Jump to content
IGNORED

The Official Bolton Wanderers v Bristol City Match Day Thread

havanatopia

Recommended Posts

havanatopia

havanatopia

Posted
Posted (edited)

A crime infested blister with ideas above its station; that is what is said by some locals about Manchester. Bolton, on the other hand, should not necessarily be guilty by association. Let us delve a little..

I am grateful to the many, too many to mention here, who have inspired me to pen some of these words which, although I conjugated them into as short and as interesting a summary as I am able, are largely not of my making.

It is said that in Bolton one can experience intellectual osmosis. This is the effect of being outside of your home, seeing the general populace, and feeling more stupid than you actually are. I am very glad the Bristol City faithful are only in the town for a short while then. It was not always considered an intellectual desert nor a dump. In fact as many would attest it was at the very heart of Britain's rise to power in the 18th, 19th and early 20th century. The mighty mills of Bolton drove the industrial revolution forward. 216 mills at its height in 1929 but by 1980 virtually all gone. How times have changed through a combination of inept mis-management, Chinese dumping and downright laziness down the years. Something is significantly wrong with society when somebody can be walking around dressed with the most expensive clothing imaginable, made overseas of course, claiming dole and be a Grandmother of 8 at 30. Even Reebok, founded in Bolton, have up and left which I suppose is why the ground is now called Macron.. what do they do?.. supply the giro cheques to the local town hall?

139 thousand souls live in Bolton and its administratively included towns. Amir Khan was born in Bolton; bet he doesn't live there now though.

And for those of you who wish to understand what a Boltonian, returning to see his hometown, feels about the place read the link:-

https://www.tripadvisor.com.ph/ShowUserReviews-g187053-r15603676-Bolton_Greater_Manchester_England.html

He does advise to watch your money and your valuables.. but since the football ground is in Horwich you might be able to avoid the place entirely of course.

But Bothelton, as it kinda first was named in around 1212 meaning a place with a dwelling; I did warn you that people have said they are not the smartest bunch, has evidence of settlement long before. The Bronze Age in fact. But its them there Flems who again populate the place in the 14th century who bring the weaving skills that one day will catapult the town to stardom and riches only for it to be squandered in the decades that follow the demise. How that could be compared to the relative rise and fall of its only football league team. Perhaps one of the more 'infamous' parts of Bolton history though concerns what became known as the Bolton Massacre. The town were loyal to the Parliamentarians and in 1644 the Earl of Derby, representing the Royalists, attacked the town killing 1500 and plundering its riches.. So Bolton can thank Derby for its demise.. I wonder if there is such twisted logic acted out on the terraces or perhaps I have just opened a potential future aggravation. How naughty is that. Narghhh... the average Boltonian won't go for that.. oh hang on..

Should you come across the pub Ye Olde Man & Scythe.. a tudor facaded building you can either toast or damn the Earl of Derby; it is here that he was hanged for his acts. The pub, still open to this day, is on Churchgate and is the oldest pub in Bolton, dating from 1251, and the 15th oldest in Britain. So go have a pint there before the match lads and lasses and lets have a report on the pale ales please. Worth an honorary mention, if you are into ancient-ish structures, is Smithills Halls built in 1451.

So what of todays opponents. Bolton Wanderers were formed in 1874, albeit as Christ Church Football Club for the first 3 years, and played at Burnden Park for 102 years until they moved to the Macron Giro Cheques Stadium in Horwich in 1997. They have won 4 FA Cups... blimey... well done. One of them being the White Horse final where 127k crammed into Wembley.. remember that footage back in the 20's? Their last trophy, of any merit, was the FA Cup of 1958 when two Nat Lofthouse goals secured victory over Man Utd. 73 seasons were spent in the top flight; remarkable, more than any other club without winning the title; perennial bottlers. They have never finished higher than 3rd so we are looking 'down on them' me babbers. One interesting fact is that Burnden Park, at one time, could hold 73,000 fans. probably the highest capacity relative the town's population of any football club in the land, I would wager. Pretty fanatical support. So where has it all gone wrong in recent times. Too long a story to write here but rumoured to be around £200 million pounds in debt, albeit largely held by its current owner, means Bolton find themselves in somewhat of a straightjacket. Bottom of the Championship with, according to Lennon, no money to spend and seemingly heading only in one direction. Lennon will likely pay the price with his job sooner rather than later as is the madness of the game but it will not stop their continued fall unless their financial burden can be properly corrected.

Today will surely be THE ideal opportunity for a back to back for City then. I can genuinely only see one result here. I don't believe in tempting fate. City should have too much for Bolton, they really should. If we fail to even get a point it will be an absolutely shocking result of gargantuan proportions. OK thats a bit much but you know what I am getting at.

Well done to all those going and sing your hearts out and bring us back a win. 1-3 please.

Kodjia with two and errr... Agard with the other and Williams with an OG. :)

UTC

Edited by havanatopia
  • Like 8
Link to comment
Selred

Selred

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, cider city red 81 said:

I'd go:

Fielding

Bennett

Ayling

Flint

Baker

Bryan

Smith

Pack

Freeman

Wilbs

Kodiak

 

Why would you drop Williams who's been one of our best players since moving to LWB?

Also why would you drop Agard who has won many plaudits for his performance against Wolves.

Personally I'd stick to the same team.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Aizoon

Aizoon

Posted
Posted (edited)
31 minutes ago, BigTone said:

Condensed Version

 

Bolton (as written by Aizoon this week):

 

if you sing "this is a shithole, I want to go home" up there, the home fans will probably join in.

Horwich Works was the main workshop of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway.

Swindon Works was the main workshop of the Great Western Railway.

Are we seeing a pattern here? ...

Edited by Aizoon
  • Like 1
Link to comment
JoeAman08

JoeAman08

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, ChippenhamRed said:

Well that didn't take long.

So what happens if we do lose? Prepare for League 1?

30 games to go after today...

Plenty to go after today, yes. Bolton is the kind of team we need to be beating if we want to have a good season. Sure, some think just staying up will be ok. I don't. I think we need to do a bit better than that. Above 15th to keep any momentum and some of our best players. Beating a team like Bolton is one way to get the momentum flowing and back to back wins. Especially as well be very much the underdog in our next match against Hull. 

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...