Sam Allardyce

Transformed Cockney losers into winners within 12 months.I think it's fair to say whichever relegated team appointed Sam Allardyce last summer would now be promoted.
I know he hates Gartside and will have taken some pleasure from Bolton's/Gartside's relegation but for the tremendous work he did at Bolton I am glad Big Sam is back in the big time.

I will always be grateful for what BSA did for us. Gartside really screwed up letting him go and appointing first Lee and then Megson.

To be fair, Allardyce had a massive Championship budget to work with and they only managed to get up by the play-offs. They've also been an eyesore of a side whenever I've seen them.

I'm no Owen Coyle fan (did I forget to mention?) and I thought Allardyce did an unbelievable job here - some try making out that he only ever brought in past-its that were massive drains on the wage-bill but my research suggests otherwise. But I wouldn't feel that much more optimistic about the season ahead if we had Allardyce in as opposed to Coyle.

Allardyce did mostly sign cast offs, but not exclusively. He was our manager for eight years, you don't need research to work out that over that time, any manager is going to sign some younger players.

largehat wrote:Allardyce did mostly sign cast offs, but not exclusively. He was our manager for eight years, you don't need research to work out that over that time, any manager is going to sign some younger players.

No. I was speaking more in relation to the wage bill.

doffcocker wrote:But I wouldn't feel that much more optimistic about the season ahead if we had Allardyce in as opposed to Coyle.

I would. Allardyce has a knack of getting players to sign for him, not sure Coyle does.

If Allardyce were put in charge of Bolton right now I'd be pretty confident of making the top 6, under Coyle I think we'll be at the other end of the table come May 2013.

I'd be sure under Allardyce that we'd at least be organised.

Hipster_Nebula wrote:I'd be sure under Allardyce that we'd at least be organised.

For once I agree 100%. Yes we've had injuries and bad luck, but we've still been a shambles at the back.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

Hipster_Nebula wrote:I'd be sure under Allardyce that we'd at least be organised.

For once I agree 100%. Yes we've had injuries and bad luck, but we've still been a shambles at the back.

And the set pieces! They used to be our strength now they are our weakness.

If we had Allardyce we would not have been relegated this season.

We would not have been relegated even under Gary Megson - and I'm not saying that for effect.

Coyle and his complete lack of ability in how to plan for the opposition, set up the team, and change the game through tactical substitutions - was the sole reason why we went down and teams like QPR, Villa and Wigan stayed up.

Good luck to Allardyce next year.

Megson was taking us down when he got sacked, with a much stronger set of players than Coyle had available to him.

I don't believe he was.

It can't be proved either way - nor Allardyce / Megson / my granny keeping us up this season when Coyle could not.

That's the fun about footy forums - few people ever know they are right for certain yet many seem to take things oh so seriously when their views and opinions are not shared by others.

It's only a game when all said and done.

Two sly digs in one night. What's wrong, Sluffy, have you misplaced your false teeth?

Anyway, you seemed to take the silliness on the Lockerbie chap thread quite seriously,when I thought it was fairly obvious joking was taking place. Maybe you should practice what you preach.

You're right that it can't be proven either way, but when I disagree with you on anything, you don't seem to appreciate it very much.

Anyway if we can have a conversation about football, you're absolutely right that it can't be proven either way. The evidence for my point is that Coyle took the squad that Megson left in 19th place and finished 14th with it. It's just my personal opinion, it's why I post.

Look Sluffy, I don't want another forum 'punch up' with you, I just think you've got me wrong. I don't take everything mega seriously, I just enjoy debating with people and usually think I'm right. I give people some stick and I take some stick. That's just the way I am. Others think I contribute a lot to the forum, I'm obviously not your cup of tea, and that's fair enough. But you do seem to take it personally when I disagree with you, and it's not. It's just a way to pass the time and engage with other people for me.

I still like OC but I admit that some poor team selections, tactics and Subs probably cost us at least 3 or 4 games along the way.....and that was more than enough to go down.
He may have learned something ..... so one season in the Champs and lets see where we are. Top three is the minimum requirement for me. We still have players, supporters and resources to bounce back. Relative to most of the other clubs in the Champs. Anything less and OC will have to go.

largehat wrote:Look Sluffy, I don't want another forum 'punch up' with you, I just think you've got me wrong. I don't take everything mega seriously, I just enjoy debating with people and usually think I'm right. I give people some stick and I take some stick. That's just the way I am. Others think I contribute a lot to the forum, I'm obviously not your cup of tea, and that's fair enough. But you do seem to take it personally when I disagree with you, and it's not. It's just a way to pass the time and engage with other people for me.

