Cahill to Chelsea, Elmander to Liverpool and Al-Habsi to Fulham, plus SuperKev putting down roots, Moreno loving it in the cold and I blame Rio Ferdinand for losing us the World Cup.
Good evening and welcome to the post Russia got the World Cup party. I am your host, Mr X, and, for the next few paragraphs, we will try and disseminate just what England not getting the World Cup means to Bolton Wanderers.
Actually, I can tell you in one line. We weren`t going to get any games, so it matters not one jot. Not that I`m unpatriotic mind. It just doesn`t affect Bolton Wanderers in the grand scheme of things.
Right, apologies for not being here yesterday but I had to go to Leigh and didn`t get back until 10pm. It was my first time visiting this fine example of dark satanic mills and as such I had to have a stiffener when I got back. Then another. And you get the picture.
So, we dealt with the award for The Reebok, what else has been happening?
Let`s start, as we are bound to do every day until the end of January, with the transfers of Gary Cahill and Johan Elmander. Mr Vinegar has re confirmed that he is not in the hunt for any new players in January, but as soon as he said that, Chelsea came into the frame.
It is true that the central defence play better when Sam Ricketts is in it, but Ricketts is not a central defender full time, although the way he played on Saturday, it may only be a matter of time. This does not mean that Gary Cahill should leave, but I find the fact that Chelsea are now interested in him worrying, especially given a) our conveyor belt system that tends to lead to Stamford Bridge (Eidur, Anelka, Ben Haim) and b) the fact that their central defence are either crocked (Terry) useless (Alex) or a right back (Ferreira).
Unlike Liverpool, Chelsea can offer Cahill a way into the Champions League before the earth plummets into the sun in a fiery death and are a better proposition than Spurs, where central defenders pick up leg problems as soon as walk into the training ground. And, no matter how much Abramovich bunged FIFA, they still have money to burn.
As for Elmander, the former BEN reported today that the club have slapped a £5million price tag on Elmander. This, you would suspect, won`t put off John Henry one bit and, unless we can get this signature signed, he will be on his way. It becomes a worrying sign when we have only just got past November and the club is already talking figures. I still hold out hope, though, that he will know what`s good for him and pledge another season at least to Bolton. After all, we can`t have Mrs X claiming that her club are a bigger one, can we?
Fulham are after Al-Habsi in January, according to The Mail, regardless of the fact that his loan deal to Wigan is for the season. As much as the pie eaters have been bleating about having a clause to sign him at the end of the season, and as much as I would like to see them having to recall Calamity Kirkland after just loaning him out, I really don`t think this one has legs. Or any other part of the body.
So, now we`ve dealt with those that are leaving, how about those that are staying, at least until May.
One is SuperKevinDavies, lord of the land of Twitter. A man who is quickly getting a reputation for plain speaking and not asking stupid questions, like the current England captain did when the FIFA decision came down today. “What more could we do?” he asked. Well, we could have taken your ugly fizzog off the promotional video, because when I saw that I nearly choked on my bacon sarnie, Mr Ferdinand.
There was a time, and not too long ago, when the Hull City put in a bid for the captain. At the time it may have been cheeky, but Phil Brown must have had a rumbling from somewhere. Certainly there was some swell of support for selling him as his performances were considered by them to be lacklustre and he was seen as the fulcrum for all that was bad about Gary Megson`s style of play.
As the captain, he had to stand by what the manager said, and lets not forget that under that style of play he had his most successful season, goalscoring wise. So far. What we have seen since the arrival of Owen Coyle is that he will give his all for his manager, regardless of who he is and regardless of whether he believes in the tactics or not. There may be times that he isn`t successful, as he wasn`t first with Blackburn and then in the latter stages of his second spell at Southampton. But what you will get is a whole hearted individual who gives his all and who, when it doesn`t come off, is man enough to admit it. Nowadays, on social networks sites.
Someone else happy at The Reebok is Rodrigo Moreno. Although he has been used only as a substitute this season, his appearance as one of the striking subs on Saturday helped turn the game and it was his crossfield pass to Mark Davies that started the move for the equaliser. OK, the throw in from Paul Robinson did effectively start the move, but it was from Moreno`s feet that the move began it`s trajectory towards goal. Don`t think of this as an anti-Paul Robinson thing. That`s all behind me for now.
“I`m very happy here. I like playing the games, all players want to play as much as possible. I need to be patient if I want to play more in the next few games.”
There is the possibility that he will be playing more games once Lee Chung-Yong flies off to Qatar for the Asian Cup as he could fit quite easily into the right side of midfield role. Bolton have a reputation of bedding foreign players in until the winter kicks in and Rodrigo has shown in his cameos that he is a player that we could expect good things from come the New Year. I`d expect Lee to keep on playing until he has to fly to the other side of the world, so that would mean us needing to fill in a Korean sized gap at Anfield on New Years Day.
Speaking of which, Mrs X is trying to get me to sit in the Liverpool end for that game, dangling the carrot of an exclusive bar and a free programme in my face if I say yes. The woman has no shame.
Right, I`m off to dream about cars I can`t afford. We will deal with the Citeh game, when the snood brotherhood meet for a convention, tomorrow.