Gary Megson

[SWFC1982]

Sorry to see the plight you are in at the moment and sincerely hope you stay up. I was just wondering why the majority of your fans hated Gary Megson and why you wanted him sacked?

[jimbo_bwfc]

He was a dick.
He had us playing a horrible brand of football.
Didn't have a good rapport with the players.
Sent us out not to lose games rather than to win them.
He was a dick.
A Championship/League One manager.

[BWFC_Insane]

I'd rather have Megson than Owen Coyle right now. Least with Megson we had some clue what we were trying to do, even if that was to play mind numbing football. Every so often we would turn it around with a little run of results.

Right now we are just spiralling into a very black, very dark and very deep abyss!

[Gail Platz]

Had a plan A and no plan B, and his plan A was shit. Plan A was to give the ball to Zat Knight and lump it up to Kevin Davies, who won about 0.5% of headers in a season.

When we were winning a game, he'd bring off a striker and stick a defender or defensive midfielder on, and we'd go on to draw or lose the game.

He played Gavin McCann constantly.

He spent millions on absolutely shit players.

He slagged the fans off countless times.

He put a second string out against Sporting Lisbon, got us knocked out and then lost to a 10-man Wigan side three days later.

Want me to carry on?

[plymouth wanderer]

Had a plan A and no plan B, and his plan A was shit. Plan A was to give the ball to Zat Knight and lump it up to Kevin Davies, who won about 0.5% of headers in a season.

When we were winning a game, he'd bring off a striker and stick a defender or defensive midfielder on, and we'd go on to draw or lose the game.

He played Gavin McCann constantly.

He spent millions on absolutely shit players.

He slagged the fans off countless times.

He put a second string out against Sporting Lisbon, got us knocked out and then lost to a 10-man Wigan side three days later.

Want me to carry on?

abit unfair he bought some decent players not all but a few decent ones

the rest is right tho

[SWFC1982]

It seemed like the fans were against him from day one..... Would that be fair? Sorry for my ignorance around the situation, but was never quite sure what went off

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

It seemed like the fans were against him from day one..... Would that be fair? Sorry for my ignorance around the situation, but was never quite sure what went off

I think you need to take it in the context of the time. At the time, Bolton had 4 top 8 finishes in a row, including a 6th (5th but for goal difference), had a previously decent run in Europe and about to embark on another. We'd had players like Okocha, Hierro, Anelka, Speed et al. We had a disastrous start under Sammy Lee and needed someone to come in, steady the ship and then get us back to that top 8/10.

Gary Megson was/is a proven failure at Premiership level. At the time Bolton were a reasonably attractive proposition for a manager. Don't get me wrong, we didn't expect Mourinho and the likes, but we did expect a decent manager.

Add to this the way Megson spoke about fans, the way he treated Europe (Sporting in particular). He sucked the life out of our club. He made fans that had grown up with division 3 and 4, Grimsby away and the like, and made them dread watching our team in Europe.

In essence, Gary Megson made us lose hope and pride in our team. Sadly Coyle raised our hopes, only to dash them and has seriously hurt our pride the last 10 or 11 months...

[wanderers_on_tour]

Half n half mate. Wasnt the fans choice when he came in but still got a fair crack of the whip imo. Coyle on the other hand, despite recent form, was the fans favourite when he came in and so is being afforded slightly more time as such. Once Megson started slaggin the fans his position was irreconcilable.

[SWFC1982]

So what did he say about the fans?

[BWFC_Insane]

Megson inherited a mess and sorted us out and kept us up just about, then got us to 13th the year after without ever fully convincing.

He was never going to be able to repeat what we had achieved before, perhaps nobody could. And was always going to suffer from being perceived as a dour negative manager, which he probably was, but what we are seeing now is that whilst it wasn't massive fun it was better than the situation we are in now.

Think the club hit a glass ceiling under Allardyce and all managers following him would struggle.

Megson probably did as well as we could expect, which is a bit depressing but still a million miles better than bottom of he league with 9 from 15!

[CAPSLOCK]

Megson was abused from day 1

Stubborn fcuker that he is, he didn't go for building bridges, he said 'fcuk 'em'

We lost in Lisbon when he played a second string - we'd been outplyed for 70 minutes of the home leg and would've probably lost anyway

Allardyce played a second string team in Europe, too...in our first ever away game, no less

Megsons team played football - in short spells - easily better than the dross Coyles lot have served up for 90% of his time with us

Megson took over when the only decent players were too old and had to build a complete team - he gets hit with a stick for spending loads - we could've got all our money back on the day he left by selling Cahill, Lee, Taylor and Muamba

To sum it up, Megson was ginger and didn't suffer fools - unfortunately, we have plenty of them 'supporting' us

Good luck to him, and you'll batter us next season


ps Mccann is better - even now, half crippled - than Pratley

[One Hump Or Two?]

