Looking back on the season.

When we kicked off in August I suspect we all thought we were in for an exciting time(we were wrong) Coyle proved his ineptness, we were hovering around the lower end, and we all accepted at best another season in this league, Eddie acted in the best interest of his investment, and let the clown go, then somebody within the club identified Dougie as our saviour(I refuse to believe it was Gartside) after a good start, Dougie faltered as he tinkered, he then had a transfer window, and bingo he brought his own players in, the rest is history, here we sit in the playoffs, wether we make it or not is not Dougies fault(he had too many points to catch up on) no I blame Coyle for being naive in thinking his goons were up to the task, and Gartside for allowing him to think that way, when the playoffs are decided either way, don't blame Dougie, blame the clueless cunts that ran our club pre Dougie.

Coyle should of gone at the end of last season , he was clueless .

He nearly ruined our club, everybody could see the team would struggle but him, we lost sturridge and Elmander and looked weak upfront.

I think Klasnic was our top scorer that season.

But his post match interviews were the same old shit, Elite clubs, dust our selves down bla bla bla.

He was to nice to be a manager and the players probably took the piss out of him.

Coyle had lost the players long before we got relegated, that was just what cemented it. He should have been sacked at the start of the season, however I'm sure most of us thought / hoped that he'd do with us what he did for Burnley as he had that Championship experience. As it was, we were still very poor, conceding daft penalties, looking like conceding every time the opposition attacked, and just generally looking abit clueless tactically.

No doubt the management switch should have happened allot sooner, and if we had done, and we had managed to bring Freedman in at that time, I definitely think that we'd be fighting it out for an automatic promotion place right now.

On the whole, considering where we were before Freedman came in to where we are now, we have to consider this season as good, and if we do manage to break into the play-offs, then even better, and if we somehow managed to do the impossible and get promoted, well, what a brilliant season we've had.

Freedman is definitely the right manager for us long term though. I think that Phil Gartside deserves abit of credit for bringing him in, as there was a few doubters when he was announced as our new manager (inexperienced etc), but I doubt many Bolton fans have any complaints with the appointment anymore, even if we don't make the play-offs this season.

Before this thread turns into yet another Coyle hating epic, I think it should be recognised that he tried to play in an attacking style that required better players than he could afford or were available. Superb to watch if it works and a defensive debacle if it doesn't.
Those same players form the core of the team that has got us to the playoff positions so it shows that by taking a less flamboyant approach and tweaking the system a little, it could be done and that Coyle wasn't a million miles off getting it right - which he might have done eventually. I also think that a lot of our players thought they were so good that they'd stroll it in this division and it took them 6 months to roll their sleeves up and start putting in the required effort.
Coyle's weaknesses were around his inability to motivate the players and his strict adherence to an attacking policy that left our defence wide open.
When DF arrived he went to the other extreme, sacrificing attack for a more solid defence. Eventually he started to get the balance right and although we need to strengthen in a couple of areas, it was better.
For me the season has gone:
Expectation
Dejection
Huge Concern
Optimism that stability could be achieved under a new manager
Acceptance of our position
Renewed Hope
Tempered Satisfaction
And with a handful of games left it may change again.

Jamster26 wrote:

No doubt the management switch should have happened allot sooner, and if we had done, and we had managed to bring Freedman in at that time, I definitely think that we'd be fighting it out for an automatic promotion place right now.

If the switch in manager would have happened prior to the season starting I honestly don't think Gartside and the board would have looked twice at Freedman, it was only when Coyle was sacked that Dougie was doing well with Palace. Prior the season starting all dougie had done was kept Palace out of a relegation battle.

wanderlust wrote:Before this thread turns into yet another Coyle hating epic, I think it should be recognised that he tried to play in an attacking style that required better players than he could afford or were available.

That's your defence of the bellend? Surely a competent manager would have realised this pretty sharpish?

Natasha Whittam wrote:

wanderlust wrote:Before this thread turns into yet another Coyle hating epic, I think it should be recognised that he tried to play in an attacking style that required better players than he could afford or were available.

That's your defence of the bellend? Surely a competent manager would have realised this pretty sharpish?

And once Holden got injured the good football was nowhere to be seen, we were crap going forward and even worse at defending. Coyle playing attractive football was a myth encouraged by the man himself.

I'm lost for words really - can't believe people still think Coyle was hard done by.

He led us to the worst home league record in our entire history!

As any player he signed for us turned out to be a good signing!

If he was that good a manager why has no other club snapped him up by now - Christ even Phil Brown's found a job!

No point trying to argue the toss about it now but history will show how utterly crap he really was.

One of the only reasons Coyle lasted so long in the job was some people in the world of football thought he was some fucking genius when it came to brining in young players on loan.

