there's this exhibition on at Manchester Art Gallery - pics of Manc and surrounding area by some bloke called Martin Parr

http://manchesterartgallery.org/exhibitions-and-events/exhibition/martin-parr/

went at the weekend, in amongst all his pics are these two from the 78 promotion season - well before my time (I was 1 at the time) but good pics - love that one of the town hall steps

there's also some pics of Yates Wine Lodge in the 80s but didn't bother taking a pic of those

 

It was a nightmare until we managed it truth is I was responsible for the eventual success by moving away to the midlands & hence removing the Jonah .

One of the highlights that season was the 5-1 win at Sheff Utd..one of the many away games I didnt put the mockers on ...happy days.

16 hours ago, Casino said:

We also had a team that despite being the best in the league, took years to get promoted

Lets stop being so rose tinted

My dad, unfortunately a united fan reckons that Bolton had one of the best teams in the country but by the time they'd got up the team was breaking up and the moment had gone.

12 minutes ago, Ghana White said:

My dad, unfortunately a united fan reckons that Bolton had one of the best teams in the country but by the time they'd got up the team was breaking up and the moment had gone.

With Tony Dunne, Willie Morgan and Peter Thompson all in that team and all at the twilight of their careers we were always going to need new blood.

 

Sam learned a lot from that team and replicated it during our years in the Prem. He also learned that players at the end of their careers couldn’t go on for ever but wasn’t given the backing to invest in a younger squad. 

17 minutes ago, Boby Brno said:

Sam learned a lot from that team and replicated it during our years in the Prem. He also learned that players at the end of their careers couldn’t go on for ever but wasn’t given the backing to invest in a younger squad. 

Thing is, under Sam's tenure, players at the end of their career was probably the finest football on show in a Bolton shirt we've ever seen and are ever likely to see again. OK, we were replacing old blokes (relatively) with other old blokes but what great days they were.

1 hour ago, Boby Brno said:

Sam learned a lot from that team and replicated it during our years in the Prem. He also learned that players at the end of their careers couldn’t go on for ever but wasn’t given the backing to invest in a younger squad. 

Didnt he spend 8 million on Anelka 6 months before his strop

On 03/02/2019 at 05:49, Casino said:

Didnt he spend 8 million on Anelka 6 months before his strop

 

Aye and once again it was proved to be shrewd business.

 

Indeed it was

Definitely better than Alan Smith would've been

20 minutes ago, Casino said:

Indeed it was

Definitely better than Alan Smith would've been

That would have only ended in tears.

On 02/02/2019 at 10:28, Casino said:

As above

York city and Carlisle weren't in the good sides category

Bottled it, fcuked up

Call it what you want, but fact is, we went up a couple of years later than we should and paid the price by having an older team in division one

You are right we did bottle it.

However there were two reasons we only stayed there for two years, Peter Reid's injury and Worthy falling out with Greaves and then being sold. 

On 02/02/2019 at 14:35, Ghana White said:

My dad, unfortunately a united fan reckons that Bolton had one of the best teams in the country but by the time they'd got up the team was breaking up and the moment had gone.

I don't think we did.From memory in those 2 near miss and promotion seasons we came up against 6 Division One sides in the cups.

Of those ties we lost to Coventry, Leeds, Everton, Newcastle and Middlesbrough and had a fine win at Derby.The reality was that when we came up against Division One sides in the cups they usually had better teams than us

I was young at the time but surely the signings of Frank Worthington and to a lesser degree Alan Gowling got us over the line in 77/8 and then kept us up in 78/9? Both were hardly spring chickens even then, mind. My perception of the 70s is that we rarely made pre-season signings. We certainly made none in 1978 and signed Neil McNab part way in to the new Div 1 campaign. We did sign Cantello and Clement having stayed up. Summer of 77 I don't think we made any signings either.

We signed Cantello, Gowling and McNab who to be fair were all good players. However, Spurs (runners up to Bolton) signed Ardiles and Villa, both fresh from winning the world cup with Argentina! 

10 minutes ago, Farrelli said:

We signed Cantello, Gowling and McNab who to be fair were all good players. However, Spurs (runners up to Bolton) signed Ardiles and Villa, both fresh from winning the world cup with Argentina! 

pretty sure we signed Gowling during the season we went up

Just now, wakey said:

pretty sure we signed Gowling during the season we went up

Yeah Gowling was playing in Div 2 towards the end of 77/78. Cantello didn't sign until the Summer of 79. McNab was Autumn 78. We didn't sign anyone that Summer. Still we did the double over United so somebody was doing something reet!

cantello signed when clement signed

i think

 

just checked on clement, he was still early 30s when he killed himself with weedkiller

grim

Short article on the promotion side...

https://www.theleaguepaper.com/featured/9698/where-are-they-now-bolton-wanderers-1977-78-second-division-champions/

Relocated Monteraze, home of midnight last orders and Becks on draught, to Oldham though.

Edited February 5, 20197 yr by Youri McAnespie

1 hour ago, Youri McAnespie said:

Short article on the promotion side...

https://www.theleaguepaper.com/featured/9698/where-are-they-now-bolton-wanderers-1977-78-second-division-champions/

Relocated Monteraze, home of midnight last orders and Becks on draught, to Oldham though.

reminds me, I was in a pub in Llandudno in September and someone told me Alan Waldron was a regular. Forgot all about it until reading he's a builder in Conwy.

Didn't meet him. Shit story really.

Are you kidding, anecdotes like "I had a pint in the regular of a former White (didn't meet him tho')..." are like meat and drink on here .

2 hours ago, wakey said:

pretty sure we signed Gowling during the season we went up

Aye fair enough. I was more illustrating the comparison of recruitment with a team that came up behind us.

21 hours ago, wakey said:

reminds me, I was in a pub in Llandudno in September and someone told me Alan Waldron was a regular. Forgot all about it until reading he's a builder in Conwy.

Didn't meet him. Shit story really.

I wouldn't like to be stuck in a lift with you and Mike Hunt ;-)

BTW, going to Llandudno in a couple of weeks. Which pub was it? I'll pass on your anecdote to the landlord. 

Going stalking Mr Waldron?

 

12 minutes ago, Underpants said:

I wouldn't like to be stuck in a lift with you and Mike Hunt ;-)

BTW, going to Llandudno in a couple of weeks. Which pub was it? I'll pass on your anecdote to the landlord. 

One next to the tram stop. Kings Head.

Next one down's a cracking pub if you like traditional boozers and random conversations with strangers. The Snowdon.

30 minutes ago, wakey said:

One next to the tram stop. Kings Head.

Next one down's a cracking pub if you like traditional boozers and random conversations with strangers. The Snowdon.

Do they not all start speaking in Welsh as soon as an English bloke walks in? Mate of mine is English/Welsh bilingual. Great fun.

29 minutes ago, MickyD said:

Do they not all start speaking in Welsh as soon as an English bloke walks in? Mate of mine is English/Welsh bilingual. Great fun.

no, friendly as owt in Llandudno.

If you go away from the coast a bit you get a lot of Welsh-speakers. In fairness, they're not doing it because the English bloke's walked in, they're doing it because it's their first language.