Tag: Bolton Wanderers

Wigan, Bolton & Blackburn Labour Under Grey Lancastrian Skies

Posted by | Dec 18, 2011 | |

The absence of the top five or six clubs from much of the schedule for yesterday’s Premier League fixtures may have meant that the eyes of many may have drifted towards the bottom of the table instead. As has been the case for the previous couple of seasons, the bottom half of the Premier League table is starting to look rather congested, with just six points separating the team in tenth place in the table from the relegation places. With the half-way point in the season starting to come into view there is, therefore, all to play for, yet the bottom three places in the table are currently inhabited by three clubs of broadly similar proportions. Wigan Athletic, Blackburn Rovers and Bolton Wanderers are all Lancastrian clubs, living in the perpetually long shadow of their more glamorous rivals, but these three clubs have not reacted in the same way to their currently straitened circumstances. Many of the headlines concerning the foot of the table have concerned the ongoing supporter protests at Blackburn Rovers against their manager, Steve Kean. Yesterday afternoon, Rovers up slipped again in the Premier League, when a late goal from Peter Odemwingie gave West Bromwich Albion a win at Ewood Park. Kean would have the air of being a dead man walking about him were it not for one highly significant matter: he seems to have...

Read More

The (Possibly Un)Welcome Return Of Non-League Videos Of The Week

Posted by | Jul 31, 2011 | |

The Football League begins its new season next weekend, but non-league football doesn’t begin again for a couple of weeks. With this in mind, it’s time to take a quick look around how some clubs are doing in their pre-season friendlies. All of these matches are from the last couple of weeks and, it has to be said, we have no details on how strong the teams taking part in these matches my or may not have been. Anyway, as a teaser for the start of the new season, here’s a quick look at: York City vs Hartlepool United, Woking vs Charlton Athletic, Bury Town vs Colchester United, Chorley vs Bolton Wanderers and Mansfield Town vs Notts County. Follow Twohundredpercent on Twitter...

Read More

The Twohundredpercent Premier League Previews: Bolton Wanderers

Posted by | Jul 22, 2011 | |

If there is one particular role within football that is analysed more than any other, it is that of the manager. So much of the culture of the modern game is wrapped up in the cult of the football manager that it would be easy to reach the conclusion that their value is over-stated, but when they get things right, they can set a club that may have been heading towards choppy waters towards, perhaps, a brighter future. One of the more understated success stories of the last couple of years or so has been the appointment of Owen Coyle by Bolton Wanderers. Coyle’s appointment wasn’t without a degree of controversy and the nature of the way in which he was poached from Burnley left a sour taste in the mouth for many. Bolton Wanderers supporters, however, may wish to reflect instead upon the extent to which Coyle has been a success on the pitch and how this has reflected upon the club’s well-being in a more general sense. It wasn’t so long ago that we could have considered Bolton Wanderers to be a potential financial basketcase waiting to happen, but now, while they still have considerable work to do in order to even their keel, their future looks a little rosier than it has done for some time. Bolton’s decade in the Premier League has been played out against a...

Read More

Video Special: Six Great FA Cup Finals

Posted by | May 11, 2011 | |

It may have escaped your attention, but it is the FA Cup final on Saturday. Manchester City and Stoke City will take the pitch at Wembley on Saturday afternoon, with both clubs looking for their first major trophy since the 1970s. With shameless nostalgia in the back of our minds, then, it’s time to take a look back at six terrific FA Cup finals – unless your team happened to be on the losing side, that is – from the days when Cup Final day was the crowning glory of the domestic season. So, with no further ado and no boring words to have to read between them, here are six classics from the archive. If Saturday’s match can live up to any of these matches, we will have had a very good afternoon indeed. 1953 – Blackpool vs Bolton Wanderers 1964 – West Ham United vs Preston North End 1973 – Sunderland vs Leeds United 1979 – Arsenal vs Manchester United 1981 Replay – Tottenham Hotspur vs Manchester City 1987 – Coventry City vs Tottenham Hotspur Follow Twohundredpercent on Twitter...

Read More

Match Of The Week 2: Bolton Wanderers 0-5 Stoke City

Posted by | Apr 17, 2011 | |

There is something understated about this afternoon’s second FA Cup semi-final between Bolton Wanderers and Stoke City. This morning’s papers are full of last night’s Manchester derby and the match between Barcelona and Real Madrid in La Liga, but there is more to it than merely this. Sky Sports and the Premier League have scheduled the Premier League match between Arsenal and Liverpool directly up against this match, as well – proof, as if it were needed, of Sky’s commitment to little more than itself – and there are empty seats at Wembley this afternoon. This in itself shouldn’t be surprising. After all, the combined average attendance of Bolton Wanderers and Stoke City is less than 50,000. This, however, seems unlikely to prevent some from using this as a stick with which to beat the two clubs playing this afternoon, but there are over 75,000 people at Wembley this afternoon. Not bad for a match that “doesn’t matter” in a competition that “nobody cares about” any more. All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others, though. Ironically, this match should matter, if anything, more to Bolton Wanderers and Stoke City than yesterday’s did to Manchester City or Manchester United. City may have bigger fish to fry over the next few weeks and United have hardly been starved of success in recent years. Supporters of the...

Read More