Christ any team who would have brought in Wilshere and Sturridge on loan were going to do well and to be honest I don't think Coyle had much of a say in either signing.

You could argue Holden coming here was a stroke of luck as he had him on trial at Burnley before he came here.

Sluffy wrote:I'm lost for words really

Impossible.

Touch a nerve did it?
It's not a "defence" of OC by any stretch of the imagination. He had faults which I pointed out and some bad luck with injuries plus piss-poor player attitude to deal with. Now a less dogmatic manager would have realised it wasn't working and changed things (both system and player selection) and Dougie's subsequent efforts have proven that Coyle had the options. But he didn't take those options and was therefore sacked.
But although his stubbornness and public persona eventually did for him he did make some good decisions which have subsequently benefitted us IMO.
First he sorted out our spiralling wage bill and it could be argued that we lost some great players (even though we didn't rate them at the time) but he did remove some dross in the process.
You're entitled to disagree but I would say that he made some good signings and loan deals (as well as some donkeys).
I had no problem with Eagles, Stu Holden, Weiss, Wilshere, Petrov, Alonso, Klasnic (signing) , Moreno, Wheater, Sturridge, Tuncay, Lonergan, Spearing, NRC and Sordell - all fairly astute IMO and Coyle did all those deals. Pity he didn't use them all properly.
A second group of Coyle signings were in some cases poor, signed too early or untried including Ngog, Robinson, Blake, Wylde, Eaves, Pratley, Mills, Ream, Boyata, Miyaichi, Kakuta and the fans favourite Mears.
I think Sluffy's question "has any player OC signed turned out to be a decent signing" just shows how anti-coyle feeling clouds perception and I thought it was fair to point out what hes actually did do for us in the interest of balance.
The truth of it is that some players didn't work out for us and still haven't, some players are starting to deliver finally, and some players are/were stopgaps. But it would be untrue to say Coyle was universally bad for us and nobody can even guess at what might have happened if he'd stayed - not that I'm not happy we've got Dougie now.

Andrews & Afobe not good enough
McKee? Not seen him yet.
Warnock - too rich for us, but decent at the time.

Name me one successful Coyle signing, loans not accepted.

And don't say Holden, that's been a disaster.

Tom Eaves....ok he has not been a success here but Shrewsbury fans love him.

Coyle has never made a good signing.

He brought a few good loan players in though.

Eagles?

I could've reduced our wage bill and got us relegated.

Jamster26 wrote:Eagles?

Probably his best signing, he's an ok championship player.

Natasha Whittam wrote:Name me one successful Coyle signing, loans not accepted.

And don't say Holden, that's been a disaster.

There's a list in the earlier post - pick one. Maybe your must start every game hero Lonergan?
And you're blaming Coyle for Holden's injury? Outstanding.
Obviously he should have anticipated it.

wanderlust wrote:I think Sluffy's question "has any player OC signed turned out to be a decent signing" just shows how anti-coyle feeling clouds perception and I thought it was fair to point out what hes actually did do for us in the interest of balance.

I had no problem with Eagles, Stu Holden, Weiss, Wilshere, Petrov, Alonso, Klasnic (signing) , Moreno, Wheater, Sturridge, Tuncay, Lonergan, Spearing, NRC and Sordell - all fairly astute IMO and Coyle did all those deals.

Clouds my perception!

These are what I think about those signings you believe were decent - I'll let others choose which one of us is a better judge of the matter.

Eagles, - rumoured to have put in transfer request recently when fans got on his back. Disappears for games on end.

Stu Holden – hardly played for two years due to injury.

Weiss – generally considered a failure at the club

Wilshere – played out wide originally by Coyle, only came good in what, 12 games at the season end.

Petrov – Don’t think anyone would consider him to be a success – was supposed to rip this division up – he didn’t.

Alonso – Can’t defend – see yesterdays goal – bit of an handicap for a defender really.

Klasnic (signing) – couldn’t play a full game. Expensive luxury who ultimately failed us.

Moreno – only had a handful of games, never fully established himself at the club

Wheater – a donkey – didn’t rate him when he was at Boro – still don’t.

Sturridge – slightly over rated player – was never going to sign for us – never established himself fully at Chelsea or Liverpool since.

Tuncay – Never played more than a couple of games – how can he be considered a good signing???

Lonergan – can’t establish a first team place ahead of Bogdan – says it all really!

Spearing – Only just coming good in last month or so after nearly a full season with us – won’t be staying.

NRC – not good enough for ANY British team at just 28 year old – how can he be considered a success???

Sordell – crap attitude, hardly played in his first year at the club – yellow carded in his last two games for petulance.



Not many names you would want on your teamsheet from that lot - imo.

Thanks Owen!