Freedman out!

[BWFC_Insane]

^ I'm glad you have now worked out what the club's plan is! presumably that means we're not now totally fecked?

Oh I think we're still fecked in many ways.

Financial Fair Play (if we seemingly carry on sticking to it) being one! And our owner seemingly having spent up being another.

Depends what your aspirations are. I'm beginning to think we could spend a fair while out of the top flight whatever we do. Which may be quite grim in some ways, depending upon your point of view.

which ways are we fecked?

I'm not sure that a few seasons in the championship developing younger players and building the club back up = being fecked.

anyway - as i said - it is good news that you have now discerned the club's plan - you were distraught that it was impossible to know what the club's plan was a week ago!

That sounds fine. But it is probably what Coventry fans, Wednesday fans, Forest fans and Ipswich fans etc etc have all said at one point or another.

I just hope we do it better than that, as a whole. But I think it is hard as the aspirations are higher. So the club begins to get stuck in a quagmire and eventually sinks. Palace for example brought through young players as they were lurching towards non-existence. They found a spirit from that which carried them through and out the other side with still little money. But their fans before administration were as unhappy as you can get. The bounce back from the brink bonded them together in a way that helped them be patient with the younger ones coming through and the waifs and strays they were signing on frees.

The Reebok will be even emptier after another season in this division and it will become harder to generate the spirit and positivity the club needs. In essence I think it is hard for clubs relegated from the premiership after a longish stint to hit the reset button.

[thebish]

^ I'm glad you have now worked out what the club's plan is! presumably that means we're not now totally fecked?

Oh I think we're still fecked in many ways.

Financial Fair Play (if we seemingly carry on sticking to it) being one! And our owner seemingly having spent up being another.

Depends what your aspirations are. I'm beginning to think we could spend a fair while out of the top flight whatever we do. Which may be quite grim in some ways, depending upon your point of view.

which ways are we fecked?

I'm not sure that a few seasons in the championship developing younger players and building the club back up = being fecked.

anyway - as i said - it is good news that you have now discerned the club's plan - you were distraught that it was impossible to know what the club's plan was a week ago!

That sounds fine. But it is probably what Coventry fans, Wednesday fans, Forest fans and Ipswich fans etc etc have all said at one point or another.

I just hope we do it better than that, as a whole. But I think it is hard as the aspirations are higher. So the club begins to get stuck in a quagmire and eventually sinks. Palace for example brought through young players as they were lurching towards non-existence. They found a spirit from that which carried them through and out the other side with still little money. But their fans before administration were as unhappy as you can get. The bounce back from the brink bonded them together in a way that helped them be patient with the younger ones coming through and the waifs and strays they were signing on frees.

The Reebok will be even emptier after another season in this division and it will become harder to generate the spirit and positivity the club needs. In essence I think it is hard for clubs relegated from the premiership after a longish stint to hit the reset button.

none of which I disagree with - but I am failing to see how that means that we are "fecked in many ways"... what does that actually mean?

[SmokinFrazier]

TBF Pulis had a shit load of money to spend at Stoke.

As did O'Neill at Sunderland.

To be frank there is more chance of me flying up to the moon this afternoon than there is of a chequebook manager like O'Neill coming to manage Bolton at the moment. Probably a thousand times more chance.

The fact that Pulis and O'Neill have spent a lot in the past doesn't mean that they wouldn't come here if they were told they couldn't spend. They've been fortunate to work under owners who had money to splash around but that doesn't detract from their abilities as managers. If they were placed under financial restrictions, they'd still do a good job wherever they went.

But I think he has the right qualities to sort the mess out and at least get us looking upwards again.

I think everyone should get behind him. Personally.

"The right qualities", such as what? Talking about the youth and not playing them? Highlighting how important fitness is and then after a full pre-season, delivering a team unfit for 90 minutes? Freedman talks a good game but he doesn't back it up.

He's not good enough manager for us. People talk about how bad Megson was but even though he's an easy person to dislike, he is still a superior manager to Freedman, who has shown absolutely nothing. Like I said the other day, his win percentage is the eight lowest in the league and that includes Redknapp and Adkins, who were managing in the Premier League, and three young managers who've not even had 10 games in charge. How anyone can have faith in him is beyond me.

[thebish]

He's not good enough manager for us. People talk about how bad Megson was but even though he's an easy person to dislike, he is still a superior manager to Freedman, who has shown absolutely nothing. Like I said the other day, his win percentage is the eight lowest in the league and that includes Redknapp and Adkins, who were managing in the Premier League, and three young managers who've not even had 10 games in charge. How anyone can have faith in him is beyond me.

I know there seems to be cred claimed on all sides for being the first to say summat or the first to claim it - but, really, it's a wee bit early to know that - he's not even been in the job a year - and the experience so far has been both up and down...

bloody yoof of today - no patience!!

[mrplow]

^ I'm glad you have now worked out what the club's plan is! presumably that means we're not now totally fecked?

Oh I think we're still fecked in many ways.

Financial Fair Play (if we seemingly carry on sticking to it) being one! And our owner seemingly having spent up being another.

Depends what your aspirations are. I'm beginning to think we could spend a fair while out of the top flight whatever we do. Which may be quite grim in some ways, depending upon your point of view.

which ways are we fecked?

