Finishing School

[TANGODANCER]

I agree there's nothing wrong with ambition, but proven skills used to be what clubs wanted. If he'd just said, "Bolton have given me the chance to show what I can do, the rest is up to me", and highlighted Bolton as a good club, it might have come across as less "me". I think that was the Guardian's point. Sturridge's forte is scoring goals, or at least making them (as in his class back-heel for the disallowed one) but his role as a team player is far more important to us then just being a picture frame for his oil painting of himself. Maybe a few more training sessions with KD, Wheater and Robbo will get the message across. If he turns out a world-beater and helps us in the bargain, then good luck to the lad.

The big clubs' greed, and having the money to lure young players in with promises of fame and fortune, sometimes works against both them and the player, ask Sean Wright Phillips. The road to ruin is littered with bench splinters.

[Lofthouse Lower]

I don't give a toss about his personal ambitions or anything about him so long as he gives his all and scores some more goals.

[chester white]

To be fair, I thought he mentioned in the same interview that he had been studying the table and looking at where we can get up to. Think we're looking at this a bit too literally.

Like LL, I couldn't care less about his platform comments as long as he keeps putting his chances away.

Plenty were willing to tolerate Diouf's off field antics for what he produced on the field! This is minor in comparison.

[BWFC_Insane]

I don't have any issue really with what Sturridge said. Don't see how anyone could?

Whats he meant to say "I'm 21 haven't really made it at Chelsea so I'm here to win a deal with Bolton"

He's not that kinda lad. He clearly has a high opinion of himself that may or may not be merited but that gives him ambition which is good, he came here to play probably because of his confidence or arrogance or whatever you call it. Plenty of others would have just bottled it and sat on Chelsea's bench.

We all know that if he does well here we have no real chance of keeping him. Fact is had we signed him from Chelsea in the summer and he'd gotten into the team and scored 3 from 3 then he'd be linked with a move to other clubs.

Its not great but bringing players like him in on loan will be a fact of life for us and we're creating a bit of a name for ourselves in this department. Not a bad thing to do in the current climate.

[boltonboris]

He should have said..

"Feck Chelsea, Feck Titles, Feck the Champions League, Feck England, I want to stay at Bolton and lap up the adulation of the 18,500 fans for the rest of my career"

[Bijou Bob]

As long as he does the business for us, I don't care if he's ambitious and wants to return to Chelsea and earn himself up to a hundred grand a week. All those who wouldn't say "I".

What worries me is our reliance on one on form striker scoring all of our goals. Early safety and The Big E will only happen if Elmo and SKD manage to pull their fingers out and start scoring again, as well as Sturridge.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Of course he's going to say he wants to get to the very top. You can have all the talent you want but without that ambition driving you on through the mud and the rain and the catcalls and the substitutions and the days you're sitting in the stands rather than on the bench, you aren't gonna get very far. As noted, a bit too much over-literal reading into Danny's words. That word platform has been regularly used by the manager, for instance on ]Feb 2:

"You can understand that sometimes with young players, particularly at the elite clubs, there is a tendency to think ‘are they ready or are they not?’ To find that out, I think ‘give them to me’. I’ll play them here and then you can see if they are ready to play with the elite clubs. It’s only this weekend that Fabio Capello said he wanted to build his England team around Jack [Wilshere], which is fantastic and it doesn’t surprise me.

“With Daniel, this wasn’t a boy who was out of the equation at Stamford Bridge. This lad was on the bench every week and close to starting games. For him to make that decision to uproot and come to the North West and show everybody speaks volumes for him as a character. He just needs a platform to show everyone not just how good he is, but how driven he is.”

Is it right that the top clubs have so much money and power? No, but given the top-heavy financial rewards in both the Premier League and the Champions League, an oligarchy is inevitable. There's nothing BWFC can do about it, but we can use the system for our own ends, by borrowing the best unused players. In its own way it's as cleverly (or Cleverley, even) reactive to the times as Allardyce and Gartside's use of low-transfer high-wage legends – and even in that era, we weren't against the idea of loaning a big club's fringe players: cf Diouf, El-Hadji.

