Southern Softies
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Southern Softies
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!
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!
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Re: Southern Softies
Haha. Now THAT is southern.LeverEnd wrote:Mark Fish?
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.
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Re: Southern Softies
Lol at blaming Gartside!
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Re: Southern Softies
Nicky Hunt the core of the side?!?! ?!
(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).
(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.
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Re: Southern Softies
What a ridiculous thread.
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Re: Southern Softies
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Re: Southern Softies
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.
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Re: Southern Softies
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.
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.
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Re: Southern Softies
To be fair to Ratters, you're excluding the essential third element - Nicky Hunt.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.
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Re: Southern Softies
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...
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...
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Re: Southern Softies
Ah-ha...So Trotter and Pratley are both south-of-the-border boys. There you have it...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...
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Re: Southern Softies
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.
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Re: Southern Softies
He's invaded my iPod and he was born in Barking? Harrumph!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.
Re: Southern Softies
Branners was teaching at Bolton School a few years ago. Dunno if he's still there.
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Re: Southern Softies
Holdsworth.. Villa miss aside, he always has a place in my heart
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Re: Southern Softies
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...
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