I'm not sure that a few seasons in the championship developing younger players and building the club back up = being fecked.

anyway - as i said - it is good news that you have now discerned the club's plan - you were distraught that it was impossible to know what the club's plan was a week ago!

That sounds fine. But it is probably what Coventry fans, Wednesday fans, Forest fans and Ipswich fans etc etc have all said at one point or another.

The Reebok will be even emptier after another season in this division and it will become harder to generate the spirit and positivity the club needs. In essence I think it is hard for clubs relegated from the premiership after a longish stint to hit the reset button.

Southampton and Norwich managed it.

[bwfcdan94]

I like Freeman but if we can get a hold of the perfect replacement then I would sack him today, the key with all managerial decisions is not how well the manager has done but what are the alternatives I don't want us to sack DF and then get say Sammy Lee in charge then we would be fecked.

[thebish]

^ yeah - but what about freedman??

[Enoch]

Or even Freedman!

[thebish]

Or even Freedman!

nahhh - our dougie's kool with the caps-less society - but he does cherish his "d"

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Or even Freedman!

Klu Klux Klan
Orangutang
Harley Davisons
Freeman

Booooooooooo

[Enoch]

If he manages to ride the wave and hang round a few years, he might become a freeman of Bolton.

[Gooner Girl]

^ however - Freedman isn't leaving anytime soon... FACT!

Agreed. I think they've brought him here to develop younger players and build the club back up. I think its going to take longer than any of us would like.

But I think he has the right qualities to sort the mess out and at least get us looking upwards again.

I think everyone should get behind him. Personally.

Well I think everyone should get the pitchforks and bedsheets out.

What difference at all will getting behind him achieve?

well - for one thing - if it's really tall people like AT - then dougie will be able to see again! (obv. if it's GG - then it doesn't matter if she's behind him or in front of him) - that's what BWFCi means, I'm sure of it!

Oi! I heard that. Less of the cheek young bish!

[Prufrock]

The information out there about these deals is that both players wanted to come here, if we could find the money for it. We couldn't. Barnsley and Burnley could.

Now that comes from Marc Iles, who claims it is direct from Freedman himself.

Perhaps it is made up. But it is the only information out there as to what happened.

So seemingly the position of the club in the league table wasn't the issue.

that's not quite what i am saying - I am saying that we have to recognise that we are BELOW both barnsley and burnley - the idea that they (of all clubs) might perform better than us in the transfer market seems to betray an unwarranted (given the league table) belief that we are somehow automatically superior... when you yourself have said that as a club we are utterly and totally fecked...

So Arsenal WERE in a relegation dogfight after the first game then? And if Villa had gone after Ozil at that point he'd have gone there over Arsenal?

eh?

You are saying we shouldn't think we're more attractive than Barnsley or Burnley because we are below them in the league- after five games.

You also told Dan it was ridiculous to say Arsenal were in a relegation dog-fight- after one game.

There appears to be a contradiction to me.

[BL3]

Southampton and Norwich managed it.

Via League One.

[LeverEnd]

"The right qualities", such as what? Talking about the youth and not playing them? Highlighting how important fitness is and then after a full pre-season, delivering a team unfit for 90 minutes? Freedman talks a good game but he doesn't back it up.

hasn't backed it up yet I'd say.

It's all very worrying and I don't really have faith anymore, but I'm willing to turn up, cheer and be supportive not negative in the hope that he'll learn and turn it round. If at the end of the season he's not then it's a different story.
If we finish bottom half then they should look at his position, without question. That's a long way off and there is zero chance of his being sacked before Christmas I'd say. So now I'm interested to see what he can do with no expectation whatsoever of promotion.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Southampton and Norwich managed it.

Via League One.

Aye.

Can't remember now... But did they have fairly new stadia, with multi-millionaire owners strapped for cash...ummmmm.

[Harry Genshaw]

If its a choice between getting behind them or bed sheets & pitchforks, then I'm firmly behind Dougie.

If we do a Wolves however, I'll be firmly behind him with a flaming pitchfork. We'll be reet

[thebish]

You are saying we shouldn't think we're more attractive than Barnsley or Burnley because we are below them in the league- after five games.

You also told Dan it was ridiculous to say Arsenal were in a relegation dog-fight- after one game.

There appears to be a contradiction to me.

but not to me! so I'm happy!

[Prufrock]

Go on then I'll bite.

If one game was obviously too short a period of time after which to say Arsenal weren't in a relegation dog-fight, why is five games not too short a period of time in which to say 'we can't consider ourselves more attractive than Burnley or Barnsley' because we're below them in the table?

[thebish]

Go on then I'll bite.

If one game was obviously too short a period of time after which to say Arsenal weren't in a relegation dog-fight, why is five games not too short a period of time in which to say 'we can't consider ourselves more attractive than Burnley or Barnsley' because we're below them in the table?

well - I did a maths degree - so, for very starters I shall share some of my accumulated knowledge with you...

1 < 5

(the symbol in the middle is maths-code for "less then")

also - and more importantly - my point was the outrage with which barnsley and burnley were repeatedly mentioned across several posts - as if a player choosing to go to them rather than us is preposterous, simply due to the natural order of things. To illustrate this - i pointed to a simple and obvious fact - we are below them in the table.

I do not believe that the obvious end point of my post is that Arsenal were in a relegation dog-fight after one game.