Who as been Bolton's worst manager in the last 20 years?

Alf Hooker wrote:

luckyPeterpiper wrote:
But above and beyond the four names in the poll, all of whom failed for one reason or another there should be one more name, the one who sanctioned their appointments and allowed their failures to bring us to the edge of a second relegation in three years. Phil Gartside should be blamed, he IS the worst manager of this club EVER in that he's the one who picked these managers of the team while he mismanaged the rest of the business on a scale that would make Nick Leeson look good and Lehmann Brothers blush. He should be the first person out of the door, Freedman should follow him and many of the current first team squad should be politely invited to ply their trade elsewhere with the toe of a boot strategically placed to assist them on their way.

This ^  

I don't agree. You can make a reasoned argument for all four of those managers.

Sammy Lee was Allardyce's assistant, it stands to reason a club would hope the assistant could continue the good work. It didn't work out, but not a ridiculous idea to think it would.

Everyone wanted Coyle as manager, not just Gartside. He's was a popular ex-player and had done a good job at Burnley.

Freedman was inexperienced but had done an excellent job to guide Palace in the direction of the Premier League. Perhaps he was the next Pep Guardiola - Gartside took a punt that didn't work out. I don't remember many on here having major objections to Freedman.

Megson is the only appointment that can be questioned, but Gartside needed someone to steady the ship and I guess he did just that - he just couldn't build on it once we'd stayed up.

The problem I have with Gartside is the length of time he gives his managers. He didn't give Sammy Lee long enough, gave Coyle way too long which cost us our PL place, and is repeating his mistake with Freedman which could cost us our Championship place.

Picking a manager who will fit is an impossible task. Roy Keane has been an awful manager to date - but get him to Bolton and he could lead us back to the PL at the first attempt. On the other hand, Malky Mackay did an ace job at Cardiff but could be a complete failure at Bolton.

I don't blame Gartside totally, but his next appointment MUST be someone who can instil discipline into the squad.

We went down under Coyle on a point less than we once survived under Megson. It's just not as simple as "Megson used to keep us up, and Coyle took us down, the fanny!"
If people seriously think a point is the difference between a good manager and a bad manager, I despair.
Moreover, it's just stupid to think that Megson would have continued to keep us up had he stayed. He was the lucky one that came in just as the Sky money had shot up and the club decided to invest in the team. If he'd stayed he'd have had the task of managing the club on a tighter budget than he was used to, and given we were deteriorating by the season as it was, he probably would have failed. He'd have also had the task of replacing the ageing Kevin Davies who his tactics were vastly dependent on, not to mention how he'd have responded to losing his two best players to injury.

Obviously, Coyle failed in the face of all this adversity, but that doesn't mean Megson would have done better.

Nobody can guarantee to appoint a manager to turn thing's round, it's all pot luck, Look at Moyes!

According to the poll, the more recent the manager, the worse he is.

Does that mean the managers are getting worse and worse, or does it mean Bolton fans have short memories?

doffcocker wrote:We went down under Coyle on a point less than we once survived under Megson. It's just not as simple as "Megson used to keep us up, and Coyle took us down, the fanny!"
If people seriously think a point is the difference between a good manager and a bad manager, I despair.

That's too simplistic - it is all about the context in each individual season, otherwise every season a fixed number of points would determine exactly where you would finish in the league.

We get that you believe Megson was a worse manager than Coyle, why not accept though that other people - me included - see things the opposite way around?

It counts for nothing at the and of the day either way who was the worst - it's just a bit of fun to stimulate a bit of debate.

For me it has to be Megson, spent way more than any of the others and what did he have to show for it? The worst atmosphere amongst the fans I've ever witnessed and poor football which would (IMO almost certainly) have taken us down had he been left in charge. I can see the Coyle argument, with the resources he had he could easily have kept us up but instead our squad is still suffering from his purchases and ridiculous contracts. Dougie's lost the plot of late, but I think out of those 4 he's definitely not the worst, so Megson without doubt.

Sluffy wrote:
We get that you believe Megson was a worse manager than Coyle, why not accept though that other people - me included - see things the opposite way around?

It counts for nothing at the and of the day either way who was the worst - it's just a bit of fun to stimulate a bit of debate.

We've both had our say. If it was just a bit of fun, you'd have left it at that, without having to reiterate that whatever I say is nothing more than my own opinion, which by the way, I'm already well aware of.

Lee was just naive and inexperienced, Megson was experienced but ignorant and Coyle just thought he was better than he was but Freedman is in a way a mixture of all three which makes him the worst for me. I do accept he's doing his best, has had lots of head winds but just basically is out of his depth and too arrogant to accept it. 

Gartside is as has been said the biggest culprit, giving too long a contract to untried, untested managers making it costly, and in Freedman's case, too costly to get rid when it's clear he should. We just have to hope this latest "mistake" doesn't send us down before we can end the misery.