Southern Softies

Where fellow sufferers gather to share the pain, longing and unrequited transfer requests that make being a Wanderer what it is...

Moderator: Zulus Thousand of em

ratters
Hopeful
Hopeful
Posts: 21
Joined: Mon Apr 18, 2011 9:17 am

Southern Softies

Post by ratters » Mon Oct 06, 2014 7:15 pm

As Freedman continued to add another poor signing from Crystal Palace or Millwall, I started thinking if we had ever had a Southerner as a real BWFC hero.
I have been a fan since 1958 and the great teams I remember are:-
1958: all 11 Northern, if you count Hartle from Bromsgrove
1960's: Lee, Hill, Davies, Rimmer, Hattons etc
1970's: Worthy, Whatmore, Gowling, Jones (P&G), Reid, Greaves
1980's: Joyce, Sutton, Caldwell ( a poor decade I admit!)
1990's: McGinlay, Thompson (Alan), Philips and Lee
2000's: despite the many foreigners Nolan, SKD and (at a push) Hunt were the core of the side.
The common thread of all the above is they were from the North or Midlands and Scotland.
I struggled to think of a successful Southern signing. Rioch signed Brannigan and McGinlay from Millwall but KB was a goalie and JMcG a Scot.
A football club, like a business, has a culture and Bolton's is easily seen by all as Northern, grim, massive effort, hard (maybe even dirty) and never give up. I remember wet and windy nights at Burnden and the Reebok when the cultured Londoners (particularly Arsenal, Spurs and WHU) would hate the visit and usually go away defeated. Now, everyone sees a trip to the Macron as an easy three points
DF has been allowed to change that culture (Gartside again) by signing a collection of journeymen from London who, not only are not very good, but also will find it difficult to settle in the North, particularly with their mentor, DF, now gone. The North, despite what Boltonians may think, is not easy to come to if you are used to the bright lights of London. We saw how difficult Sordell found it to move North and he was a better player than most of those signed by DF.
Businesses will always say culture change is one of the things most difficult to achieve but, I would suggest, the new manager needs to reverse that culture and quickly.
I want to watch a BW where I actually like some of the players and I can't say that now!

LeverEnd
Legend
Legend
Posts: 9969
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2012 11:18 pm
Location: Dirty Leeds

Re: Southern Softies

Post by LeverEnd » Mon Oct 06, 2014 9:06 pm

Mark Fish?
...

KeyserSoze
Passionate
Passionate
Posts: 2446
Joined: Fri Jan 24, 2014 4:57 pm

Re: Southern Softies

Post by KeyserSoze » Mon Oct 06, 2014 9:11 pm

Anthony Barness is crying somewhere.
Nero fiddles while Gordon Burns.

bobo the clown
Immortal
Immortal
Posts: 19597
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2005 8:49 am
Location: N Wales, but close enough to Chester I can pretend I'm in England
Contact:

Re: Southern Softies

Post by bobo the clown » Mon Oct 06, 2014 9:12 pm

LeverEnd wrote:Mark Fish?
Haha. Now THAT is southern.

I know there'll be some but I can't think of too many. Keith Braningan is one.
Not advocating mass-murder as an entirely positive experience, of course, but it had its moments.
"I understand you are a very good footballer" ... "I try".

User avatar
Prufrock
Immortal
Immortal
Posts: 23959
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2008 11:51 pm

Re: Southern Softies

Post by Prufrock » Mon Oct 06, 2014 9:25 pm

Lol at blaming Gartside!
In a world that has decided
That it's going to lose its mind
Be more kind, my friends, try to be more kind.

EverSoYouri
Reliable
Reliable
Posts: 673
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2012 11:01 am

Re: Southern Softies

Post by EverSoYouri » Mon Oct 06, 2014 10:52 pm

Nicky Hunt the core of the side?!?! ?! :lol: :lol: :lol: :crazy: :lol:

(That said. There's substance in much of what you say...just took me a while to get past NH...)

Strikes me that, for a multi-million pound business, BWFC continue to make a pig's ear of some of the basics. Your new young striker is homesick? See if you can't pay to bring his mates/family up on a regular basis. (Or do what they did at Newcastle when Andy Carroll went off the rails - put him in the care of a senior player.)
Your star Korean player loses his confidence after a serious injury? Get him working with a Korean sports psychologist.

