Calling all miserable Wanderers.
Good (late) evening my fellow Wanderers. I wanted to write my first article for Vital Bolton with all the optimism I felt on this date last year. Sixth in the table after just beating the Dingles with a late Stuart Holden strike, the only way was up for a vibrant, attacking side led by an inventive young manager. The good times were calling.
They weren`t. And I`m not writing this with optimism. We are apparently on our worst run in 108 years. We can`t attack. We can`t defend. The manager is out of ideas. The club is out of money. I`ll come back to this later.
So, a little bit about me. I`m a young man, not that you`d be able to tell that from the way I talk about my football club. I was told at school by one of my teachers that I was the most cynical twelve-year-old boy they`d ever met. Years later, a jaded expression has become my default.
Not being born in Bolton, or raised by Boltonians, I never had that day where I was taken to Burnden as a little one by my dad or uncle (my family is full of Leeds and Spurs fans). I was taken to my first game the day after my ninth birthday, by my sisters. It was 22nd January 2000 (you know how young I am now), when we hosted Ipswich Town at the Reebok. We drew 1-1, with Dean Holdsworth banging in the goal for Big Sam`s men. Deano was immediately my hero, and I barely missed a home game in the ten years that followed.
Unfortunately, I no longer hold a season ticket as I moved away for university. I currently live in a city where Megson is god. It`s shocking, but the blue and white half of Sheffield appears to genuinely be happy with him. Well, I suppose they are in the promotion places. Anyway, I`m getting off-topic, let`s just wait till we play them at Hillsborough next season.
And so I come onto our current predicament. We have lost 17 out of our last 20 games, and if we keep up this form, we will have 23 points at the end of the season. That has never, and will never, be enough to stay in the Barclays Premier League (I hope you all read that last bit in a Coyle voice, I wrote it in one. Seriously, why does he never just say ‘the league`?). And so who is to blame for this terrible turn of form?
The answer, unfortunately, is Owen Coyle. Anyone who blames the player`s lack of effort, creativity or passion should remember that he is the man that picks the team, tells them how to play, and is responsible for motivating them.
So sack him then? No, for many reasons. First of all, I`ve heard it might cost a pretty penny to get him out of his contract, and we can`t afford it. Second of all, there are NO viable alternatives out there. If anyone dares to mention Phil Brown?
But the most important reason to keep him is the hope that this is a blip (albeit a huge one), and that he will turn things around. Allardyce`s Bolton was always going through horrible winless streaks. However, these were usually followed up by five/six match winning runs, and there is a fat chance of that happening.
My honest conclusion is that I don`t know why it`s going wrong for a man who looked to have the brightest of managerial futures just twelve months ago. And I don`t know what he can do to turn this pathetic bunch of failures into the players we all know they can be. They`re better than this. Lets remind ourselves of this, and get behind him. Because I`m sick of being pessimistic about Bolton.