I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.
Afternoon all. Hope your weekend was good. Hope you did all the summery things you needed to do. Because that’s it. That’s the summer. Wave summer bye-bye.
I thought I’d get you in the mood, because I read something today and it has made me so angry, so stupefyingly puce facedly angry, that I need you to come to that place with me. And mentioning the end of summer may do that. Alternatively, imagine a little pussy cat being backed over time and time again by a car that looks like Joey Barton, in front of all its even smaller kittens, and then the car bringing out a shotgun and blasting all the kittens away before scooping the remains up, sticking them in a mincer and feeding what comes out to its dogs.
Are you there yet? Good. So here goes.
Kevin Davies is a hero of Bolton Wanderers football club. I have said, time and again, that he has, time and again, put his body on the line for us. In return, we have defended him to the hilt against other fans who know no better, calling him a dirty player and not appreciating the job that he does in difficult circumstances, whilst secretly wishing that he played for them.
But there is no defence, no defence at all, for the words that he has spoken in today’s Bolton News article.
I know that he was on Football Focus on Saturday but, as I haven’t seen it (working you know) I don’t know if the words were used on the television or have appeared in the paper first. Either way, I think I reached my breaking point when I read it.
Contrary to popular, or unpopular, belief, I have nothing against SKD and I appreciate that he has to speak to the press. And rather him than others. But when he is forced to come out with the club speak that he has said, then that is enough. It is just too much.
‘It`s still early days. We have been in the Premier League for a long time and getting relegated is difficult to take.’
Well, this is OK. It has been very hard to take for all concerned. However, there were some who believed that a season in the Championship would do us good, help us find our feet, help bring the kids along. None of this has happened yet. Bits of good play have broken out in games of the direst quality and fans expected the players to hit the ground running, whether or not relegation was difficult to take. These are professional sportsmen who should be able to take it.
‘You feel like you`ve fallen out of the big time. There was a lot of sulking over the summer, but we`ve got a new challenge ahead of us now.’
Kev. You HAVE fallen out of the big time, but don’t use it as an excuse to sulk. Sulk? What is this? He isn’t a ten year old, being denied a bag of sweeties by mummy because he has wet his pants in the middle of Morrisons. Who allowed these players to sulk? Is this the reason behind that performance at Portsmouth, a team who finally managed to win a game yesterday, but only because they were playing nine men? And you haven’t got a new challenge ahead of you now. That was in mid August. It is now mid September. It is obvious by this statement that the players heads weren’t in the right place when they reported back for training and that nothing, nothing, was done about it. Aren’t we supposed to have some sort of psychologist at the club? Or a chaplain? How was this allowed to continue? Why is it still continuing?
‘It`s a difficult league and there are a lot of good sides there.’
Oh, do piss off. The nucleus of the side that came down is still together with other players brought in to shore up the areas where players have gone. There are a lot of good sides out there? The object of the exercise is to beat them, to be the best of the good sides. As of yet, we haven’t beaten any. None of Hull, Derby or Burnley are expected to make any sort of fist of it this season. Indeed, Burnley are below us after playing us off the park. What happens when we play one of the top teams? A Birmingham, a Leeds, a Wednesday or a Wolves? What then? I have seen nothing, nothing, that would suggest we can touch these sides. See Blackpool? That’s a good side. At the moment, they will cream us whilst Holloway does a funny jIg and talks about his chickens and his missus. In the same sentence.
‘I think the expectation is for us to bounce straight back up because of the quality we`ve got in the squad.’
You’ve got that right, sunshine….
‘But a lot of the teams are raising their game and making it difficult for us. Once it settles down though I think we can be up there.’
What, in the wide world of rubbery f**k, has that got to do with it? Raise their game? Just like we did last season against Stretford, Citeh, Chelski, The Arse and The Scousers in that pathetic run at the beginning of the season? In fact, screw them. Just like we did against Norwich, Spurs, Swansea and Fulham where we were comprehensively played off the park? The answer to other teams raising their game? Raise your own fricking game. It’s not rocket science.
And once it settles down? What does that mean? Your stomach? A cake you’ve just put in the oven? Meaningless and claptrap, that’s what that is.
‘And we`ve still to get all the boys back.’
Ahhhh…..the crux of the matter. The boys. That well known solicitors firm of Holden, Wheater and N’Gog. Holden, end of October at the earliest. Wheater, end of the year at the earliest. And N’Gog, the deadliest sharpshooter this side of Grzegorz Rasiak. By the time Holden and Wheater return, any chance of promotion may be gone. And shouldn’t the players that we have be enough to be at the top of the table, rather than the bottom? How much pressure does that put on them when they come back, as if the whole season depends on them? And just what guarantee is there that they will perform anyway?
‘We`ve got three big games coming up next week (Watford at home on Saturday, Birmingham away next Tuesday night and Sheffield Wednesday away the following Saturday) and we can get some points in the bag and get back up the table.’
It says a lot when the Watford game is considered to be a ‘big’ game, and winning that doesn’t guarantee anything as Birmingham and Wednesday away are capable enough of being games that plunge us into the relegation zone. Beating Watford wouldn’t even put us in the top half. I know that Birmingham are below us. But, may I remind you, so are Burnley.
Blind optimism, that’s what they call it. It is the same empty rhetoric that has been played to Bolton fans time and time again over the last eighteen months. I’ve had enough of it. It is boring, no matter whose mouth it comes out of. Today’s stooge is SKD, but that only makes it worse. Words are no longer enough. Nothing anyone at Bolton says about keeping the faith or trusting Owen Coyle or it will get better will make me believe. The only place I want to see action now is on the pitch. Over a sustained period. Starting now. No more words. NO. MORE. WORDS.
Forshame that Bolton Wanderers have made me feel that way.