An article...

A recent article written prior to the chelsea, chelsea and villa matches, after megson said we had had a decent start to the season and he didnt know what else we could possibly do...





"A decent start to the season" ...or is it?


According to manager Gary Megson, Bolton have made a decent start to the season and in the last five matches have won, 3 drawn one, and lost one. Or you could look at it another way…

Bolton opened the season with an unambitious all out defensive performance and a loss against struggling Sunderland who came to the Reebok looking like the home side, could have been 5-0 up by half time and gained their first away win in about 10 months. Megson’s band of not so merry men were left wallowing at the foot of the table after their next match in which former Bolton coach Phil Brown led Hull to their first win at the KC Stadium since October 2008, yet Megson thought his team played well. Bolton’s first win came against League Two side Tranmere when Megson fielded his first choice eleven against a team struggling in the third tier of English football. Tranmere came close many times and a single Bolton goal separated the two sides.



Bolton then played Liverpool, losing a third league match in a row and joined problem ridden portsmouth as the only team still on zero points. Next up for Bolton in the league were Portsmouth at Fratton Park, the Bolton fans less than satisfied with the start to the season were beginning to doubt Megson and his bizarre team selections and boring negative tactics. Pointless Portsmouth had lost nealry every first team player during the Summer and had dragged together a team at the last minute, including four debutants and several others playing only their second game for the club. Bolton somehow took all three points from the game with the aid of a penalty and a last gasp winner from Gary Cahill which after a scramble he managed to head home. Winning against Pompy this season seems to be no big deal though, they have played seven, lost seven in the league so far.



Another so called easy match was coming to the Reebok in the shape of Stoke City, relegation candidates and Premiership newbies fighting their way through only their second season in the top flight. Megson again opted to play his infamous 4-5-1 system at home against a team which an experienced Bolton side should be beating with relative ease. Stoke dominated the first half and totally outclassed the men in white. They fully deserved the lead they took on 53 minutes and were hardly troubled by bumbling Bolton who were desperately seeking something.

The home fans were riled, and rightly so. It had been months since any Bolton fan had actually witnessed a decent piece of football from their beloved team. Only an 89th minute penalty could save them when a Stoke defender clumsily brought down Ricketts in the box the ref had no choice but to point to the spot. Taylor duly converted and the goal gave Bolton their first home point of the season.

Pure luck seemed to account for most of Boltons success so far, would the same be true in the next game against West Ham?


Bolton rode their luck in this one and with 85 minutes on the clock looked to be heading out of the cup, West Ham’s single goal looked to be enough to see them through. That was until a long throw and Kevin Davies header rescued a draw after 90 minutes. Bolton went on to become far more impressive and won the match 3-1.



Birmingham away, and a newly promoted side still feeling their way into the season. Surely Megson would learn from the Hammers victory and play a more open attacking game. Not so, 4-5-1 was the order of the day, and although Bolton took an early lead it was by no means a convincing Bolton show. Birmingham deserved their equaliser and will probably feel robbed that they didn’t go on to put some of their other chances away. They will feel even worse though that Bolton substitute Chong Yung Lee popped up to score a cool winner 4 minutes from time. Credit must go to the players in some part for the results they have ground out but a large slice of luck has also served to save Gary Megson’s blushes.



In reality, rather than the last 5 matches simply being seen as 3 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss as Megson is quick to point out, (he is not always so keen on statistcs when they point the other way) I would say you have to look deeper to understand the full picture.

We were beaten by Hull and Sunderland, we managed a draw against Stoke City only because of a last gasp penalty, we got lucky against Pompy and we beat a team 2 divisions below us by one goal using our full strength team. After 90 minutes against West Ham, a full strength Bolton side again scraped an equaliser against a team largely made up of reserves.

And we beat Birmingham by the skin of our teeth after a free kick hit the post and bounced back for Bolton player to score in the closing minutes. Only when we face a strong Premiership side will we really see our numerous flaws exposed and I fear that time may be about to come with the likes of Tottenham, Chelsea, Man Utd and even Villa on the horizon..



So if this is what Megson calls a decent start to the season I fear how bad we will be when he admits we are having a bad time. If only he could see that the wins and draws which we have achieved have been freak accidents which happened despite our poor tactics and team selections, not because of the managers great tactics and team selections.

conceeded 19
for 7

won 1 drawn 1 lost 4

yawn yawn yawn....... whats Megson playing at.... fancy trying to hood wink us fans with all this positivity.... surely slagging the players off and being truthfull about how shit a manager he is will make the team perform at a higher level.....
megson out....!

he never ceases to amaze me.....!

Too late to discuss the numerous mistakes in that 'article'. What a load of biased shit! And that was written by a Bolton fan? Oh dear!

jayjay23 wrote:And we beat Birmingham by the skin of our teeth after a free kick hit the post and bounced back for Bolton player to score in the closing minutes. Only when we face a strong Premiership side will we really see our numerous flaws exposed and I fear that time may be about to come with the likes of Tottenham, Chelsea, Man Utd and even Villa on the horizon..

What an utter load of shit... written by a Bolton fan? That wouldn't bloody surprise me.

"Our numerous flaws will be exposed by better Prem sides"... erm, against Spurs we were slightly better than them, and were unfortunate to only draw. Man Utd... we played pretty well and were in the game right till the end. Against Chelsea... we played bloody well for 45 mins, before Samuel clumsily brought down that diving twat from Stamford Bridge. They were always likely to dominate 10 men after the break as they are one of the top 3 or 4 teams in Europe, and yet with 11 v 11 we matched them!
Against Villa we had an absolute stinker. But please, let's be fair... don't leave out Everton, as they too are a side deemed to be far superior to us. We beat those fuckers good and proper.

So... one team exposed our "flaws". I suggest we sack the manager!!!!

As for the rest of that shite, well, I could easily re-write it from the complete opposite stand-point and it would stack up against that shite. However, I can't be arsed.

Skirted swiftly around the Liverpool game with;

Bolton then played Liverpool, losing a third league match in a row and joined problem ridden portsmouth as the only team still on zero points.

Another 10 man game that we seemed to have the measure of them in until that twat Lucas went to ground like the shit the Liverpool fans know and detest.

an anti megson article indeed, but some realistic points too.

like megson happy to rely on stats when it suits him but keen to shift the blame the rest of the time. And how a lot o our points are down to a hefty slice of luck. obviously biased, but then who does not write a biased post when they are making a point?