Ken Anderson takes aim at media for 'negative' statistics during club's worst start for 115 years

WANDERERS chairman Ken Anderson has hit out at “negative” media reports containing statistics which underline the club’s poor start to the campaign.
Saturday’s narrow defeat against Aston Villa confirmed the club’s worst start to a season since 1902, a milestone which was repeated around the local and national media.
The fact Wanderers have struggled to score, without a goal in 12-and-a-half hours, has also been mentioned in most accounts of the 1-0 reverse at Villa Park.
But the statistics have prompted a curt response from Anderson, who has urged Phil Parkinson and his team to ignore the numbers.

“I don't know if you are like myself, but l find it very uninteresting when the media constantly harp on about historical match statistics, which in my opinion are irrelevant, other than they are a fact of history, but actually have no relevance of what is or isn't going to happen on the pitch,” he wrote on the official club website.
“The manager's and my message to the players and staff is to ignore the negativity and focus on the job ahead, as that's all that matters - not statistics.”
Anderson also highlighted the positive response from travelling fans at Villa Park, many of whom applauded the players’ efforts in the Midlands in what proved a tight game.
“Fortunately, you - the supporters - continue to get behind the team and lift them through thick and thin and I can assure you that everyone appreciates that show of support,” he wrote.
“I have no doubt that at the end of the season, we will all look back on the start and remember how everyone pulled together and we overcame the challenges in front of us.”

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/wanderers/15569457.Ken_Anderson__Historical_facts_have_no_relevance_to_Wanderers/

Is Iles scenting blood?

His tweets and this very 'odd' article above (it just seems to 'stop' without any 'ending' to it in my opinion - no sort of conclusion or analysis of what Anderson's point was), have got all the anti-Anderson faction in some sort of a lather.

Factually Anderson is right in what he says - statistics may be interesting to some (like me) but are not really relevant to what happens on the pitch unless they start to get in players heads.

It's no excuse that we are losing and haven't scored a goal in ages - but if players start to think they are jinxed in some way, that the Gods are a against them, that they will never break the spell - then that won't help matters.

A bit of a silly thing for Anderson to be featuring admittedly but I'm surprised Iles seems to have gone for his throat over it.

Seems to me there is a bit of animosity between the two of them these days and Iles in is capacity as a professional journalist who should be reporting the stories impartially, is once again letting his personal bias show through.

I can't see them swapping Christmas cards - can you?

I don't think Iles or anyone was suggesting that the facts will directly affect what will happen on the pitch.
The facts themselves are neither negative or positive - they are just facts.
If we'd won at Villa, Iles would have used the same facts to highlight the improvement i.e. our first goal since/our first win since..
And as Anderson himself points out, it's not just Iles who is quoting the facts - it's pretty much all journalists and all TV pundits, so how you can interpret this as "Iles going for his throat" I don't know.

This is nothing more than Anderson being paranoid and perhaps annoyed that he can't control what Iles - and pretty much everyone else in the UK media are saying.

Our stats could be worse, after all look at Crystal Palace. No points, no goals, THE worst start in history in ANY of the four divisions. Compared to them we are absolutely BRILLIANT.

Yeah, I know it's clutching at a very thin straw but I'm going to grab any positive I can, however small and hang onto it. Isn't that what BWFC fans have done for the last forty years or so anyway bar the Big Sam years?