the help of a load of Greeks.

 

Fickle as fuck...

Superbok and port chasers made me forget that match pretty quickly afterwards.

 

Come to think of it, superbok meant I don't remember much of it in the first place

Our crowds at home were dire no excusing that. I don't get it. These were the ultimate games for us.

Fab trip hammered for three days was working in ze fatherland at the time.

Actually overslept an afternoon kick-off agin the piemunchers such was the inebriation .Dont blame Megson myself even though he was a cnut...happy days the likes of which are gone forever ( for me anyway!)

A disgrace. The starting lineup was maybe, just maybe on a par with some of our other European games. That bench though looks like the rota at fucking Burger King, no hope of changing the game if required.

 

Go for glory, aspire to something once in a lifetime. Play your best team in both bastard games if you have to.

 

A disgrace.

 

Aye.  Winning things is what it's all about and we could have won it that year.

 

Still get that uneasy feeling in my gut when I think about it, and how close we've been in the cups.

I can't understand that, its fucking inexcusable. The Prem is/was their bread and butter, the whole reason why they are multi millionaires in the first instance and they want to fucking sulk about....Wankers!! They are professional footballers, not fans like you and me.

 

I was a huge KD fan at the time, but as more light has been shed over the years he wasn't quite the honest, Mr BWFC he likes to portray.

 

can see both sides to be fair

 

yes, they get paid and paid well to play

 

but for players like Nolan and SKD at the time, they were all about playing for Bolton and had helped us achieve some good stuff in rising up the league and playing in Europe

 

they probably saw this as a chance to try and win something decent, achieve something, and they basically got dropped

 

that would fuck me off as well, no matter how much I got paid, if I wanted to do something with my career - neither got such an opportunity again

 

I think as professional footballers, they would've put a shift  in Thurs and Sunday had they been asked to

At the time I have to admit I wasn't that bothered about what Megson did in Lisbon. In retrospect I am a little more.

I was certainly bothered the following Sunday with that pathetic performance at Wigan against 10 men

can see both sides to be fair

 

yes, they get paid and paid well to play

 

but for players like Nolan and SKD at the time, they were all about playing for Bolton and had helped us achieve some good stuff in rising up the league and playing in Europe

 

they probably saw this as a chance to try and win something decent, achieve something, and they basically got dropped

 

that would fuck me off as well, no matter how much I got paid, if I wanted to do something with my career - neither got such an opportunity again

 

I think as professional footballers, they would've put a shift  in Thurs and Sunday had they been asked to

Absolutely. Professional or not they're still human. A good man manager would have recognised this.

Think Vaz Te had our one chance on the night, side netting?

The correct decision.......premier league survival had to be the priority.

Went to the Algarve day after the game. Ended up watching the Wigan match in a bar owned by a sporting fan who'd been to the match. He couldn't praise the Bolton fans enough. As the Wigan match unfolded he turned to me and said your club doesn't deserve your fans.. Not often you'll hear that

Aye. Winning things is what it's all about and we could have won it that year.

 

Still get that uneasy feeling in my gut when I think about it, and how close we've been in the cups.

It was the beginning of the end for Martin O'Neill at Aston Villa too. They'd bust a gut to get into Europe the year before then treated it like the Zenith data systems cup when they got there. His relationship with their fans never recovered

The correct decision.......premier league survival had to be the priority.

Me seeing us win a major trophy was the priority. Nothing correct about it mate

Edited March 13, 20188 yr by tomski

Always glad that I caught the tail end of the game, and then aftermath as we were locked in for however long, on video. I doubt I'll get the chance again!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcZKq_yF-PQ

Me seeing us win a major trophy was the priority. Nothing correct about it mate

Winning a big apple or £30-50m to the club.  Correct decision.

.  Correct decision.

 

You couldnt be more wrong. You could try but you would not succeed.

You couldnt be more wrong. You could try but you would not succeed.

Premier league survival was more important to BWFC than the Europa Cup, as has been shown by numerous (probably the majority of ) other English clubs, & has also been shown by our own financial meltdown since losing our premier league place.

 

Correct decision.

Easy to say in hindsight, and when it isn't your £30M quid at risk.

 

I think that people over-egged the team selection. Every round apart from Atletico we played a fairly weak team. Atletico we were stronger and pulled off a huge coup. But following it we got thumped miserably by Blackburn.

 

I'm sure Eddie and Gartside were getting edgy as we'd got results to give us a decent chance of staying up at that point then went on a bad run with Europe the perceived distraction.

It’s not just the selection but what the actual management of that week did to the squad of players and the fans

It wasn't the right decision. What did it achieve? A couple more years of being a premier league also ran.. Should have gone for it

I hate the fact Wigan won a cup.. I don't think we'd have beaten zenit but in a one off final 10 miles down the road who knows.. we could have beaten rangers and a European night at ibrox would have been incredible

Winning a big apple or £30-50m to the club. Correct decision.

Winning something every time for me. I’m not sure I even miss the premier league. I suppose the real gauge will be when we go back up on that.

 

It achieved nothing playing that team other than piss players/fans off!

 

We will never (likely) get a chance to beat sporting where beating Wigan will happen plenty of times.

Edited March 13, 20188 yr by tomski

Has it ever been proven that playing weakened sides and resting players in cup competitions leads to improved performance in the league? It's phrased as though somehow it was a choice between the league game over the cup, but what is the evidence for this? There are a number of factors that affect performance and tiredness is surely only one of several things to consider, confidence, momentum, continuity being some of the others. I'm certainly no expert but in my view you play your best team every time you go out to play, and certainly in a game that could have made history for our club!

Winning something every time for me. I’m not sure I even miss the premier league. I suppose the real gauge will be when we go back up on that.

 

It achieved nothing playing that team other than piss players/fans off!

 

We will never (likely) get a chance to beat sporting where beating Wigan will happen plenty of times.

Winning something is great.

But it wouldn’t be something I’d want at the expense of the club existing.

 

And that was the extreme view gartside had.

 

Win UEFA cup, get relegated due to the extra matches, then go bust when everything hit the wall.

 

Portsmouth were almost the exact example of this.

Spend a crap load, win a cup, but then you and future generations don’t have a club to support.

Has it ever been proven that playing weakened sides and resting players in cup competitions leads to improved performance in the league? 

 

well, we proved in this instance that it doesn't make a difference, if that helps