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Bolton Wanderers: Mumblings Of A Mad Man

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Ok, some of this is going to sound a little bit farfetched.

Good evening everyone. This is your first of TWO VitalBolton articles tonight, as you were so unlucky to not get one last night. Thanks to one thing or another, this is the first opportunity I have had to discuss with you my thoughts on the sacking. I appreciate it`s old news now so I`ll try and keep it short. Short. Shorts. Owen Coyle`s shorts. Oh Owen, how I`ll miss your shorts. And your optimism. Good luck in whatever you do in the future, and farewell.

Anyway, enough of that, he`s gone. It`s over. But the weird thing is, one week on, we have absolutely no inkling of who will be the next manager of our football club. Everyone who is linked with the club has acted fast in ruling themselves out of the job, most recently Messrs Solskjaer and Freedman. Whispers of Michael Appleton are worrying, as the manager has no experience of football management. The man is simply the captain of a sinking ship; someone whose role is something of a damage limitation exercise. This is somewhat far from the born winner we all want.

Whispers of Paulo Di Canio are much more worrying. Now football, politics and religion should never mix. But the moment a Mussolini-adoring fascist manages my football club is the second I walk away from supporting it. I`ve said this before and I mean it. If there is anyone of any influence who reads articles on this site or other Bolton blogs, I hope they see the above and know that it is in the thoughts of more than just me. Supporting Bolton Wanderers Football Club has done very little to make me happy in recent times and this would probably make me leave and never come back.

I`ve also concerned with McLeish, McLaren and Keith Hill from Baaarnsley. This all screams of no particular plan on what sort of manager we should appoint. What we need is a man with similar principles to Owen Coyle, who can tighten the defence and make us convert the plethora of chances we seem to make per game (by luck or bad defending). However, anyone who could fit this category already has a job, or is Pep Guardiola. Doubt he`ll cut short his sabbatical for a go in Horwich.

One man who fits that category, and has a job, has a job for us. Hear me out before you laugh. Little Sam?

??..


?Thanks for stopping eventually. Right, so it is my belief that the reason it didn`t work out for Lee in his spell as manager is because he tried to change things way too quickly. It was inevitable that we wouldn`t be able to play Allardyce football, with anything near the sort of success we`d been getting, once Big Sam and his staff had gone down the Toon. Lee knew we needed to change, but he did it without making massive changes to the squad (apart from some really quite awful additions). So, we`re all agreed that passing football + Allardyce players = relegation. Ok, you`re with me.

Another thing that didn`t help was the approach of the fans. Yeah, I`m looking at you. We`d been spoilt by four consecutive top ten finishes and two European qualifications, so when we began losing weekly, we became somewhat unforgiving. There was booing. And me, a cocky sixteen year old who could get in games as a kiddie yet still sample the wateriest beer The Reebok has to offer, was one of those booing. I`m sorry, and I`m ashamed. Needless to say, the ‘ickle Scouser was off before we could drop, and we then really began to sink.

Lets move forward five years. Now Lee is a big part of this caretaking staff. Jimmy Phillips appears to be running the show, but Little Sam will have a huge influence on the style of play and the tactical side of the game. The difference is, he isn`t managing Allardyce players. He`s managing people who like to get it down on the grass and stroke it about. Passing football + Coyle/Lee players works. Or at least, it might work.

The reason we might not look close to getting anywhere with our search could be that the search is already over. There`s games in quick succession. Let`s give these guys a chance. We don`t appear to have the cash to get anyone of note, so why not give it a go. I could remash that quote from Einstein about insanity and trying things twice, but we all know that football defies logic. And that`s why we`re here.


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