Bolton Wanderers

Bolton Wanderers ‘Who are you’: tricky times for both

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Bolton v SAFC. Salut! Sunderland is – or will soon be – on the road (Orkney to Co Durham, the shores of the Med to a chillier London) and may go quiet for a day or two. Readers’ comments remain welcome; we all know what is at stake. Thefreelancer* is the pseudonym of a Bolton blogger – check out the Bolton Wanderers Blog and Website – who also recognises an important game when he sees one coming. Here are his answers to the “Who are You” questionnaire …


Walloped 5-0 in the FA Cup semi at Wembley last season, and 5-1 at home by Chelsea the other weekend but 4-0 winners at QPR. When the real Bolton Wanderers stand up, what do we actually see?

I don’t think any Bolton fan currently knows who the real Bolton Wanderers are, unless they are prepared to admit that we are nothing but a bottom of the league team with little chance of finishing above 18th. For those of us with a little bit of hope in us, I think we believe that there is a decent bunch of players in there who, given the correct formation and a good kick up the backside, could drag us out of the mire within a few weeks. However, that could prove easier said than done. We have conceded 21 goals in our last six league games and we look clueless going forward much of the time – a deadly combination if ever there was one.

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Calling West Brom and Bolton fans: your wit and wisdom needed

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Albion 5Image: Tony Hisgett


An appeal to WBA and Bolton supporters with something to say to Salut! Sunderland …

Five games into the season, six if you include Brighton in the Carling, we’ve done OK so far with “Who are You?” interviews. But time has been a problem and, believe me, time is needed in order to find suitable – by which you can sometimes read “any” – candidates.

Last season, we did quite well with West Bromwich Albion and Bolton Wanderers, two of the teams we face in the coming few games. Both clubs can, for whatever reason, be tricky in terms of getting someone to sign up to the Q&A.

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Salut!’s week: relief at Bolton, revenge for Chamakh, respect for Wolves

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Salut! Sunderland looks forward in all senses to the last home game of the season, when we expect no slacking despite our affection for Wolverhampton Wanderers and our desire for them to stay up (though 5-2 again would be rubbing it in; 1-0 will do). And we look back over a week that started well. This is the weekly digest of Salut! Sunderland‘s efforts to inform, amuse and inspire …

For once – well, twice or three times in the past four months – we began the week in happy frame of mind.

The last-gasp winner at Bolton was exactly what the doctor ordered and given Sunderland’s appalling run not only of form but of luck, we need apologise to no one about the merits or otherwise, as described by Owen Coyne, of those three priceless points.

There was plenty to read here about that match. And there was, as usual, more to get stuck into as the week went on. Click on the sub-heading for any item that appeals if you want to read more or read again.

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Bolton Soapbox: how I missed the winner and rediscovered Stuart Hall

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Pete Sixsmith has never seen the point in paying good money to watch football and going before the final whistle. He may not be the East Stand supporter who uttered the words “How can they? It’s like leaving a Shakespearian tragedy!” five minutes before the end of a nailbiting victory over Arsenal but, in his own, way, he shares the thought. M Salut can recall only two precedents (the Paul Danson game at Highbury and the relegation decider at Wimbledon, both 1996-97, and the first was at halftime, in sheer disgust, so hardly counts). But stand by for a third …

Those who know me are aware that I very rarely, if ever, leave before the end. I usually sit it out, grumbling and complaining. I was there at 4.50 a week last Saturday as Fulham ran rings round us and I sat through nearly every minute of the 15 point season.

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Bolton 1 Sunderland 2 Observed: a gritty non-classic

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Come back tomorrow for Pete Sixsmith‘s full analysis – actually, his it is only his nearly full analysis – of this priceless victory. This is how he saw it for The Observer. We start with the view of a Wanderers fan …

SHAUN O’GARA, BWFC Supporters’ Club

I thought we had chances after chances to win it, but we just couldn’t score. We didn’t play well at all today and our season is in danger of petering out, which is a shame to see us end it on a whimper after all that we have achieved. We haven’t got much of a midfield at the moment and that is costing us.

Player ratings:

Jaaskelainen 6; Steinsson 5, Robinson 5, Cahill 6, Knight 6; Muamba 5 (Gardner 46, 7); Taylor 6 (Klasnic 76, 6), Lee 6 (Moreno 76, 6), Elmander 5; Davies 6, Sturridge 6

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Sixer’s Sevens: Bolton Wanderers 1 Sunderland 2. Safe!!!!

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pete2

This was the performance we needed. Ferdinand, Zenden and Sessegnon shone as we swept aside survival jitters, a quite exceptional response to that run AND the atrocious injury problems Steve Bruce has had to endure. Starting with a winning away trip to Bolton, these are the most recent of Pete Sixsmith‘s incisive seven-word verdicts capturing the essence of just about every game. When, rarely, Pete is absent, a supersub does it for him. There will be no immediate post-match report, though Pete’s full analysis will appear within the next couple of days.

The full Sixer’s Sevens archive – see link below – encapsulates the matchday experiences, from darkest gloom to sublime elation, of a fan who is usually there …

May 7 2011 Bolton Wanderers (0) 1 SAFC (1) 2 Great result, strong performance and safety assured

April 30 2011 SAFC (0) 0 Fulham (1) 3 No forwards, creaky defence, hurry up summer

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Bolton Sunderland: LLLLDLLLLWL …?

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Right, this is your chance to come to the aid of the partly absent.

You will by now know the score from the Reebok. I will too, thanks to texts from Pete Sixsmith. But I may be nowhere near a screen and therefore have no immediate opportunity to post details.

There will be, soon or in due course, Pete’s seven-word “Sixer’s Seven”, Steve Bruce’s e-mail, Pete again in his fan’s assessment for The Observer and then, of course, his inimitable Soapbox.

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