I'm told we even lose out when trying to sign up kids - we tell them to get the bus or a taxi after school, where our big local rivals send a car for them.

It is about the culture sometimes, and we're still not getting it right (from what I hear).
Last edited by EverSoYouri on Mon Oct 06, 2014 11:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
Dave Sutton's barnet
Immortal
Immortal
Posts: 28435
Joined: Sun May 14, 2006 4:00 pm
Location: Hanging on in quiet desperation
Contact:

Re: Southern Softies

Post by Dave Sutton's barnet » Mon Oct 06, 2014 11:17 pm

Bruce Rioch and his chirpy-chirp accent?

nelson66
Promising
Promising
Posts: 489
Joined: Sun Aug 12, 2012 9:44 pm

Re: Southern Softies

Post by nelson66 » Mon Oct 06, 2014 11:28 pm

Dean Holdsworth ?
The Whites Are Going Up 2021 :pissed: :grin:

IggyTheDawgster
Reliable
Reliable
Posts: 821
Joined: Thu Aug 23, 2012 8:11 pm

Re: Southern Softies

Post by IggyTheDawgster » Tue Oct 07, 2014 1:53 am

What a ridiculous thread.
It ain't easy, Sleazy even, Deceiving those we, Believe in.

General Mannerheim
Legend
Legend
Posts: 6343
Joined: Wed Oct 18, 2006 12:45 pm

Re: Southern Softies

Post by General Mannerheim » Tue Oct 07, 2014 8:37 am

Glen Little

EverSoYouri
Reliable
Reliable
Posts: 673
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2012 11:01 am

Re: Southern Softies

Post by EverSoYouri » Tue Oct 07, 2014 9:35 am

IggyTheDawgster wrote:What a ridiculous thread.

The title is no doubt a bit tongue-in-cheek, but the idea is an interesting one, if you read the original post carefully - even if you disagree with it.

User avatar
Worthy4England
Immortal
Immortal
Posts: 32273
Joined: Wed May 16, 2007 6:45 pm

Re: Southern Softies

Post by Worthy4England » Tue Oct 07, 2014 9:54 am

I'd offer Campo - fairly southern in the scheme of things, Stelios also fairly Southern, Jussi, not Southern but hardly from Dobcross.

I think to put down our success in the 2000's to just Nolan and SKD is a bit of a push. :-)

How we think we'd have coped in the 90's without Bergsson, Frandsen etc. I'm not sure...(but I don't think we can say that Iceland is Southern :-) )

If the contention is that we generally haven't had (m)any heroes from South of Watford and North of the South Coast, I think that's reasonable.

EverSoYouri
Reliable
Reliable
Posts: 673
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2012 11:01 am

Re: Southern Softies

Post by EverSoYouri » Tue Oct 07, 2014 11:44 am

Worthy4England wrote:I'd offer Campo - fairly southern in the scheme of things, Stelios also fairly Southern, Jussi, not Southern but hardly from Dobcross.

I think to put down our success in the 2000's to just Nolan and SKD is a bit of a push. :-)

How we think we'd have coped in the 90's without Bergsson, Frandsen etc. I'm not sure...(but I don't think we can say that Iceland is Southern :-) )

If the contention is that we generally haven't had (m)any heroes from South of Watford and North of the South Coast, I think that's reasonable.
To be fair to Ratters, you're excluding the essential third element - Nicky Hunt. :lol:

User avatar
Dave Sutton's barnet
Immortal
Immortal
Posts: 28435
Joined: Sun May 14, 2006 4:00 pm
Location: Hanging on in quiet desperation
Contact:

Re: Southern Softies

Post by Dave Sutton's barnet » Tue Oct 07, 2014 1:42 pm

Ratters has a point. Consider the longer-serving Bolton players (this Wiki list is a good start) and there's a clear northern bias. That's partly because before the abolition of the maximum wage players had little pull to relocate - northerners down south or southerners up north. But that's 50 years go, and there simply haven't been too many since from south of Birmingham (although we've had a few from the Midlands, North-East and Scotland who have settled well).

The best exception I can find is probably Dick Pym, who relocated from his native Devon when we paid a world record £5,000 (enabling Exeter to buy St James Park and us to win three FA Cups in seven seasons). A devout Devonian, upon retiring he returned home and reverted to the family business: fishing. He lived to the age of 95.

