Rising in Wembley's Glow: A Bolton Wanderers Tale - Bolton vs Oxford. 18th May 2024, 4.15pm

[boltonboris]

I'm currently debating whether to buy tickets now or hold off in the hope we open up another block and I can get seats closer to the front.

Does anyone have an opinion on the likelihood of us getting another block now?

If people hold off, they won't open any more blocks. If you buy and they open additional blocks, you can cancel and re-book (but not transfer)

[boltonboris]

Really not too fussed TBH...I mean we commanded the support on Tuesday who were noisy and supportive - still got beat!

I mean we've sold 26? So only have another 10k...

Gone through 28,000 now.

Lots of people still trying to figure out the logistics of getting there before they buy tickets, so it's hard to imagine we don't now crack 30,000 and keep going.

Whether you care about ticket sales or not, that's great for the club's stature and financial health.

Do we actually get a cut? I thought it all goes to EFL/Wembley and we just get a token match fee

EDIT: Just read the clubs share 50% of the ticket sales equally between them. Regardless of who sold what..

[The_Gun]

I'm currently debating whether to buy tickets now or hold off in the hope we open up another block and I can get seats closer to the front.

Does anyone have an opinion on the likelihood of us getting another block now?

If people hold off, they won't open any more blocks. If you buy and they open additional blocks, you can cancel and re-book (but not transfer)

Indeed, and this is what I ended up doing. I now have some nice seats in block 209, which I believe may be the Club Wembley section.

[GhostoftheBok]

Do we actually get a cut? I thought it all goes to EFL/Wembley and we just get a token match fee

EDIT: Just read the clubs share 50% of the ticket sales equally between them. Regardless of who sold what..

Yup. Plus merch, TV, sponsorship etc.

The club is on track to make ~£1.5m from the play-offs.

[GhostoftheBok]

Okay. Tickets physically in hand makes the whole thing feel more imminent - even if they're just print-outs.

Due for a merch delivery from the shop tomorrow, which will ramp it up another notch and allow the kids to decorate the car.

Nerves stating a little now. The Tinpot didn't mean much for the future of the club, but this game is genuinely massive. I'm confident we'll win, but have a few butterflies.

[The_Gun]

Even though I'm looking forward to the day, I'm not confident of a victory at all. I see it as a genuine 50/50 at this point and if I were a neutral I'd probably be having a bet on Oxford at the prices.

The weather is also looking quite bad - thunder storms currently forecast for just before kick-off.

[DJBlu]

Okay. Tickets physically in hand makes the whole thing feel more imminent - even if they're just print-outs.

Due for a merch delivery from the shop tomorrow, which will ramp it up another notch and allow the kids to decorate the car.

Nerves stating a little now. The Tinpot didn't mean much for the future of the club, but this game is genuinely massive. I'm confident we'll win, but have a few butterflies.

Aye,

Felt okay yesterday, today a little worse. Getting like I did before the Pizza Cup.

Hoping they turn up again.

[GhostoftheBok]

Words from the captain. To go from almost dropping out of the game to the Championship in 4 seasons would be a massive personal achievement for him.

[BWFC_Insane]

Even though I'm looking forward to the day, I'm not confident of a victory at all. I see it as a genuine 50/50 at this point and if I were a neutral I'd probably be having a bet on Oxford at the prices.

The weather is also looking quite bad - thunder storms currently forecast for just before kick-off.

Yeah it’s that horrible sort of game where you know if we are 1% off it, a few don’t turn up or we miss a chance or two….its likely to be painful.

I think it’s much closer than the bookies make out. It’s almost a reverse of last year where we sort of had a free hit against Plymouth where I feel Oxford know there is less pressure on them and they have that chance of just turning up on the day with the right mindset and playing themselves into the history books.

I always maintain that you can enjoy a cup final. I was pretty much ‘whatever’ against Plymouth. Didn’t expect to win but it was a good day out whatever. As it turns out it was excellent. Play off finals though are not enjoyable. Reading was awful till the end then joyous. Preston was similarly just tense and unpleasant till Ricketts finished it off. Watford is a day I wish we’d never had. And Tranmere…oh Tranmere…

[GhostoftheBok]

We have two 20+-goal-a-season strikers in the 11.

Sod 'em.

[GhostoftheBok]

if I were a neutral I'd probably be having a bet on Oxford at the prices.

I never check the odds (no footy betting for me), but had a quick look and yes you'd only bet on Oxford. However, I'm not sure I'd expect my money back.

Over a decade of getting hammered by footballing realities has trained our fanbase to be pessimistic. Bollocks to it. We are the better team. On any given day Oxford *can* beat us, no doubt. Most days we beat them though.

We have been going steadily upwards for 4 years now. One more game and we're through Phase One.

[Worthy4England]

Not sure you necessarily have nail on head regarding all our fanbase. Some of our off-day performances since January weigh much more heavily than a Dougie Freedman special, 10 years back.

I agree that more often than not, we'd win this, but we will have to overcome weight of expectation and play with some impetus and freedom to put our better qualities on display.

For me, we do this best by quick starts, creating pressure, rather than ultra cautious.

