Is The Current Bolton Team The Shittest Of All Time?

xmiles wrote:Well they've got a good manager now.

Trying not to mention the manager as that could go 1 of 2 ways with posters on here!

[quote="Natasha Whittam"]

largehat wrote:
It was a much better league in those days - that team playing in this league would finish top 10.

Yeah, I am familiar with this romantic view you have of BWFC in the 1990s. I can't agree. Too many poor players who were regular starters. Green, Phillips, Fairclough, Taggart, Sneekes, Lee, Paatelainen, De Freitas, can't see that lot setting the world on fire if they were at the ages they were at in 1996 right now. None of them are PL players.

Thompson, McAteer, Stubbs, Branagan, were probably PL players, maybe even top 10, but the rest weren't. McGinlay wasn't good enough for the PL. Nathan Blake with his one goal.

largehat wrote:Yeah, I am familiar with this romantic view you have of BWFC in the 1990s. I can't agree. Too many poor players who were regular starters. Green, Phillips, Fairclough, Taggart, Sneekes, Lee, Paatelainen, De Freitas, can't see that lot setting the world on fire if they were at the ages they were at in 1996 right now. None of them are PL players.

Thompson, McAteer, Stubbs, Branagan, were probably PL players, maybe even top 10, but the rest weren't. McGinlay wasn't good enough for the PL. Nathan Blake with his one goal.

I agree with you about the players. But I reckon the Championship in 1996 was about the standard of the Premier League right now. So if McGinlay, Taggart, Sneekes etc were playing today they'd be comfortable in the Prem.

lol! Yeah they were on a par with David Silva, Rooney and RVP.

Hipster_Nebula wrote:lol! Yeah they were on a par with David Silva, Rooney and RVP.

What I think Nats is suggesting is that our players from the 90's would compare well, and possibly be better, than the majority of players in the Prem today - sure there are exceptions but they are a small fraction compared to the majority.

Yeah i got that, i totally disagree.

just because the Bolton team now is under shat, doesn't mean the whole league is.

I've watched every team this season and with the exception of Bolton and Wolves every team can pass and move the ball well, create chances and have some good defenders.

I think our present team is one of the biggest let downs, we've had. Not much quality,fight or team work, number of games we should have won this season, but have not, is the biggest let down for me.

I tend to watch quite a few games on a Saturday - as the bar I go to shows up to 5 of the 4pm (3pm UK) kick-offs and I honestly do think the standard has gone down in last 3 or 4 seasons. If it hasn't gone down then other Leagues have upped their games and become much better at playing value, entertaining value etc



This can also be seen in European games - look at how teams from other leagues are now beginning to overtake English teams, and its not just this season, but also last season we didn't really fare any better.



to be fair does go in cycles as we overtook the Serie A which overtook Dutch premier division which overtook teh French which overtook La Liga which overtook Bundesliga and so on and so on, maybe its the Premierships turns for a lull and another European League to be flying high for a while. (above not strictly accurate in way things happened but used as an example how the cycle goes)

I have to agree with the sentiments expressed in the above couple of posts by Hipster Nebula. The PL in 1996 was definitely stronger than the Championship has ever been, and our team of 95/96 contained a lot of players who followed us up from the Championship and even League One, complimented by the likes of Fairclough and Sellars who were top flight players whose best days were behind them. None of our signings that season set the world on fire.

It's romantic to think the 0-6 against Man U at Burnden Park was a blip of some sort, but we were comfortably the worst team in the league, were rooted to the bottom all season long, our decent young players wanted to move to proper PL clubs, and we only picked up a few wins at the end of the season away from home when our fate was already sealed.

How Nat can think such a team would be comfortable in the PL today is beyond me.

I don't agree that victory over two legs or even one proves a team has "overtaken" another.

does that mean every time there's a FA cup upset league 2 is better than the premiership.

It's nonsense.

bwfc71 wrote:I tend to watch quite a few games on a Saturday - as the bar I go to shows up to 5 of the 4pm (3pm UK) kick-offs and I honestly do think the standard has gone down in last 3 or 4 seasons. If it hasn't gone down then other Leagues have upped their games and become much better at playing value, entertaining value etc

I do agree with this though. The PL has dropped off a bit in the last 3-4 years, but only after a period of continuous growth and improvement which began with its inception in 1991.

Standard of English teams in Europe has gone down - our teams are nowhere near as strong as they used to be - if thats because we have not improved have and other Europeans teams have is one way of looking at it. But when you have Eastern European clubs actually playing against United to a higher standard then it does become worrying.

The standard of the English game is poor compared to 5 or even 10 years ago. If anything when you split it into division the Championship is better (majority of time) than the Premiership. In fact the Champiosnhip is also more entertaining nowadays than the Premiership.

If anything I believe the problem lies with club who try to buy success - buying, in the main, overpriced players, whether English or not, who are just not good enough and as a result bringing the standard of the game down - perfect examples being Torres and Carroll. Then you look at clubs bringing back, or using older players because the younger ones are just not good enough (i.e. Giggs and out-of-retirement Scholes for Scum, then you have a look at Chelsea and the age of their players) or foreign players being outpriced for the British clubs.

Even at the post-match interview Fergie said it was a mistake to use a younger defence - but h has used that excuse after more or less every defeat this season that the younger squad members are not cut-out to play Premiership football. He isn't the only one saying that, though!



Is it laziness on behalf of these players?, is it that we don't have good enough coaches?, is it that teh game has changed outside the Uk and we haven't kept up with the changes? more of point of last 2 season the change the FA made in only allowing 25 squad members for league games but as many as possible from the academies???

I think that the fact that EPL clubs are nowhere in the CL these days compared to a few years ago shows that the overall standard has remained high - and watching Messi the other night there is a case to argue it's improved - whilst the EPL has gone downhill by comparison.
This may be due to EPL clubs realising that their financial models are largely unsustainable and so they are no longer prepared to pay overinflated wages and transfer fees for top players.
I have thought for some years that foreign clubs, players and agents would have been laughing all the way to the bank whenever an EPL club makes an enquiry, but those days appear to be over.

Hipster_Nebula wrote:

just because the Bolton team now is under shat, doesn't mean the whole league is.

Of course it does! We're absolute bobbins, but a couple of wins and we'd be pushing mid-table. This is the shittest league ever.

But of course some ponce in Aberdeen knows more than David Moyes!

It could be argued that the EPL is so tight because it's so competitive and all the teams outside the top 8 are of a not too dissimilar standard - but I'm more inclined to agree with you on this one Nat. We are sh1t. If we weren't sh1t we'd be at least be able to keep possession, pass accurately and offer the occasional meaningful goal threat - and none of that has been apparent recently. At least consistently.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

Hipster_Nebula wrote:

just because the Bolton team now is under shat, doesn't mean the whole league is.

Of course it does! We're absolute bobbins, but a couple of wins and we'd be pushing mid-table. This is the shittest league ever.

But of course some ponce in Aberdeen knows more than David Moyes!

You might be right the league might be shit (i don't think it is) but even if it was, the standard of Bolton alone simply doesn't reflect the quality of the whole league.

I've also reported your post to the mods because i don't live in Aberdeen and the use of the word "ponce" is inflammatory.

Hipster_Nebula wrote:

I've also reported your post to the mods because i don't live in Aberdeen and the use of the word "ponce" is inflammatory.

I keep sluffy in my pocket, I'm not worried.