There's also Keith Branagan, Fulham-born although I believe he stayed up north (he's coached for us, and his goalkeeping son Ritchie came through our ranks and is now at Macclesfield). Perhaps the closest to the territory of cult hero or terrace favourite is the blatant Londoner Deano Holdsworth (now resides in Worcestershire). After that, you're scratching around with the likes of Matt Taylor (born Oxford) and Chris Eagles (Hemel Hempstead) - not bad lads but probably not notably heroic.

However, Dougie's signings haven't been as Lahndahn-cockernee-knees-up as you might think. For a start, Owen Garvan's from Dublin. But looking at the players DF signed for keepsies, they've mainly been from the north - from Jay Spearing (Wallasey) to Max Clayton (Crewe) via Craig Davies (Burton), Marc Tierney (Prestwich), Alex Baptiste (Mansfield), Neil Danns (Liverpool), Andy Hughes (Stockport) & Paddy Kenny (Halifax).

The five DF signings I can find born below the midlands are Dean Moxey (Exeter), Liam Feeney (Hammersmith), Liam Trotter (Ipswich), Jermaine Beckford (Ealing) & Rob Hall (Aylesbury), and I would posit that in some cases what's stopping them settling is not their separation from roots as much as their ability in boots...

User avatar
TANGODANCER
Immortal
Immortal
Posts: 43133
Joined: Fri Sep 02, 2005 9:35 pm
Location: Between the Regency and the Rubaiyat and forever trying to light penny candles from stars.

Re: Southern Softies

Post by TANGODANCER » Tue Oct 07, 2014 2:01 pm

Dave Sutton's barnet wrote:
The five DF signings I can find born below the midlands are Dean Moxey (Exeter), Liam Feeney (Hammersmith), Liam Trotter (Ipswich), Jermaine Beckford (Ealing) & Rob Hall (Aylesbury), and I would posit that in some cases what's stopping them settling is not their separation from roots as much as their ability in boots...
Ah-ha...So Trotter and Pratley are both south-of-the-border boys. There you have it... :lol:
Si Deus pro nobis, quis contra nos?

User avatar
Dave Sutton's barnet
Immortal
Immortal
Posts: 28435
Joined: Sun May 14, 2006 4:00 pm
Location: Hanging on in quiet desperation
Contact:

Re: Southern Softies

Post by Dave Sutton's barnet » Tue Oct 07, 2014 2:19 pm

Haven't mentioned Prats as he wasn't a DF buy but yes, he was born in Barking, like Dudley Moore and U2's The Edge.

EverSoYouri
Reliable
Reliable
Posts: 673
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2012 11:01 am

Re: Southern Softies

Post by EverSoYouri » Tue Oct 07, 2014 2:54 pm

Dave Sutton's barnet wrote:Haven't mentioned Prats as he wasn't a DF buy but yes, he was born in Barking, like Dudley Moore and U2's The Edge.
He's invaded my iPod and he was born in Barking? Harrumph! :evil:

User avatar
Prufrock
Immortal
Immortal
Posts: 23959
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2008 11:51 pm

Re: Southern Softies

Post by Prufrock » Tue Oct 07, 2014 5:22 pm

Branners was teaching at Bolton School a few years ago. Dunno if he's still there.
In a world that has decided
That it's going to lose its mind
Be more kind, my friends, try to be more kind.

boltonboris
Immortal
Immortal
Posts: 13989
Joined: Sat Jun 11, 2005 4:27 pm

Re: Southern Softies

Post by boltonboris » Wed Oct 08, 2014 1:08 pm

Holdsworth.. Villa miss aside, he always has a place in my heart
"I've got the ball now. It's a bit worn, but I've got it"

Andy Waller
Dedicated
Dedicated
Posts: 1469
Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2011 1:05 pm

Re: Southern Softies

Post by Andy Waller » Wed Oct 08, 2014 1:14 pm

boltonboris wrote:Holdsworth.. Villa miss aside, he always has a place in my heart

I'm sure he had this in his mind when he hit that ball...
Attachments
index.jpg
index.jpg (9.06 KiB) Viewed 3943 times
What a hero, What a man...... Ooooh, what a bad foul...

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 93 guests