Winning ugly or winning in style, it’s still just 3 points gained
It`s amazing how different your weekend is with a win on a Saturday afternoon, isn`t it? You wake Sunday morning with a glow in your belly; you have more time for people, your Sunday lunch tastes that much better- even though the lumps in the mash potato are still present and the sprouts are hard.
For the second time this season, the above scenario happened for us Bolton supporters. I just wish I could have gotten the win through to my Staffordshire bull terrier when the fireworks started. As she sat panting on the couch, shaking in terror from the ridiculous noise the Air-Bomb Repeaters make, I tried explaining that there was nothing to worry about? Our defence had seemingly solidified overnight, our striker was strutting around like Real Madrid had enquired about his situation and we had finally put some daylight between ourselves and the Championship trapdoor. Unfortunately, it made no difference. Even if I had gotten through to her, I don`t think it would have made any difference? I think she`s a Southampton fan, anyway.
In all seriousness, that was a great win for the Whites. Not only for the points gained from our visit to Bournemouth, but what the win should do for our team as a whole.
We`ve spoke at length as to why the Wanderers` woes have been so dramatic and relentless. Without finding an exact science as to why Bolton have suffered so, I still believe it`s more to do with what has happened between the ears of our players, than what has happened to them in the league standings. I know Dougie has concentrated on hard work and training sessions for reducing dark times for this football club and he`s correct to do so. But with all due respect to Mr Freedman, unless you were part of this club for the 18 months previous to the new regime, it would be impossible to understand fully what psychological effects that period had on our players.
Profound occurrences in life are not exclusively reserved for happy experiences. Coming face to face with your own mortality and, of course that of your fellow players- especially at such a young age- would force the most certain player to take a step back and evaluate? What`s it all about? Is it all worth it? What am I doing here?
Dougie`s a football person; a football manager and he`s doing everything a football manager should do to get his players winning again. However, from what happened at White Heart Lane that night in March 2012, I believe more could have been achieved for our players from spending months on a psychiatrist`s couch than it would, months on a training ground.
Everything takes time and some things more than others. The ‘posh Womble` made some clangers in the transfer market but there has to come time when we say: this is Dougie Freedman`s team now and he is responsible for what happens on the pitch. I`m still not getting excited, but like the fireworks with my dog, the longer the time elapsed after the fireworks had ceased, the calmer and more relaxed she became. I`m not saying our football team is fully healed just yet, but the unbeaten run coupled with the positives on the field in defence and attack, it seems Bolton Wanderers has finally started wagging it`s tail.