Over in York for a business meeting at a college out in the sticks and who walks in the door but Phil Parkinson his missus and son. Had a nice chat. Strange old world.

Colin Todd didn’t nearly bankrupt the club.

 

That’s like blaming Neil Lennon for handing Ben Amos £16k a week.

That’s not to mention mosaic, the sale of burnden park and Gordon hargreeves tender opening process. But that’s a different conversation all together

Whilst back in Bolton, walked past Warbies and Hargreaves Construction were doing an extension there.

 

Massive whiff of "golf course" deals.

Colin Todd didn’t nearly bankrupt the club.

 

That’s like blaming Neil Lennon for handing Ben Amos £16k a week.

 

His failure was partly responsible for it though. Not wholly, but partly. He asked for the money with the promise we'd remain a premiership club. 

 I think the off-field stuff probably had a bigger impact.

 

shagging any tramp that gave him the eye in Fannys and hiding from his Glaswegian nutter of a missus probably made him take his eye off the ball 

That’s like blaming Neil Lennon for handing Ben Amos £16k a week.

 

only one person responsible for that

 

Ironically the only time he showed a modicum of financial management it led to our greatest ever manager walking out. But again, another conversation

McHe seemingly gets away with the 95/6 season because McFarland takes all the blame. Bit of a stretch but whatever.

 

not sure about that, we improved massively once McFarland left from 0.45 points a game (10 from 22) to 1.2 (18 from 16) - form which might just have kept us up from the off

Aye conceded 20 points or whatever it was during the last 15 mins of games didn’t help.

His failure was partly responsible for it though. Not wholly, but partly. He asked for the money with the promise we'd remain a premiership club.

We spent around nine and a half million that season and recouped all bar three million of it in sales.

 

100k of that spend saved us the bother of having to buy a goalkeeper for more than a decade.

It did

 

It still amazes me allardyce thought banks a better bet to play in a cup semi v challinor

I’d have Todd in ahead of Parky. He built the hardest team you will ever see and pissed a league title.

 

Big sam, rioch and Todd for me.

 

Parky has done brilliantly under massive constraints. But he’s a bit of being a great yet imo. Not much mind.

Great team and great times. But Todd was standing on the shoulders of a giant.

 

Parky's picking up the pieces of multicunts.

Multicunt. Like it.

Sammy Lee was a joke appointment

He tried to change way too  much, too soon, however I do think we panicked a bit early. Be interesting to see what would've happened if it played out.

 

I spent the day with Lennon not long after he'd been potted. I'm sure he didn't help himself, but he felt massively aggrieved that he was miss-sold the opportunity, the state of the club and took over players that simply weren't interested. I do think a good chunk of that is true, but his inability to deal with it and some of the lacklustre performances towards the end of his reign were way, way beyond unacceptable.

 

Freedman was a fucking prick; both him and Coyle had plenty of opportunity not to be stubborn wankers and to halt our slide but didn't as they thought they had some kind of supreme footballing ideology beyond anyone else's comprehension. Freedman then proved what a cunt he was by personally blocking the Chungy loan move.

 

Let's not get me going on GM

 

Since I started, SA has to be the best; Bruce my favourite, and Toddy & PP somewhere in the middle (so far), further on from Phil De La Neal

Edited September 5, 20187 yr by jules_darby

only one person responsible for that

 

Ironically the only time he showed a modicum of financial management it led to our greatest ever manager walking out. But again, another conversation

Imo the panic set in after Sam left.

He had the club running on a decent budget and it was able to get by relatively easily. He wasn't willing to push the boat out for Sam.

He felt he needed to once the slide started.

Imo the panic set in after Sam left.

He had the club running on a decent budget and it was able to get by relatively easily. He wasn't willing to push the boat out for Sam.

He felt he needed to once the slide started.

 

hindsight is a wonderful thing eh 

Been watching Bolton for 50 years first 25 years Ian Greaves for me second 25years it's a no brainer Big Sam .

I started watching at the end of the Armfield era and for what it's worth my top 3 would be Allardyce Rioch and Parky.

 

As others have said all 3 turned the club around and when you consider what an absolute shambles we were before Parky took over that is why he would make my top 3. Probably worse circumstances than any manager at Bolton.

 

If you take into consideration teams that were enjoyable to watch then Greaves and Todd would come into consideration. 

Imo the panic set in after Sam left.

He had the club running on a decent budget and it was able to get by relatively easily. He wasn't willing to push the boat out for Sam.

He felt he needed to once the slide started.

I think because of the spat with Allardyce when he left PG wanted to prove that we could do it without him. More and more dosh was poured in to prove that in reality we couldn't.

Imo the panic set in after Sam left.

He had the club running on a decent budget and it was able to get by relatively easily. He wasn't willing to push the boat out for Sam.

He felt he needed to once the slide started.