I'm one of those who do think you add a great deal to the forum - I've told you in the past but you don't seem to think I meant it I guess.

God, I don't take anything personally on the internet, I've got idiots like that bloke buying up our .com domain trying to screw me over and all I can do is laugh at how small and pathetic he must be in real life to act like that on the internet, Jesus I thought my life was empty, what must his be like!?

I mess around on the footy forums because sometimes I have a lot of free time on my hands and generally I like the camaraderie of fellow Wanderers fans - I don't know maybe its because we all have the club in common and the older ones have shared the same experiences that I have - but that’s not to say there’s more than a fair amount of dickheads around as well.

By enlarge I've had some great laughs on the forums over the years, I've got a bit of a sense of humour myself but I know I can't do the humorous stuff on the internet like some can, so I don't try.

I think we had things going extremely well on Burnden Aces at one time but obviously Manny thought different - that's why we are chatting on here now and not there.

I like the Wanderers, I like the fun that we sometimes manage to create and that's really all that I'm about.

I'm not bothered about anything else, the abuse doesn't worry me, I try to keep everybody on-side with each other and I don't really have the big ego to say 'hey look at me, look at me' all the time.

I don't even take the football too seriously - but I an irked that we got relegated not because the team was necessarily bad but because the manager was incompetent in his job. But what the hell it's only a game.

I can't get too hung up and the club either - some people seem to think it owes them something because they've spent the better parts of their lives and income following them up and down the country - but they can't see that the club is a business and they are only customers. Do Tesco’s owe me for shopping with them for the last 40 odd years - of course not - nor the club owe them either.

So if I'm here for the laughs and to have a chat about the club that I follow - but not slavishly like others - then what makes you think I'm overly upset when someone disagrees with me or not?

A good forum as far as I'm concerned needs all sorts of views and opinion from all sides to make it a compelling read. A little bit of argument, irritation and disagreement gives it an edge and gets people coming back for more. I don't have any problem with you, I think truth be told it is more the other way around but that's ok, I know I'm not everyone’s cup of tea, nor would I want to be.

Your a very good poster, I'm not going to always agree with everything you say, nor you me but I certainly have not got any got issues with you at all.

Hope this helps to clear things up a bit.

Sluffy wrote:

I'm one of those who do think you add a great deal to the forum - I've told you in the past but you don't seem to think I meant it I guess.

God, I don't take anything personally on the internet, I've got idiots like that bloke buying up our .com domain trying to screw me over and all I can do is laugh at how small and pathetic he must be in real life to act like that on the internet, Jesus I thought my life was empty, what must his be like!?

I mess around on the footy forums because sometimes I have a lot of free time on my hands and generally I like the camaraderie of fellow Wanderers fans - I don't know maybe its because we all have the club in common and the older ones have shared the same experiences that I have - but that’s not to say there’s more than a fair amount of dickheads around as well.

By enlarge I've had some great laughs on the forums over the years, I've got a bit of a sense of humour myself but I know I can't do the humorous stuff on the internet like some can, so I don't try.

I think we had things going extremely well on Burnden Aces at one time but obviously Manny thought different - that's why we are chatting on here now and not there.

I like the Wanderers, I like the fun that we sometimes manage to create and that's really all that I'm about.

I'm not bothered about anything else, the abuse doesn't worry me, I try to keep everybody on-side with each other and I don't really have the big ego to say 'hey look at me, look at me' all the time.

I don't even take the football too seriously - but I an irked that we got relegated not because the team was necessarily bad but because the manager was incompetent in his job. But what the hell it's only a game.

I can't get too hung up and the club either - some people seem to think it owes them something because they've spent the better parts of their lives and income following them up and down the country - but they can't see that the club is a business and they are only customers. Do Tesco’s owe me for shopping with them for the last 40 odd years - of course not - nor the club owe them either.

So if I'm here for the laughs and to have a chat about the club that I follow - but not slavishly like others - then what makes you think I'm overly upset when someone disagrees with me or not?

A good forum as far as I'm concerned needs all sorts of views and opinion from all sides to make it a compelling read. A little bit of argument, irritation and disagreement gives it an edge and gets people coming back for more. I don't have any problem with you, I think truth be told it is more the other way around but that's ok, I know I'm not everyone’s cup of tea, nor would I want to be.

Your a very good poster, I'm not going to always agree with everything you say, nor you me but I certainly have not got any got issues with you at all.

Hope this helps to clear things up a bit.

You forgot to include your catchphrase - it's only a football forum

... and

Thank you.