Bolton - best or worse than when you first started going?

[hbk4894]

serious question , would you say now the team you are watching is better or worse than the team you first saw when you started supporting them?



for me - i started watching Bolton in 1999 to 2000 , one of my first memorys was watching them in the play offs vs Ipswich , i would say the team is worse than when i first started watching them because when i first started watching them it was a team full of match winner and we went up to the premier league within 2 years of me supporting them and stayed there for 10 years - can i see the current squad getting promoted and being a successful premier league team again anytime soon - no is the simple answer.

[TKIZ!]

I started watching '86 so way better, although in my first game we beat Wolves 4-1

[bwfcdan94]

Better team but we are in a lower league.

[officer_dibble]

BRUCE

Say no more

[Montreal Wanderer]

I started watching in May, 1953. Cup Final. Next year we finished fourth in the first Division - our highest ever finish in the top league. We were a power in the land. In short we were considerably better back then in a relative way. By this I mean standards, equipment, fitness levels, etc. etc. have all perhaps improved since those days. If you headed the ball back then on a wet day, your IQ dropped about fifty points for a couple of minutes.

[William the White]

This was my first full season and - thanks dad - my first season ticket...

http://bwfcstats.com/1950/page10.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

4th in the top division. QF FA Cup.

I've loved many seasons since, but, since you ask, my 10 year old self got the best... At least in terms of achievement...

[William the White]

I started watching in May, 1953. Cup Final. Next year we finished fourth in the first Division - our highest ever finish in the top league. We were a power in the land. In short we were considerably better back then in a relative way. By this I mean standards, equipment, fitness levels, etc. etc. have all perhaps improved since those days. If you headed the ball back then on a wet day, your IQ dropped about fifty points for a couple of minutes.

think we finished fifth that year, monty...


http://bwfcstats.com/1950/page5.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Lord Kangana]

I saw a lot of shite as a youngster in the 80's without much care - I'll be truthful, its difficult to care when everyone at school supports a team with names of players you've heard of playing against other teams you can find on a map.

And then Mr BD Rioch came along and made the world of Bolton Wanderers an exciting place to be for a 15 year old, sometimes going to the matches on his own for the first time with his mates, rather than his dad. And sometimes both.

Though Dibble said it better than me.

[thebish]

can't remember the first BWFC team I saw - but a very early one had Taddy Nowak in it - so obviously that team can never be bettered...

[William the White]

I saw a lot of shite as a youngster in the 80's without much care - I'll be truthful, its difficult to care when everyone at school supports a team with names of players you've heard of playing against other teams you can find on a map.

And then Mr BD Rioch came along and made the world of Bolton Wanderers an exciting place to be for a 15 year old, sometimes going to the matches on his own for the first time with his mates, rather than his dad. And sometimes both.

Though Dibble said it better than me.

And a 45 year old... like a resurrection!!!

[Montreal Wanderer]

I started watching in May, 1953. Cup Final. Next year we finished fourth in the first Division - our highest ever finish in the top league. We were a power in the land. In short we were considerably better back then in a relative way. By this I mean standards, equipment, fitness levels, etc. etc. have all perhaps improved since those days. If you headed the ball back then on a wet day, your IQ dropped about fifty points for a couple of minutes.

think we finished fifth that year, monty...


http://bwfcstats.com/1950/page5.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Well, we were tied with the Scum and equal on goal difference though we scored more goals. Of course they had a different way of settling ties back then. Morally we were fourth. Still our highest finish I think.

[danardif1]

I started following Wanderers properly around the time Big Sam got us back into the Premier League via the play-off win vs Preston. That team was quite an exciting one in Division One, and I remember reading of Gardner, Ricketts, Frandsen, Hendry and co. in the BEN whenever I was in Bolton visiting my grandparents. I'd been given shirts as presents before then, but only started really getting into football at around 9-10 years old.

The FA Cup semi-final loss to Villa still hurts. Probably the first time I'd been able to support the Wanderers on telly and bloody Dean Holdsworth...

I think that side was much better than we've had for the last few years, even in our last Premier League season. It's nothing on what we had under Big Sam at our peak, which was incredible for someone of my age... being able to boast at school about how good Bolton bloody Wanderers are, and wearing the shirt in PE and when going to football training with pride. I really don't think we'll ever see us hit those heights again, so I'm glad I lived through it. I still remember being so gutted when our chances of a Champions League spot just slipped away at the end of the 2004-5 season, because we were right up there for so long...

So yeah, to me we were definitely a better side when I started watching them.

[LeverEnd]

First game I remember going to was a Div2 3-1 win over a Newcastle team featuring Kevin Keegan in 1982 I think. Sounds good but we got relegated that season so I'd like to think this team is better, as I'm confident we won't go down. It got a lot worse over the next few years as well but I didn't see much if that.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

I started following Wanderers properly around the time Big Sam got us back into the Premier League via the play-off win vs Preston. That team was quite an exciting one in Division One, and I remember reading of Gardner, Ricketts, Frandsen, Hendry and co. in the BEN whenever I was in Bolton visiting my grandparents. I'd been given shirts as presents before then, but only started really getting into football at around 9-10 years old.

The FA Cup semi-final loss to Villa still hurts. Probably the first time I'd been able to support the Wanderers on telly and bloody Dean Holdsworth...

I think that side was much better than we've had for the last few years, even in our last Premier League season. It's nothing on what we had under Big Sam at our peak, which was incredible for someone of my age... being able to boast at school about how good Bolton bloody Wanderers are, and wearing the shirt in PE and when going to football training with pride. I really don't think we'll ever see us hit those heights again, so I'm glad I lived through it. I still remember being so gutted when our chances of a Champions League spot just slipped away at the end of the 2004-5 season, because we were right up there for so long...

So yeah, to me we were definitely a better side when I started watching them.

Bloody glory hunters

* just kidding

[Bruce Rioja]

Where we are now is exactly where we are when I first started going: a mid-table second division side. But we had Peter Thompson on the wing back then whereas we have a busted Chungy now.

[Bruno3]

Started in 1959 - Lofty, Freddie Hill, Ray Parry, Dougie Holden etc. Players are a lot fitter now and the game is a lot quicker but, as regards entertainment, the game nowadays feels more like a business - all hard work and very little, if any, enjoyment. The money men have taken over and, so long as morons like me keep paying over our cash, they'll laugh all the way to the bank.

[Beefheart]

The first season I really remember was 94/95. Coca Cola Cup Final and Promotion. So since I've watched them we've mostly been a Premier League team, and when not we've (mostly) been fighting for promotion. I can't really complain.

[Riviman]

First saw them in the mid 1950's with Nat, Chooper Hartle, Tommy Banks, Hoppy, etc, so definately the Wanderers are far worse now than when I first started going.
My son's first game was Barrow in a 1st round FA Cup tie so I suppose we are now marginally better, but then over the next 10 to 15 years BWFC improved and he had the fairly recent "glory years" before the last 3 years or so of doom and gloom.

[Puskas]

Worse.

Far, far worse. But then everything's worse, isn't it? Not just football, but life - more misery. More pain. And the only escape being death - that gaping maw into oblivion, that we eventually tumble into gladly, our last thoughts before winking out into non-existence being "thank feck that's over".

Still, mustn't grumble.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Worse.

Far, far worse. But then everything's worse, isn't it? Not just football, but life - more misery. More pain. And the only escape being death - that gaping maw into oblivion, that we eventually tumble into gladly, our last thoughts before winking out into non-existence being "thank feck that's over".

Still, mustn't grumble.

That cheered me up. I was getting a tad depressed