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Phil Parkinson intends to dig in his heels and fight for Wanderers’ Championship status – and he expects his players to do the same.
Well aware of the anger which has enveloped the University of Bolton Stadium, and which is highly likely to manifest itself in fan protests before kick-off tonight, Parkinson has done all he can to shield his players and keep focus on results.
The Bolton boss is not prone to grandiose statements but has said on a couple of occasions over the last fortnight that the next few months are among the most important in the club’s history.
Slipping into League One could, in Parkinson’s estimation, be an irreversible step. So with just one victory in their last 16 league games, something has got to give.
The club is looking to make signings before the January 31 deadline but cash is tight and Parkinson knows any players he brings to the club will have to walk through the doors with their eyes wide open.
Already tagged as an expert in crisis management after his trials and tribulations at Bolton over the last two-and-a-half years, there is no sense Parkinson is losing the appetite for the fight. You only hope his players feel the same.
“It has been tough, there’s no getting around that,” he said. “I don’t think it’s done my reputation too much harm, getting promoted and then staying in the division last year.
“Obviously I’d love to be at a team at the top of the league or in and around the play-offs. But equally I’ve signed a lot of players and told them that it’s going to be a challenge coming on board, whether that’s a new contract they’ve signed or coming in from other clubs. So, I want to stay in here fighting every step of the way and have the players do the same.
“As I’ve said before we’re entering a period that is as important as any in the club’s history and throughout the 90 minutes of the game we need full support because it’s crucial, it’s tough to get results at this level anyway, we just need everyone behind us. We understand there’s always disgruntlement when you’re not winning games or there’s been negativity in the press.
“We understand the supporters’ love for their club and how much they care about it but honestly, we are trying everything we can and we’re giving it our best shot to try to stay in this division and we need all the help we can get from every single person in Bolton.”
Though admired for the way he has led the club through choppy waters, Parkinson has not been spared criticism for a style of play perceived by some as ‘negative’.
The flak does not sit well with the Bolton boss, nor the coaching staff who have fashioned a squad with one of the Championship’s lowest playing budgets in the last 18 months.
“When you look at it, when you’re not winning games, and any team around the country, if you look at websites or newspapers it will always say almost exactly the same – they’re not attacking enough, they need to attack, have two wingers and two forwards, it’s almost a go-to statement, it’s never someone saying ‘to stay up we need to pick the right team and give it a strong enough base to go and win’.
“At Bristol it certainly wasn’t a defensive team, it was probably a little bit too open where we made it a bit too easy for them, Walsall for instance, if we look at that game they were very open, playing 4-4-2 and they weren’t a possession-based team who was going to overrun us in the middle of the pitch and they are a League One team with less quality. So, these are all decisions we have to factor in when we look at getting results when resources are always weighed in your favour.
“Back in League One looking at the teams around us when we got up it made it a terrific achievement because we were quite often piecing teams together to try to grind out results, that’s the kind of situation we’ve been in over the last couple of years, we’ve got to work towards trying to improve the club in all areas, that’s what we’ve got to try to do.”
Source
Well aware of the anger which has enveloped the University of Bolton Stadium, and which is highly likely to manifest itself in fan protests before kick-off tonight, Parkinson has done all he can to shield his players and keep focus on results.
The Bolton boss is not prone to grandiose statements but has said on a couple of occasions over the last fortnight that the next few months are among the most important in the club’s history.
Slipping into League One could, in Parkinson’s estimation, be an irreversible step. So with just one victory in their last 16 league games, something has got to give.
The club is looking to make signings before the January 31 deadline but cash is tight and Parkinson knows any players he brings to the club will have to walk through the doors with their eyes wide open.
Already tagged as an expert in crisis management after his trials and tribulations at Bolton over the last two-and-a-half years, there is no sense Parkinson is losing the appetite for the fight. You only hope his players feel the same.
“It has been tough, there’s no getting around that,” he said. “I don’t think it’s done my reputation too much harm, getting promoted and then staying in the division last year.
“Obviously I’d love to be at a team at the top of the league or in and around the play-offs. But equally I’ve signed a lot of players and told them that it’s going to be a challenge coming on board, whether that’s a new contract they’ve signed or coming in from other clubs. So, I want to stay in here fighting every step of the way and have the players do the same.
“As I’ve said before we’re entering a period that is as important as any in the club’s history and throughout the 90 minutes of the game we need full support because it’s crucial, it’s tough to get results at this level anyway, we just need everyone behind us. We understand there’s always disgruntlement when you’re not winning games or there’s been negativity in the press.
“We understand the supporters’ love for their club and how much they care about it but honestly, we are trying everything we can and we’re giving it our best shot to try to stay in this division and we need all the help we can get from every single person in Bolton.”
Though admired for the way he has led the club through choppy waters, Parkinson has not been spared criticism for a style of play perceived by some as ‘negative’.
The flak does not sit well with the Bolton boss, nor the coaching staff who have fashioned a squad with one of the Championship’s lowest playing budgets in the last 18 months.
“When you look at it, when you’re not winning games, and any team around the country, if you look at websites or newspapers it will always say almost exactly the same – they’re not attacking enough, they need to attack, have two wingers and two forwards, it’s almost a go-to statement, it’s never someone saying ‘to stay up we need to pick the right team and give it a strong enough base to go and win’.
“At Bristol it certainly wasn’t a defensive team, it was probably a little bit too open where we made it a bit too easy for them, Walsall for instance, if we look at that game they were very open, playing 4-4-2 and they weren’t a possession-based team who was going to overrun us in the middle of the pitch and they are a League One team with less quality. So, these are all decisions we have to factor in when we look at getting results when resources are always weighed in your favour.
“Back in League One looking at the teams around us when we got up it made it a terrific achievement because we were quite often piecing teams together to try to grind out results, that’s the kind of situation we’ve been in over the last couple of years, we’ve got to work towards trying to improve the club in all areas, that’s what we’ve got to try to do.”
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