I wrote this article during the Summer. Let’s look at how/if situations have changed
This article was a little experiment of mine. It’s something I had been thinking about for a while and was tempted to so it on one of my previous sites.
I think there are many similarities with the situation on 16th August and now. The opinion on Dougie was poor then, I think he job is under more scrutiny now than ever though.
My views on Dorian Dervite, for one, have changed. I now believe him to be a better player than I thought he was at the time of writing.
The first team opportunities given to youth players contrast to what I wrote during the Summer. However, I’m glad that the likes of Wilkinson and White are out on loan. I’d like to see Threlkeld shipped out as well. His performances earlier in the cup were not convincing enough for me.
So, here’s the article written 16th August 2014…
‘We all know how much everything can change in football. Players can come and go, form can come and go and managers can come and go.
I decided to write this article and publish it in the relatively near (but far enough for things to change) future.
We’re currently 20th in the Championship after losing our first match 3-0 against Watford and drawing our second 2-2 against Nottingham Forest. We also one our first round in the cup against Bury- it took us 120 minutes to beat a League 2 side.
All through the Summer we’ve had problems with not having enough strikers. Before the arrival of Joe Mason on loan we had only two senior strikers contracted to the club- Jermaine Beckford who has been in very poor form and Craig Davies who’s started to pair well with Mason at the time of writing this. Also among the ranks at Bolton are young strikers Tom Eaves, Connor Wilkinson, Zach Clough and Sanmi Odelusi. Wilkinson and Clough featured during pre season- I wonder who they are doing now while you’re reading this.
Dougie Freedman has come in for criticism for the lack of senior attacking options. A few more players are likely to come in. I wonder who they’ll be. Some suggested Glenn Murray- is he at Bolton now, future Vital Bolton readers? Is Dougie still even at the club?
Our strikers haven’t been our only problem. Our defence has been shoddy. The general consensus is that we’d be strongest with a back four of McNaughton, Wheater, Mills and Ream. Note that both Dean Moxey and Marc Tierney are injured. Dorian Dervite was brought in during the Summer with a strong pedigree. However, he’s looked too clumsy and just not very athletic to me but it’s not as if that’s too uncommon for someone in his position.
We’ve also had some pretty dodgy midfield performances, too. I wonder how Darren Pratley is doing as you read this. He’s been one of the most confusing footballers of all time. Here are a few things about him we know for sure: he works hard, he has very little technical ability, he’s sloppy and he runs like a chicken. At times his work rate allows him to power through the midfield and he’s put in some very respectable performances. However, his lack of ability on the ball and football brain is poor at this level. However, as hard as this is for me to say I think we should give him more time to prove that he’s good enough. He helped Swansea get out of this division. Liam Trotter is a more diluted version of Pratley for me, with some technical ability. How are they doing now, readers?
So to conclude, at the start of the season I predicted we’d finish 8th. Although, after a league loss and a league drawer, I’ve now no idea. I think by the time this is published we’ll be 12th- starting to climb up the league but still nowhere near promotion.
I hope this finds you well, future Vital Bolton readers.’
Some things have changed, others haven’t really I guess. If you like this type of article, I’ll organise some more ‘time capsules’ to go up later.