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It is a decade since Stelios Giannakopoulos scored the last goal of his Bolton Wanderers career to help further that season’s Great Escape.
The former Euro Championship winner recalls in perfect detail the faces in the dressing room, the nerves coursing through the travelling supporters – even the player he replaced at half time that afternoon against Tottenham at White Hart Lane.
More importantly, he remembers the feeling of responsibility he and his team-mates felt as they fought to preserve the top flight status he, and others, had worked so hard to attain.
In echoes of the current campaign, Wanderers had made a disastrous start under new manager Sammy Lee and had played catch-up under his successor Gary Megson. All hope looked lost after a 4-0 defeat at Aston Villa, which left the club four points adrift of safety with five games to play.
Against the odds, famous wins against West Ham and Middlesbrough helped turn fortunes around. The point at Spurs was followed by victory at Sunderland, and the seemingly-impossible had been achieved.
“I remember it very well,” Stelios told The Bolton News from his home in Greece. “It was my last goal for Bolton Wanderers, so it is very special.
“I came on at half time, which was usual when Gary Megson was manager.
“It was a difficult situation because we had to recover our results. It was tense, but I knew we would be good enough.”
From the depths of despair at Villa, it is incredible even now to think the Whites were a point clear of the relegation zone just three weeks later.
Stelios is in no doubt what saved Wanderers in the end.
“It was simple,” he said. “The togetherness and spirit were still in the dressing room from the Big Sam days, even though he had departed. We were all under one badge, of Bolton Wanderers, and if you are not together in those circumstances then ‘bye, bye.’
“It does not matter which division you are in. It could be the World Cup final, the Champions League final or amateur football, if you do not believe in yourself or the person sitting next to you in the dressing room you will not get results.
“In our dressing room there were big personalities who would speak to each other separately from the manager and say what was expected. Sure, the manager has to pick the team but it is the players who have to stand up tall and not hide.
“No matter who the manager was at Bolton, we knew we had to take responsibility for what happened on the pitch. If Bolton had been relegated, it was because we had failed. And as professional players we did not want to fail.”
Phil Parkinson’s side will be looking to follow a similar path in their two remaining games and become the first team in second tier history to avoid relegation having taken fewer than three points from their first 11 games.
Improvement is a must after an inexplicable dip in form over the last six games since the international break.
Anger has run high, particularly after home defeats against Birmingham City, Millwall and Wolves, yet Stelios – whose grasp on all things Macron is much sharper than you might expect – insists time has not run out.
“I follow the club and all their results,” he said. “And I will be watching and hoping this weekend that they can win.
“To be honest the manager, the players, the fans deserve big credit from where they have come. You consider the background and you would not have believed it had a chance to stay up. They did it once and got out of the bottom three – now it is just two games, why can’t they do it again?
“After everything that has happened I think it is a miracle if Bolton stay up. But I also believe in miracles.”
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The former Euro Championship winner recalls in perfect detail the faces in the dressing room, the nerves coursing through the travelling supporters – even the player he replaced at half time that afternoon against Tottenham at White Hart Lane.
More importantly, he remembers the feeling of responsibility he and his team-mates felt as they fought to preserve the top flight status he, and others, had worked so hard to attain.
In echoes of the current campaign, Wanderers had made a disastrous start under new manager Sammy Lee and had played catch-up under his successor Gary Megson. All hope looked lost after a 4-0 defeat at Aston Villa, which left the club four points adrift of safety with five games to play.
Against the odds, famous wins against West Ham and Middlesbrough helped turn fortunes around. The point at Spurs was followed by victory at Sunderland, and the seemingly-impossible had been achieved.
“I remember it very well,” Stelios told The Bolton News from his home in Greece. “It was my last goal for Bolton Wanderers, so it is very special.
“I came on at half time, which was usual when Gary Megson was manager.
“It was a difficult situation because we had to recover our results. It was tense, but I knew we would be good enough.”
From the depths of despair at Villa, it is incredible even now to think the Whites were a point clear of the relegation zone just three weeks later.
Stelios is in no doubt what saved Wanderers in the end.
“It was simple,” he said. “The togetherness and spirit were still in the dressing room from the Big Sam days, even though he had departed. We were all under one badge, of Bolton Wanderers, and if you are not together in those circumstances then ‘bye, bye.’
“It does not matter which division you are in. It could be the World Cup final, the Champions League final or amateur football, if you do not believe in yourself or the person sitting next to you in the dressing room you will not get results.
“In our dressing room there were big personalities who would speak to each other separately from the manager and say what was expected. Sure, the manager has to pick the team but it is the players who have to stand up tall and not hide.
“No matter who the manager was at Bolton, we knew we had to take responsibility for what happened on the pitch. If Bolton had been relegated, it was because we had failed. And as professional players we did not want to fail.”
Phil Parkinson’s side will be looking to follow a similar path in their two remaining games and become the first team in second tier history to avoid relegation having taken fewer than three points from their first 11 games.
Improvement is a must after an inexplicable dip in form over the last six games since the international break.
Anger has run high, particularly after home defeats against Birmingham City, Millwall and Wolves, yet Stelios – whose grasp on all things Macron is much sharper than you might expect – insists time has not run out.
“I follow the club and all their results,” he said. “And I will be watching and hoping this weekend that they can win.
“To be honest the manager, the players, the fans deserve big credit from where they have come. You consider the background and you would not have believed it had a chance to stay up. They did it once and got out of the bottom three – now it is just two games, why can’t they do it again?
“After everything that has happened I think it is a miracle if Bolton stay up. But I also believe in miracles.”
Source