A real positive for me, which we likely weren't thinking about at the time is last year's trial run, that will hopefully give us a little familiarity for the day ans the occasion.

[GhostoftheBok]

Not sure you necessarily have nail on head regarding all our fanbase. Some of our off-day performances since January weigh much more heavily than a Dougie Freedman special, 10 years back.

I'd file that under "reasonable concerns." Like I say, Oxford absolutely can beat us. They've been in superb form and really solid. It's not at all unreasonable to view this as a much tougher fixture than it would have been mid season.

There is a hardcore of cynicism around the club (as there is with many), though. It gained traction as we were obviously floundering post-Sam and a lot of fans have grown up in that environment. This whole "We always feck it up" attitude simply isn't true under Evatt, but it is hard to shake.

If we can go up on Saturday that'll help, but the same miserable bastards will be back moaning as soon as we lose a match.

[jmjhb]

This season has been weird. Despite scoring 121 goals, I haven't actually found it that enjoyable!

On the flip side, despite me moaning (more than most) than our profligate finishing and dubious defending, this is genuinely one of the nicest squads we've had. It'd be a shame to break it up and I think that would happen if we were to stay down.

[BWFC_Insane]

The ‘we always feck it up’ goes back way further than post Allardyce! I remember being told similar decades before that - the 80’s were not - time where you often found positive Bolton fans!

[Mar]

This season has been weird. Despite scoring 121 goals, I haven't actually found it that enjoyable!

On the flip side, despite me moaning (more than most) than our profligate finishing and dubious defending, this is genuinely one of the nicest squads we've had. It'd be a shame to break it up and I think that would happen if we were to stay down.

I think the lack of enjoyability probably comes from the fact that we have never been certainties throughout the season. It always seemed like we were playing catch up and not quite there. Had we been top of the league for a good portion of the season we would likely have enjoyed it substantially more.

There's been plenty of good games throughout this season, certainly those that give rise to us being considered one of the best teams, if not THE best team in the league. Consistency however has been our undoing. Not point in performing like the best team one week and then not being able to convert it over the season.

Still we have a damn good chance.

[Prufrock]

I've loved it. If you said to me we'd lose on sat but win the league next year I'd take it. You can't, obvs, so I'll take a win. But footballs about winning.

[BWFC_Insane]

This season has been weird. Despite scoring 121 goals, I haven't actually found it that enjoyable!

On the flip side, despite me moaning (more than most) than our profligate finishing and dubious defending, this is genuinely one of the nicest squads we've had. It'd be a shame to break it up and I think that would happen if we were to stay down.

I think the lack of enjoyability probably comes from the fact that we have never been certainties throughout the season. It always seemed like we were playing catch up and not quite there. Had we been top of the league for a good portion of the season we would likely have enjoyed it substantially more.

There's been plenty of good games throughout this season, certainly those that give rise to us being considered one of the best teams, if not THE best team in the league. Consistency however has been our undoing. Not point in performing like the best team one week and then not being able to convert it over the season.

Still we have a damn good chance.

I think it’s a feeling of underperformance. When a team isn’t quite good enough or maybe needs to be its absolute best week in week out to get anywhere it can’t be enjoyable seeing it come close, or even seeing it squeak over the line. When a team is really good and it shows it by winning the league it’s a great time.

I think when you feel we’ve got a team that could do that but hasn’t for me it’s a bit less enjoyable. Seeing players be so good they dominate, or graft so hard they overachieve is probably what we’ve missed.

[GhostoftheBok]

I've loved it. If you said to me we'd lose on sat but win the league next year I'd take it. You can't, obvs, so I'll take a win. But footballs about winning.

Yup. I've really enjoyed it.

I thought we had a good chance of automatic promotion this season and it's a shame we fell short. I felt very strongly that Collins would get us over that line, but the injuries to Dion and Baxter proved crucial. Sometimes that's football and you have to hold your hands up and say you weren't quite good enough.

I think with Dion, Collins and Baster all in the mix for Saturday we should be very confident. A one-off tie can always go either way, but if we do lose to Oxford we're in an extremely strong position going into the summer. We're easily the best-situated club in League One next season as things stand, which we were not going into last summer.

Hopefully we win on Saturday and that theory doesn't get tested.

[Worthy4England]

This season has been weird. Despite scoring 121 goals, I haven't actually found it that enjoyable!

On the flip side, despite me moaning (more than most) than our profligate finishing and dubious defending, this is genuinely one of the nicest squads we've had. It'd be a shame to break it up and I think that would happen if we were to stay down.

I think the lack of enjoyability probably comes from the fact that we have never been certainties throughout the season. It always seemed like we were playing catch up and not quite there. Had we been top of the league for a good portion of the season we would likely have enjoyed it substantially more.

There's been plenty of good games throughout this season, certainly those that give rise to us being considered one of the best teams, if not THE best team in the league. Consistency however has been our undoing. Not point in performing like the best team one week and then not being able to convert it over the season.

Still we have a damn good chance.

Consistency is part of what you need to be considered the best team in a league....It's why we're not and Portsmouth were. Certainly one of the best, if you were going to take a flier, you might say "about third best"