“It’s Not You It’s Me”
The words used to end many a relationship, “you have changed, it is not the same as when we first met”.
My first meeting happened at the back end of the of the 1975/76 season with a non-descript home draw against Hull City, it was my first experience of a professional football match and my first experience of the Wanderers, and I was hooked. The following season was my first full season watching Bolton, I only lived about three miles from the ground but in a place that fell within the Salford border. I came from a family of Manchester United fans who had never bothered to take me to O.T. so United’s loss was going to be Bolton’s gain.
The years rolled by starting with two near miss promotion bids to the First Division. One of those seasons saw us miss out to Nottingham Forest who would eventually go on to winning the First Division Championship and the European Cup in successive seasons. A couple of seasons later, with Bolton in the top flight, I was witnessing us winning away at United courtesy of a Frank Worthington brace. In the decades that followed I watched the Whites walk out at Wembley for the first-time versus Bristol City, I suffered the relegations, and I celebrated promotions, epic cup nights against the Premier League’s elite, play-off final wins, league cup final defeats, F.A. cup semi-final defeats, meeting Dick Smiley for the first time, White Love, all those memories!
“A couple of seasons later, with Bolton in the top flight, I was witnessing us winning away at United courtesy of a Frank Worthington brace.”
“So, what’s changed, I thought you were happy, we have had some wonderful times together, what did I do to make you feel like this?” Well lots of things really... what position does the number 34 play; why do we play with a different coloured ball halfway through the season; we used to start at 3pm on a Saturday guaranteed (apart from the power crisis of the 70s when the games were moved to 2pm Kos – might be back there soon); why do we need names on shirts? I knew who Johnny Byrom was, he didn’t need to have his name on his shirt and we all knew the oppositions top players by sight. Why do games that are played for 90 minutes not end for nearly 2 hours after they have started? And could it be that Soccer Saturday on Sky need a headline to come out of the break at five to five?
There is no doubt that in the 30 years of the Premier League English football has changed beyond all recognition since I first dipped my toe into the choppy waters of being a Bolton fan. Who would ever have thought that some of the world’s great footballers would come and play for and against the Wanderers? But the amount of money that Premier League clubs now spend on transfers and full stadiums are testament to the game and how it has progressed.
So with all that money that has come into the game since the inception of the Premier League why has there been as many as 50 occasions professional clubs that have gone into administration? I say occasions because several clubs have managed to do it twice. The majority being through poor management and poor judgement by desperate owners chasing the dream of the top flight millions egged on by desperate supporters who want their team dining at football’s top table and contracts handed out to players with no thought of the ‘what ifs’. With all this money in the game we have to get the refereeing decisions right on the field as there are now millions of pounds at stake. Aha, bingo, hey presto. It doesn’t take much to replay that incident and get the correct decision so let’s change the rules of the game and introduce VAR. But is that for all of football? No it’s just for the top league, so it’s now become a two-tier game, deal with it…
“Why has there been as many as 50 occasions professional clubs that have gone into administration?”
Mossley attack the Park End in this season’s F.A. Cup, its August and the Mossley ball has already been removed from the bag!
“There is somebody else isn’t there?” sort of, I moved away from the area 10 years ago and I decided to go and watch my local team. So now every other Saturday and a few midweeks I go and watch Mossley AFC in the Northern Premier League Western Division who play at Seal Park (the San Sealo). They average 350 for home games and they famously played at Wembley in the early 80, losing to Dagenham. The Lilywhites have also played in the F.A. Cup second round against Huddersfield Town. Whilst in the time I have watched them I have seen them play FC United, Darlington, Macclesfield and Salford.
For all of the league games I have managed to attend, there is one game that sticks out in my mind. It was when Julio Arca dropped his shoulder, sent the Mossley defence-to-a-man the wrong way and slotted home the winner for South Shields – a team now managed by Kevin Philips. I watch the match on the 18 yard line with a ex-Manchester City season ticket holder who I met by standing in the same place on match days. The ground itself has three covered stands – there is the Park End behind the goal, the Main Stand which is all seated and the stand opposite where I take my place on the terracing. We don’t have names on our shirts, we can drink alcohol on the terraces while watching the game and I am regularly in the pub across the road from the ground at 4.50pm waiting for that 5 o’clock headline game on Sky Sports News.
Entrance to the ground, the hills behind providing one of the best views in football.
So, you never forget your first love right, my last Wanderers game was watching Keith Hill’s Bolton away at an Ivan Toney-inspired Peterborough United, I was down there for the weekend so took full advantage. If I am not at the football, I watch the Wanderers on iFollow and while I am at the match, I have the Wanderers on goal alert and the B.E.N. match day blog in my favourites. I have nothing but the greatest respect and admiration for the Wanderers’ supporters who follow the club all over the country. For me the game I fell in love changed and I was not prepared to change with it so I have gone back to basic I suppose.
So if you are ever without a game, and they do promote non-league day usually on international weekends, get down to a game. I think the closest non- league ground to the UinBol would be Atherton Collieries who play in the division above Mossley. I am sure you will be given a warm welcome and you can even take the dog – must be on a lead of course.
A new forward looking board bringing identity to the club with a shirt made from 100% recycled plastic bottles.