Tom Jenkins looks at the chances BWFC have had to save themselves over the years…
Since I last wrote an article, a lot has changed at this club. Lennon has gone, we were battered in Bristol and we are now confirmed to be relegated to League 1 next season. Let`s be honest, we all expected this and the relegation has surprised nobody. Having been on holiday, the last match I was able to attend was the home game against QPR and had it not been for Matt Phillips` goal ruining the day, I would have left the game feeling almost positive about our survival chances. The performance was there, the desire was there and, amazingly, even a goal was there too. If we had won that day it is highly possible that this season could have changed its ending. I saw enough that game to think that survival could be possible. However, we didn`t win and we haven`t looked like winning a game since. And here we are today, against Middlesbrough, expecting yet another drubbing under Jimmy Phillips.
This whole situation could have been so different and we certainly had the chances to make it right. The day this whole thing, this descent into the abyss, began has many different start dates, but for many fans it began with Sam Allardyce` acrimonious departure in 2007. Had Phil Gartside shown faith in Wanderers` most successful manager ever, Champions League football would have been on the cards. He didn`t, Sam left, and here we are. The next turning point was the appointment of BWFC`s new manager. Gartside went with Sammy Lee, and it was a disaster. At that stage we could have had the pick of a lot of successful managers due to our financial stability (a thing of the past now), our talented squad and the fact we were in Europe. Yet Gartside went with Lee who had never been in the big job and put him in charge of one the Premier League`s Top 10 sides. He was rubbish, the rot set in, and here we are.
After that many season of ignominy followed with the Whites facing relegation battles consistently until 2010/11. Owen Coyle had apparently stopped the rot. Bolton were playing some great football and even Johan Elmander was scoring goals and looking dangerous. Daniel Sturridge came in and showed everyone what he was capable of and everything was rosy. Then came the FA Cup Semi-Final. This is the other date some fans believe our fortunes changed. I was there, many of us were, and it was one of the worst days I have ever had. After that, coupled with the blow of losing Stuart Holden to long term injury, we were never the same and after a shocking losing run to the end of the season, the writing was on the wall for 20011/12. Maybe if the players had turned up on that day at Wembley the revival would have continued. They didn`t, it didn`t, and here we are.
Our relegation season had one major turning point, and it was Adam Bogdan being shoved in the net at Stoke. The week before we had had the chance to save our skins against West Brom and we didn`t. The thing that really annoyed me about that season is that we had done our bit to stay up in that we had done the double over both Blackburn and QPR (our nearest rivals) and also taken 4 points off Wolves (already down). We had done what we needed to and we still went down. That game against West Brom, had we held our 2-0 lead it would have probably saved us in the end. Yet we let it go, we went down, and here we are.
The last major turning point was the next year where, after a great winning run that gave us a shot at the play-offs, we came to our nearest rivals, now Premier League Champions elect, Leicester City. That game was the big one in terms of turning points as the winner would get the advantage in the play-off hunt but, in hindsight, the winner would be on an ever bigger journey. Leicester won 3-2 on a night that should be looked upon as a turning point in both our histories and they got the play offs in the end, and now they may get the Premier League. They went up, we went down, and here we are.
That we could have saved ourselves on so many occasions it is sickening, but it almost gives me hope that things will turn around. Bolton have always been given a chance to right some wrongs, the fact we have never taken those chances is why we are here today. All it takes is one chance to be taken and we can start to get out of this.