John McCormick writes:every footballer and fan should be honoured to visit a club like Bolton Wanderers but I’ve never been there. I’ll be remedying that on Tuesday, however, so if my former OU colleague Brian (a diehard Wanderer who will surely relish the magic and nostalgia of Pete Sixmith‘s prose) fancies a pre match pint it would be great if he got in touch via the comments at the bottom …
1-0 down after 15 minutes, 2-0 after half an hour. Jones booked five minutes later. What a surprise.
How much is a typical League One club worth? Surely someone wants to buy and turn this club around.
Pete Sixsmith sent an e-mail not long before the kick-off. It included the phrase “sorry team for today”. He wasn’t kidding and by half-time he was able send a text with what would become his final verdict on that sorry team:
In Channel Five‘s footy programme on Saturday the presenters made mention of the numbers leaving the SOL with half-an hour to go. People have always left early but when we stood in the Fulwell End all those years ago, with crowds of 50,000 plus, it was never so often, so many and so early. Which begs a couple of questions:
Do you stay to the end or leave early?
Do you applaud the team off the pitch irrespective of the score, or do you boo a loss (irrespective of how well they played)?
Wrinkly Pete has some food for thought for those that do the latter:
John McCormick writes: There have been few “…and I was there…” games in the last couple of years, after a slew which included Wembley; four, five and six in a row; a win at Chelsea and coming back from 2-0 down at Anfield. But this match, where we played so badly for 45 minutes and returned home with a point after being 3-0 down, must be one of those games.
Monsieur Salut writes: John McCormick, setting up this week’s Sixer’s Sevens, wrote: ‘We might not be expecting a result at Ashton Gate but we should expect something from our team. Commitment, pride, maybe even a modicum of skill. And hopefully a structure that works and which will provide a framework for a climb out of the depths’
At half time, the words seemed hollow. Three down, with Sixer’s increasingly disgusted, anguished texts piling up and our poor fans singing ‘you’re not fit to wear the shirt’. Some left at the whistle for the interval. They missed an astonishing comeback, not quite to 4-3 but to 3-3. Thanks heavens for McGeady and whoever scored the own goals (sign them up, too). Nowhere near out of the wood but a point we barely expected before the game and thought an absurd proposition after 37 minutes …
John McCormick writes: I hitched to quite a few games – including some at Roker Park – and I do remember going down the M5 in a Reliant Robin when it (the M5, not the car) was a two-lane motorway. I still believe its front wheel (the car’s, not the M5’s) left the ground when we went above 60.
However, for this game (for when else could I have seen Joe Baker at Bristol?) I went on a John Tennick bus. An overnight journey, a killer result, an evening of pubs and an overnight journey back. To think that we took such things in our stride. Now I’m looking askance at the 40-mile trip to Bolton in a week or so.
John McCormick writes: I started Pete Sixsmith‘s report on yesterday’s game at 11.01 on Sunday. It took me about 20 minutes. I can’t tell you how long Pete spent writing it but given its usual high standard you can be sure he put some effort into it.
If you felt so inclined you could calculate how much Jack Rodwell earned in that time*. Or estimate how much effort was made yesterday. Alternatively, you could ask yourself – why bother?
John McCormick writes: It’s half time and we’re 2-0 down in our first game after the closure of the transfer window. I blame Ellis Short. I’ve previously supported him as a good thing; now I think he’s tearing the heart from the club.
Pete Sixsmith’s seven word text, sent immediately as the game ended – without another goal – can be taken as corroboration. It describes exactly what happens when a decent manager in a great club is starved of funds.
John McCormick writes: I’m quite sure I was at the Stoke match Pete mentions in this report; Ed, his brother and I certainly did go to the Victoria Ground at the start of one season in the late sixties, but yet again we have a home game which eludes my memory. Surely I was there.
No matter, Pete Sixsmith was definitely there, and 50 years later, more or less, he does us proud by recalling the game:
John McCormick writes: the transfer window has closed. Did Coleman get what he wanted? A keeper and an experienced forward – yes, although maybe not the ones originally on his radar. A defender and a midfielder up for the fight – yes, and the Scousers I’ve spoken to rate Ejaria. So will we stay up?