 

This is misrepresenting how decisions were made at the club and the realities of the situation at the time. But again a separate conversation and probably one best left given not all the parties involved can answer anymore. 

i think the cup runs, the big results under the lights, the finals under Rioch will always be remembered much more fondly than the results Parkinson has had so far. i include Vale & Forest in that 

 

As a teenager in the mid 90s when BWFC were the be all and end all those memories are everything to me. Along with the more recent European trips

 

But purely for the work Parkinson has done so far, in similar conditions, he deserves to be recognised alongside Rioch as it stands. If he eventually gets viewed as better then he wouldve done an oustanding job 

For me

 

Sam - took us up , kept us up and Euro trips

Greaves - took us up and brought us down, played some great football

Rioch - took us, but left with the job unfinished ( so we will never know, but that's why 3rd) played some great football

i think the cup runs, the big results under the lights, the finals under Rioch will always be remembered much more fondly than the results Parkinson has had so far. i include Vale & Forest in that 

 

As a teenager in the mid 90s when BWFC were the be all and end all those memories are everything to me. Along with the more recent European trips

 

But purely for the work Parkinson has done so far, in similar conditions, he deserves to be recognised alongside Rioch as it stands. If he eventually gets viewed as better then he wouldve done an oustanding job 

 

Its different. The fantastic rebirth and rise of the club under Rioch was a magical time you cannot recreate. A completely different football era really. It was the antidote to the drudgery and misery that had mainly gone before it. And as such I suspect viewed against a different backdrop to now. 

 

And we were all younger and for many of us enjoying the first real sustained success the club had offered in a very dramatic way. It was like a magic combination, a perfect fit for the time. But Rioch struggled after leaving us, and probably if we're honest with ourselves was more the right man at the right time rather than one of the best managers of his peer group. 

 

Allardyce for me was one of the best managers and outperformed his peers even with lower budgets and often less attractive clubs.

 

Parky inherited the worst situation of the three by a mile and against that has arguably come close to Allardyce in terms of pure £ per "league position" rating. He'll never repeat the magic of the Rioch years, nobody will. And he won't come close to top 8 in the premiership unless something at the club changes significantly that he has no control over. But he's doing a job arguable as important and big as the other two did.

 

I'm not sure about remembering fondly. That Forest game I think will go down in folklore. I don't think I've experienced emotions like that in football ever as a fan. The closest would be the Reading Wembley game but the Forest game was far more significant. Had we lost I'm not convinced we'd be here the same way we are now. 

Its different. The fantastic rebirth and rise of the club under Rioch was a magical time you cannot recreate. A completely different football era really. It was the antidote to the drudgery and misery that had mainly gone before it. And as such I suspect viewed against a different backdrop to now.

 

And we were all younger and for many of us enjoying the first real sustained success the club had offered in a very dramatic way. It was like a magic combination, a perfect fit for the time. But Rioch struggled after leaving us, and probably if we're honest with ourselves was more the right man at the right time rather than one of the best managers of his peer group.

 

Allardyce for me was one of the best managers and outperformed his peers even with lower budgets and often less attractive clubs.

 

Parky inherited the worst situation of the three by a mile and against that has arguably come close to Allardyce in terms of pure £ per "league position" rating. He'll never repeat the magic of the Rioch years, nobody will. And he won't come close to top 8 in the premiership unless something at the club changes significantly that he has no control over. But he's doing a job arguable as important and big as the other two did.

 

I'm not sure about remembering fondly. That Forest game I think will go down in folklore. I don't think I've experienced emotions like that in football ever as a fan. The closest would be the Reading Wembley game but the Forest game was far more significant. Had we lost I'm not convinced we'd be here the same way we are now.

Think you pretty much repeated what he said but with a load more words.

I'm not sure about remembering fondly. That Forest game I think will go down in folklore. I don't think I've experienced emotions like that in football ever as a fan. The closest would be the Reading Wembley game but the Forest game was far more significant. Had we lost I'm not convinced we'd be here the same way we are now. 

 

emotions towards football change, different age etc like you say

 

Yes Forest will be remembered but alongside that night at Anfield, Highbury, Reading, Swindon, Wolves. They mean exactly the same to me but for differing reasons. But i do remember those nights more fondly.

 

whether its nostalgia i dont know, maybe in 20 years i will think of Forest in the same light? 

 

results under Rioch for me were pure Joy

under Parkinson joy but mainly relief

Edited September 5, 20187 yr by barrycowdrill

emotions towards football change, different age etc like you say

 

Yes Forest will be remembered but alongside that night at Anfield, Highbury, Reading, Swindon, Wolves. They mean exactly the same to me but for differing reasons. But i do remember those nights more fondly.

 

 

whether its nostalgia i dont know, maybe in 20 years i will think of Forest in the same light?

 

results under Rioch for me were pure Joy

under Parkinson joy but mainly relief

Relief is the correct description. The pressure on results in the last 2 years has been unprecedented and combined with our financial situation PP will in future years be remembered as a saviour.

It’s unlikely he will be revered like SA and BR but I think the wrong appointment in 2016 and we could have gone the way of the likes of Pompey,Coventry and Luton and slid further