Coyle seems intent on us playing attractive (but not unpragmatic) attacking football built around a core of young players, most of whom we own and will sell on at a profit if and when they become "too good for us". Again, this isn't news: we had a spate of it in the 90s with Stubbs, McAteer, Curcic and Alan Thompson, and you can argue we've been a "trading club" since Arsenal doubled the transfer record to sign David Jack (helped by getting our directors sozzled on G&T while Herbert Chapman stuck to the T).

There is something indefinable that irks about Sturridge. Perhaps it's that he's a promising young millionaire who's wisely decided not to pledge undying love to a club that don't own him: we don't even know how much of his wage bill we're paying, but he's a very expensive player. It's more important that he impresses on the field, and while he should be told that a sensible pass can be more effective than a wild slash from range, he seems to have an awful habit of putting the round thing in the big netty whatsit. Long may it continue for us, and long may Owen Coyle's polite public persona and attractive on-field tactics tempt promising youngsters to our club. Should they bring us enough success, their kind may even realise that regular football is something no salary can buy.

[BWFC_Insane]

Of course he's going to say he wants to get to the very top. You can have all the talent you want but without that ambition driving you on through the mud and the rain and the catcalls and the substitutions and the days you're sitting in the stands rather than on the bench, you aren't gonna get very far. As noted, a bit too much over-literal reading into Danny's words. That word platform has been regularly used by the manager, for instance on ]Feb 2:

"You can understand that sometimes with young players, particularly at the elite clubs, there is a tendency to think ‘are they ready or are they not?’ To find that out, I think ‘give them to me’. I’ll play them here and then you can see if they are ready to play with the elite clubs. It’s only this weekend that Fabio Capello said he wanted to build his England team around Jack [Wilshere], which is fantastic and it doesn’t surprise me.

“With Daniel, this wasn’t a boy who was out of the equation at Stamford Bridge. This lad was on the bench every week and close to starting games. For him to make that decision to uproot and come to the North West and show everybody speaks volumes for him as a character. He just needs a platform to show everyone not just how good he is, but how driven he is.”

Is it right that the top clubs have so much money and power? No, but given the top-heavy financial rewards in both the Premier League and the Champions League, an oligarchy is inevitable. There's nothing BWFC can do about it, but we can use the system for our own ends, by borrowing the best unused players. In its own way it's as cleverly (or Cleverley, even) reactive to the times as Allardyce and Gartside's use of low-transfer high-wage legends – and even in that era, we weren't against the idea of loaning a big club's fringe players: cf Diouf, El-Hadji.

Coyle seems intent on us playing attractive (but not unpragmatic) attacking football built around a core of young players, most of whom we own and will sell on at a profit if and when they become "too good for us". Again, this isn't news: we had a spate of it in the 90s with Stubbs, McAteer, Curcic and Alan Thompson, and you can argue we've been a "trading club" since Arsenal doubled the transfer record to sign David Jack (helped by getting our directors sozzled on G&T while Herbert Chapman stuck to the T).

There is something indefinable that irks about Sturridge. Perhaps it's that he's a promising young millionaire who's wisely decided not to pledge undying love to a club that don't own him: we don't even know how much of his wage bill we're paying, but he's a very expensive player. It's more important that he impresses on the field, and while he should be told that a sensible pass can be more effective than a wild slash from range, he seems to have an awful habit of putting the round thing in the big netty whatsit. Long may it continue for us, and long may Owen Coyle's polite public persona and attractive on-field tactics tempt promising youngsters to our club. Should they bring us enough success, their kind may even realise that regular football is something no salary can buy.

Paying his wages in full.

[Lofthouse Lower]

According to Chelsea sources we're paying 15%.......

[BWFC_Insane]

According to Chelsea sources we're paying 15%.......

