The Bolton Manager Saga: Now We Want Giggs

Ryan Giggs’ odds to be the next Bolton manager have shortened sharply. He is now odds-on and according to journalist Alan Nixon an announcement on the new man (who may or may not be the Welshman) could be made on Monday.

There had been talk of Giggs possibly succeeding Louis van Gaal at Manchester United, but that talk only seemed to be sentimental stuff that may have gone down well with some fans at Old Trafford.

In reality, with the appointment of Jose Mourinho there, it was a case of whether Giggs stayed on in a new role in Manchester, or begin a managerial career elsewhere.

It’s hard to say whether Giggs would be a good appointment. After all, he has never managed before, save for a few games at the end of the 2013-14 season when David Moyes was sacked.

In his role as assistant boss at Old Trafford, Giggs did however impress van Gaal.

“He is very hard-working and it is impressive. What he has to do for me is analyse the opponent and his explanation of that is very good. His coaching capacity, his reading of the game, are excellent and he can say the right things to my players,” the Dutchman told the Independent in February.

It all sounds very good so far, especially coming from someone like van Gaal, who won’t talk somebody up simply because he’s a mate.

Although there’s a difference in dealing with players when you’re a number two, then being the main man when you’re explaining why they’re being dropped or being loaned out to somewhere horrible.

Speaking of the loan market, one thing going for him would be his links to Old Trafford and the pool of youth that would be open to us. But yet again, you have to have the managerial and coaching abilities to actually get the best out of those players.

On the other hands, much was spoken about Gary Neville’s high class punditry and coaching work with the England team, but he failed in his first managerial post with Valencia, a club probably not as broken as us, but were still a broken club.

It’s one of those things, from the outside at least, where we would only know if he was any good once he is doing the job.