Bolton Evening news

You know what is really gripping my pips at the moment? the complete and utter shitness of this paper and its reporting on the crisis at Bolton Wanderers. Just what is their policy toward the club?? to be a complete lapdog and to do the clubs PR for them on the chance they might be given a juicy titbit everynow and again?? because if it is it sure has hell aint worked. Why haven't they been battering the doors down at that wrongly located white elephant  piece of shite stadium for answers?? The less answers they got, the harder they needed to bang the doors in. Never once was Gartside ever given the third degree over his ineptness of managerial appointments, his overblown salary and regular massive bonuses when we were failing and his sanctioning of so many shit signings and the future policy and direction of the club. A bit of truth to the paying fans would have gone a long way to dissipate the feeling of resentment and anger now felt by the majority. If and when he wouldn't talk they should have been round to every other board member to get their stance but that never happened either. And Shorrocks was as a bad as Iles at being just a mouth piece for them. Their stance and silence on Gartside at the moment is another example -'the family have asked for privacy so that is what we are doing' Absolute shite -  they should have said 'why the fuck should we give you that when he has fed us nothing but shit for the past 5 years? and the state he left the club in'. Bolton fans have had it from both sides -  absolute silence or lies from the club its owner and chairman, and a local rag that has done fuck all to uncover the goings on at the towns football club when it now stands a very good chance of going into liquidation - Well done BEN you did a terrific job there. (and i know its not BEN anymore but it is to me.)

It's Ben to me as well Alf and it still annoys me they don't do it on pink paper on a Saturday now. 

I second everything you have said, there lack of journalistic integrity and failure to ask any questions at all let alone hard ones is a total disgrace.   

I quite like Iles but he's certainly not an investigative journalist.

When you think the club was bought a ran up a debt that was several times more than the man who bought it had!

That the debt for the club was so much out of place with our level of operation that it was only exceeded by three clubs in the world - two being Manchester United and Real Madrid!

That no one could ever fathom what business plan we could possibly have - particularly when we seemed to be more bothered about things like getting planning permission for a school than the running of a football club!

I could go on - we all could - but the latest seems to beat the lot - he seems to be totally reliant on Chris Manning and the odd balls behind the Mavis forum - for any semblance of news right now about current developments in and around the club - God what a position to find yourself in - the insane really are trying to take over the asylum!

Joke club, joke paper.

They say in life you get what you deserve.

Good job it is only a game and nothing serious.



(PS - Valencia was the third club in case anybody was wondering)

I was - wondering btw!

but you are right Sluffy - the club, owner and chairman have taken their collective eyes of the ball for so long they forgot what game they were in - literally, and their disdain bordering on contempt for the fans/customers, is now coming home to roost - I love this club - been on Burnden when there were over 50,000 on, but I swear I won't put another penny through those turnstiles/tills untill Gartside and Davies have gone - and I know plenty who have the same attitude as me.

I think it's a good thing that the local rag is generally supportive of the local team but I suspect the relationship between the club and rag is not what it should be and that the BEN has been kept in the dark as much as ED allegedly has. Here in Norwich the EDP provides extensive coverage of Norwich FC running to several pages a night and a 10 page pull out every matchday and they are not afraid to be critical when required. They print a fans comments page and have a section for the ST to say their bit. They even ask opposing fans to send in their thoughts ahead of each game so overall they provide a balanced and comprehensive 360 degree analysis which BEN would do well to learn from.
That approach has helped them develop a good relationship with the Board who frequently comment and there was some interesting banter on the recent appointment of Ed Balls - printed in full.

A club shouldn't share everything with the fans as there are always a range of views and nothing would ever get done if the club was run by opinion polls, but actively managing the relationship with the media and being open and honest about major issues - such as the club's finances - can only help. It's a bit late for BWFC now but at least with PG out of the picture there's a chance things could improve.

The problem with Iles (his lack of any discernible journalistic talent apart) is that he's from Gloucester and supports someone else.

It's just a job to him, so he's not as invested in the whole thing as we are.

Gordon Sharrock may not have been the best journalist in the world but he was a fan.

And it came through in his writing.

Darn 'ere in that there Landan we have free papers that are much better, honest and willing to support others other than the affluent glory hunters. I also work in Norfolk and I doubt any BEN journalist would get a job in the local parish magazine. To be effective you have to ask the "Awkward" questions, and dig out unsavoury facts and present them for the ordinary person to be able to make decisions from. If you don't then you really are sleeping with the enemy.