Well according to Nixon we're paying his wages in full. And the suggestion was his wages are nowhere near the level that is reported.

[Lofthouse Lower]

Didn't the Guardian report £60,000 per week?

Anyway that's what I've been told, and I trust this source - though obviously I wouldn't want to come between you and your beau

[BWFC_Insane]

Didn't the Guardian report £60,000 per week?

Anyway that's what I've been told, and I trust this source - though obviously I wouldn't want to come between you and your beau

Sorry but your source is wrong. IMHO of course.

Rovers fans were asking Nixon on the morning of deadline day about Sturridge and he was very clear that the deal was done and we were paying wages in full. He went on to say they were nothing like the "70K" a week which had been reported in a few places. Make of that what you will.

He has no reason to lie. He is a personal friend of our manager and is given exclusive access. Bit like when every paper was mocking Coyle coming here from Burnley yet Nixon was talking up the prospect. He knows his shit.

You can mock but its a lot better than saying "an unnamed source says".....

[Lofthouse Lower]

I'm not mocking, and you seem a nice sort, just saying that my source reckons the WIDELY reported figure is accurate, and gave me the precise percentage that we were paying, which is good enough for me.

[BWFC_Insane]

I'm not mocking, and you seem a nice sort, just saying that my source reckons the WIDELY reported figure is accurate, and gave me the precise percentage that we were paying, which is good enough for me.

Aye but as Nixon is Coyle's mouthpiece who do you trust more.

Our manager.

Or your source?

[Lofthouse Lower]

You know the answer to that

[Latham8wfc]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulfletcher ... tml#283800" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Not a Sturridge article but a Youth development / policy article......

[Tombwfc]

He should have said..

"Feck Chelsea, Feck Titles, Feck the Champions League, Feck England, I want to stay at Bolton and lap up the adulation of the 18,500 fans for the rest of my career"

I don't believe anyone has suggested that, or that he should show his commitment by driving to Dave T's and having an elephant inked on his face.

I'm not that arsed what he says, but I think it's fair enough if others feel we deserve him to be a bit more tactful, or just to say nothing. Sturridge was only being honest and he's right to have lofty ambitions (even if his aren't 'to be Lofty'), but since when do football fans want honesty? All of our players and our manager would much rather be somewhere else if given the choice, but I wouldn't appreciate if they came out and said it.

I wouldn't know (honest), but I presume when a fat bloke away on business buys himself a prostitute, he'd rather she didn't spend the whole time making it clear that he's an ugly bastard and she's only there to put herself through Uni. Football fans want similar illusions/delusions.

[BWFC_Insane]

He should have said..

"Feck Chelsea, Feck Titles, Feck the Champions League, Feck England, I want to stay at Bolton and lap up the adulation of the 18,500 fans for the rest of my career"

I don't believe anyone has suggested that, or that he should show his commitment by driving to Dave T's and having an elephant inked on his face.

I'm not that arsed what he says, but I think it's fair enough if others feel we deserve him to be a bit more tactful, or just to say nothing. Sturridge was only being honest and he's right to have lofty ambitions (even if his aren't 'to be Lofty'), but since when do football fans want honesty? All of our players and our manager would much rather be somewhere else if given the choice, but I wouldn't appreciate if they came out and said it.

I wouldn't know (honest), but I presume when a fat bloke away on business buys himself a prostitute, he'd rather she didn't spend the whole time making it clear that he's an ugly bastard and she's only there to put herself through Uni. Football fans want similar illusions/delusions.

You're normally the pragmatic one!

[CAPSLOCK]

He's an arrogant 20 year old and not the brightest button, but he scores goals

Thats good enough for me

[norm the jedi]

He's an arrogant 20 year old and not the brightest button, but he scores goals

Thats good enough for me

This...



Never ceases to amaze me how we Bolton fans always seem to manage to find a way to strangle the joy out of everything..
He earns his money on the pitch.. If I want to hear someone speak in an erudite and entertaining fashion I'll get Bill Bailey tickets...