Post by andyl on Dec 21, 2020 12:08:29 GMT
My London based daughter, veteran of many dire BWFC games and some high points, sent me a wicked little meme going the rounds in London and sent to her by a 'friend'. You may have seen it. It says ' London went from Tier 2 to Tier 4 faster than Bolton Wanderers' ! 
And of course that is the sad context of where we are now but so too is say Rangers' Luton's and even Barrow's recoveries or a cursory glance at clubs in the national league or below. There is a lot of turbulence around and it takes time to recover. maybe we'll live long enough even to see Bury in the Top 4 tiers again.
Bury are of course a salutory reminder that their fate could have been ours, so even the freedom to engage in our habitual dissection of this or that manager's qualities or lack thereof is a plus. Can we really expect anything other than a gradual recovery from our decline not least because we still bear the wounds of that decline in a salary cap.
We are surely very fortunate that in FV who must be feeling the pinch witness the departures of Emma B and Tobias P especially as we reflect that the takeover totally hinged on the acquisition of the hotel. That they say little and support IE is a positive and not a negative. We must give them time and support?
So, on Saturday we came mask to mask with Keith Hill and lost easily if not more easily than he there in 2018/19. Why? Poor tactics, inferior manager, luck, lack of crowd, two games in a week v one, less strong squad. Or all of these and more. or is it somehow the legacy of what is now the better part of a decade of only occasionally uninterrupted decline.
Some have argued that IE is out of his depth. I don't see that. He enjoyed a lengthy and respected career at this level as a player and experienced a variety of managerial styles. What about man management ? Is he a Coyle or Parky with easy and generally respected, if in the former's case, partial relationships or a Freedman or Hill with detached or abrasive ones. At times it has seemed closer to the latter but we are not privy to what lies within. Are we seeing a team of his making? Or was as last year it just so quick having to build a team from scratch. Might we have done better to keep a handful of Hill's players who were summarily released? And what of academy progression. And anyway how can a team be assessed if not allowed to build and regenerate over time.
Tranmere were built around Spearing, Clark,Morris and Vaughan as their spine with a half decent keeper too. We are not comparable. We went with Santos, Thomasson, Isgrove and Doyle. If Doyle compares, the other three did not. But next year?
There is also the weirdness of crowdless football, five subs. Is it easier for away teams not to make mistakes without home crowds/ Or more difficult for home teams to lift themselves. We are seeing some very good almost training ground goals at all levels of the game, witness Man Utd and Liverpool's demolitions at the weekend or indeed Villa's destruction of Liverpool. The Port Vale defeat served up goals the equal of a Leeds game? There is an aura of almost anything being possible and almost no team in any league being able to achieve consistency. Celtic yesterday completed a quadruple triumph but flounder this season trailing Rangers. Why? If the same inconsistency bedevils Bolton, should we be surprised and if not why do we kid ourselves that each victory augurs a climb up the league. At the weekend Walsall came back from being dead and buried. Oldham, who in my opinion offered the best attacking period we have seen saw off Newport who were the best overall team.. I suspect we are going to see the same unenevenness continue throughout whatever remains of the season? And that it's so widespread it cannot just be laid at the door of this or that manager or tactic? Maybe it's the truncated pre season, smaller squads. Or maybe player's 'training has been disrupted?
Bolton need an overhaul and a bit of a reboot and rethink, but so do lots of other teams. Do we try to do too much? Or in trying might this be the way to really improve. Time will tell
And of course that is the sad context of where we are now but so too is say Rangers' Luton's and even Barrow's recoveries or a cursory glance at clubs in the national league or below. There is a lot of turbulence around and it takes time to recover. maybe we'll live long enough even to see Bury in the Top 4 tiers again.
Bury are of course a salutory reminder that their fate could have been ours, so even the freedom to engage in our habitual dissection of this or that manager's qualities or lack thereof is a plus. Can we really expect anything other than a gradual recovery from our decline not least because we still bear the wounds of that decline in a salary cap.
We are surely very fortunate that in FV who must be feeling the pinch witness the departures of Emma B and Tobias P especially as we reflect that the takeover totally hinged on the acquisition of the hotel. That they say little and support IE is a positive and not a negative. We must give them time and support?
So, on Saturday we came mask to mask with Keith Hill and lost easily if not more easily than he there in 2018/19. Why? Poor tactics, inferior manager, luck, lack of crowd, two games in a week v one, less strong squad. Or all of these and more. or is it somehow the legacy of what is now the better part of a decade of only occasionally uninterrupted decline.
Some have argued that IE is out of his depth. I don't see that. He enjoyed a lengthy and respected career at this level as a player and experienced a variety of managerial styles. What about man management ? Is he a Coyle or Parky with easy and generally respected, if in the former's case, partial relationships or a Freedman or Hill with detached or abrasive ones. At times it has seemed closer to the latter but we are not privy to what lies within. Are we seeing a team of his making? Or was as last year it just so quick having to build a team from scratch. Might we have done better to keep a handful of Hill's players who were summarily released? And what of academy progression. And anyway how can a team be assessed if not allowed to build and regenerate over time.
Tranmere were built around Spearing, Clark,Morris and Vaughan as their spine with a half decent keeper too. We are not comparable. We went with Santos, Thomasson, Isgrove and Doyle. If Doyle compares, the other three did not. But next year?
There is also the weirdness of crowdless football, five subs. Is it easier for away teams not to make mistakes without home crowds/ Or more difficult for home teams to lift themselves. We are seeing some very good almost training ground goals at all levels of the game, witness Man Utd and Liverpool's demolitions at the weekend or indeed Villa's destruction of Liverpool. The Port Vale defeat served up goals the equal of a Leeds game? There is an aura of almost anything being possible and almost no team in any league being able to achieve consistency. Celtic yesterday completed a quadruple triumph but flounder this season trailing Rangers. Why? If the same inconsistency bedevils Bolton, should we be surprised and if not why do we kid ourselves that each victory augurs a climb up the league. At the weekend Walsall came back from being dead and buried. Oldham, who in my opinion offered the best attacking period we have seen saw off Newport who were the best overall team.. I suspect we are going to see the same unenevenness continue throughout whatever remains of the season? And that it's so widespread it cannot just be laid at the door of this or that manager or tactic? Maybe it's the truncated pre season, smaller squads. Or maybe player's 'training has been disrupted?
Bolton need an overhaul and a bit of a reboot and rethink, but so do lots of other teams. Do we try to do too much? Or in trying might this be the way to really improve. Time will tell
