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ItalJockey
Starting Member
USA
10 Posts |
 Posted - Aug 18 2001 : 9:00:46 PM
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Sam seeking a fairytale
BY ALAN KAY
Bill Ridding, Bolton’s manager during the glorious Fifties, scarcely flinched when told at an away fixture that the team’s shinpads had been left behind. Legend has it that he promptly dispatched his kitman to buy 22 romantic novels to stuff down the players’ socks.
Sam Allardyce will be striving to match the great man’s creative genius this season. He already has Ridding’s eye for thrift and the short-term solution. If Sam had found himself in the same predicament he would have struck a deal to borrow the 22 Mills & Boon classics for 90 minutes, with an option to buy once the players had secured the points — shins unscathed.
This strong emphasis on economy and the memory of two recent, tearful flirtations with the Premiership make it hardly surprising that Bolton are again the bookies’ favourites to finish the season with broken hearts. The prophets of doom are already smirking at Allardyce’s hire-purchase signings of Akinori Nishizawa from Japan and Djibril Diawara from Italy. Inevitably these long-term loan deals are attributed to a lack of ambition, but only a fool would have expected a huge cash outlay at the Reebok Stadium this summer. Allardyce has promised to dip in to his “secret” transfer kitty, but the club has no sugar daddy and the fans have to seek comfort in the present squad’s brightest prospects: the likes of Ricardo Gardner, Michael Ricketts, Kevin Nolan, Dean Holden and Jussi Jaaskelainen in goal.
No one knows how the main new boys will fare: Diawara, a defensive midfielder with a suspect CV from Torino, and the strikers Nishizawa and Henrik Pedersen, a £650,000 signing from Silkeborg of Denmark. But Gardner, a Jamaica international midfielder with brains in his boots as well as his head, will surely worry the opposition. Ricketts is a natural goalscorer, and desperate to prove it at the higher level. Like Holden, in defence, and the teenage Nolan, in midfield, they will be rubbing their promising young shoulders with those of the team’s wise old heads — Colin Hendry, Gudni Bergsson, Paul Warhurst, Dean Holdsworth and Per Frandsen — all of whom have been there before.
It is not a romantic fantasy to suggest that Sam Allardyce has here a cast of characters who can bring the season to a happy ending and ensure a Premiership sequel in 2002-03.
THE BOSS: Sam Allardyce
Sam Allardyce may be a West Midlander, but he has Bolton in his blood, having played for the club man and boy. His days as a Wanderers defender were spent mostly in the struggle to escape the old second division, and his tactics now betray a disturbing willingness to resort to the long ball. But he has no shortage of passion and likes to tell how he has been dreaming of leading his team into the Premiership. Mission accomplished, he is unlikely either to be sacked this season or to wake up screaming in the middle of December. Pressure rating: 8/10
THE TEAM HE SHOULD PICK
Jaaskelainen
Bergsson / Warhurst / Hendry / Whitlow
Nolan / Frandsen / Farrelly / Gardner
Nishizawa / Ricketts
HOW THEY FINISHED
First division: Third (promoted via play-offs)
FA Cup: Fifth round
Worthington Cup: First round
PREDICTIONS
Premiership: Seventeenth — who could want for more?
FA Cup: Third round — dispatched by a cocky side from the Nationwide League
Worthington Cup: Third round exit to allow full concentration on Premiership survival.
Copyright 2001 Times Newspapers Ltd. This service is provided on Times Newspapers' standard terms and conditions. To inquire about a licence to reproduce material from The Times, visit the Syndication website.
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ShattaCleve
New Member
USA
73 Posts |
Posted - Aug 19 2001 : 11:01:44 AM
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Excellent article, I think that Teddy could be the surprise package. Honestly even thought I respect the EPL I think a lot of our current players with a little attitude adjustment could flourish here.
I hope that Teddy has no problem in his transfer and him and Gardener open eyes to the talent in JA. Also if Teddy does well then his teamates on the reggaeboyz will stand back and say if he can do then they can also.
Watch Andy Williams step up his game now
respect
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Karl
Senior Member
USA
914 Posts |
Posted - Aug 19 2001 : 11:37:34 AM
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Shatta: Yup! Teddy's signing will focus greater attention on our domestic players. On more push for the locals.
Of all those who have signed recently. Bibi stands at the forefront, as one, who by example, is opening the doors for others to follow. I hope Jermaine gets his signing and follows in Bibi's footsteps i.e. performs well and aids in the further opening of doors for other to follow.
Forward!
Karl |
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Tillamawnin
Moderator
USA
197 Posts |
Posted - Aug 19 2001 : 1:44:17 PM
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Good Article. I love the views about Gardner.
Respect,
Tilla
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Live simply so that others may simply live.
Mohandas K. Gandhi |
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ShattaCleve
New Member
USA
73 Posts |
Posted - Aug 20 2001 : 11:48:01 AM
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Karl I also happen to think that the trial that Johnson had with Ipswich helped him this time around as he must have taken something away from the last trials.
If we could just get our youngsters exposed to what is expected of them at the professional level at an early age then maybe they won't be so "lazy or laid back" and they will show that hunger that managers are looking for.
I think a lot of managers mistake our easy going approach as being lazy and we need to understand that image is everything.
I look forward to seeing Johnson in the premiership. Being a fresh signee from JA if he does well then boy oh boy. Who can forget a couple years ago when the fans were hard on Bibi and now they can't get enough of him?
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