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"Walking down De Haviland Way to see the Macron Aces" on the first day of the new season, there was a feeling of eager anticipation to bring it on and let’s start the fightback our club needs.
We’ve been battered and sliding towards oblivion for years and it’s time we stopped the rot.
We’ve got new owners who have a tough job on their hands to get things right off the field and we’ve got a new management team, led by Phil Parkinson, who have an equally tough job to get things right on the field with whatever resources are made available.
Difficult decisions have to be made and the first one in evidence on Saturday day was the sacrifice of the Fanzone in favour of income-generating events in the Premier suite.
Although the Whites Hotel has come to the rescue by allowing all Bolton fans in, it does not provide the same facilities and atmosphere of the Fanzone and maybe an alternative venue like Bolton Arena or a marquee should be investigated.
The number of turnstiles open seems to have been reduced as well, which is reasonable as it did not appear to cause any long queues.
Parkinson went for experience with five of his six signings starting the match and the other, Jamie Proctor, coming on for an exhausted Gary Madine.
The squad is relatively thin these days, particularly around the strikers and wide men.
So the tactics and the formation reflected this and Parkinson has managed to get some organisation into the team with the midfield helping the defence and supporting the attack.
Mind you, for the first 20 minutes it looked like nothing had changed as Sheffield United overran us and should have been two or three up but their strikers, Leon Clarke in particular, had an off day.
We stuck at it and Jay Spearing struck a wonder goal to leave us at half time wondering how we were in front.
The second half was a different story as we dug in and more than held our own.
For once it looked like the opposition had been unsettled after conceding a goal.
There was character and grit in this performance, as we played the last 15 minutes with only 10 men.
The crowd responded and created a cracking atmosphere.
One win does not mean all our problems are solved overnight. It’s only a beginning, albeit a welcome one.
Source
We’ve been battered and sliding towards oblivion for years and it’s time we stopped the rot.
We’ve got new owners who have a tough job on their hands to get things right off the field and we’ve got a new management team, led by Phil Parkinson, who have an equally tough job to get things right on the field with whatever resources are made available.
Difficult decisions have to be made and the first one in evidence on Saturday day was the sacrifice of the Fanzone in favour of income-generating events in the Premier suite.
Although the Whites Hotel has come to the rescue by allowing all Bolton fans in, it does not provide the same facilities and atmosphere of the Fanzone and maybe an alternative venue like Bolton Arena or a marquee should be investigated.
The number of turnstiles open seems to have been reduced as well, which is reasonable as it did not appear to cause any long queues.
Parkinson went for experience with five of his six signings starting the match and the other, Jamie Proctor, coming on for an exhausted Gary Madine.
The squad is relatively thin these days, particularly around the strikers and wide men.
So the tactics and the formation reflected this and Parkinson has managed to get some organisation into the team with the midfield helping the defence and supporting the attack.
Mind you, for the first 20 minutes it looked like nothing had changed as Sheffield United overran us and should have been two or three up but their strikers, Leon Clarke in particular, had an off day.
We stuck at it and Jay Spearing struck a wonder goal to leave us at half time wondering how we were in front.
The second half was a different story as we dug in and more than held our own.
For once it looked like the opposition had been unsettled after conceding a goal.
There was character and grit in this performance, as we played the last 15 minutes with only 10 men.
The crowd responded and created a cracking atmosphere.
One win does not mean all our problems are solved overnight. It’s only a beginning, albeit a welcome one.
Source