He called the fans disgraceful, idiotic etc. Generally in response to getting booed. (Which was in itself a response to the dire and largely unsuccessful brand of "football" he foisted on a club that until recently, had been doing pretty well.)

I feel slightly for him in that it would have been obvious to him from the start that he wasn't the appointment most fans wanted to see - for entirely legitimate reasons, as described earlier in the thread. But he let it get under his skin from the word go rather than making an effort to win people over.

Why, what do you think about him, SWFC1982?

[SWFC1982]

Its just he seems to have a complete different approach and relationship with the fans here at Hillsborough. Maybe its because he supported the club as a kid, and played for the club twice. We are a physical side but it makes a nice change because over the last few years here, we have been bullied by teams here and it makes a nice change not to be bullied off the park, and he hasnt made a bad signing as of yet. There seems to be a completely new atmosphere here and its been a long time coming after the last 15 years or so.

[CAPSLOCK]

He called the fans disgraceful, idiotic etc.

I was at Blackburn that night and his comments were entirely justified

I certainly didn't take offence

[Worthy4England]

Can't we punt this to other football.

It has nowt to do with Bolton.

For what it's worth, Megson would only have taken us down over time.

With Coyle, we had some "up", although now we might have some "down" anyhow.

[BWFC_Insane]

He called the fans disgraceful, idiotic etc.

I was at Blackburn that night and his comments were entirely justified

I certainly didn't take offence

Is there typo in your post above? 'Coyle took over' should it read Megson?

[seanworth]

Glad he is doing well for you. Megson did seem to like the blue collar type players. Seemed to have a much tougher time with the more skilled players, which is important to have a few if you want to remain in the PL. He is probably managing at a level that is perfect for him. No disrespect intended, but see how he does when you move up a division. Fans did not make it easy for him, but he was also a PR nightmare as mentioned above. Maybe he has learned from those mistakes. Remember Bolton were not the first set of fans to have a bad relationship with him as their manager either.

[Eborted]

It seemed like the fans were against him from day one..... Would that be fair? Sorry for my ignorance around the situation, but was never quite sure what went off

I think you need to take it in the context of the time. At the time, Bolton had 4 top 8 finishes in a row, including a 6th (5th but for goal difference), had a previously decent run in Europe and about to embark on another. We'd had players like Okocha, Hierro, Anelka, Speed et al. We had a disastrous start under Sammy Lee and needed someone to come in, steady the ship and then get us back to that top 8/10.

Gary Megson was/is a proven failure at Premiership level. At the time Bolton were a reasonably attractive proposition for a manager. Don't get me wrong, we didn't expect Mourinho and the likes, but we did expect a decent manager.

Add to this the way Megson spoke about fans, the way he treated Europe (Sporting in particular). He sucked the life out of our club. He made fans that had grown up with division 3 and 4, Grimsby away and the like, and made them dread watching our team in Europe.

In essence, Gary Megson made us lose hope and pride in our team. Sadly Coyle raised our hopes, only to dash them and has seriously hurt our pride the last 10 or 11 months...

There you go...

Although I disagree with the shit transfers comment from a previous poster. Megson bought Taylor (Who was good for a season or two) Elmander (Who came into prominence later) While Gary Cahill and Chung Yong Lee were terrific bargain buys.

[SWFC1982]

I know he had problems at Forest. Maybe he is at the perfect club for him. It's the job he always wanted and he has got rid of the set of over paid wasters that we had last year. Only thing I would have changed is that Mandaric waited until February to give him the job and let Irvine spend a load of money then sack him 3 days after the transfer window shut. I still think if Megson had been given the job when Mandaric took over, we would have got in the play offs.....

[One Hump Or Two?]

He called the fans disgraceful, idiotic etc.

I was at Blackburn that night and his comments were entirely justified

I certainly didn't take offence

I didn't say I was offended. It was a factual response to SWFC's question about what Megson called the fans.

That said, the idea that Megson was a lovely man who was unfairly treated by Bolton fans with Newcastle-sque delusions of grandeur is nonsense. When he came to us he already had a history of bust-ups and fall-outs at previous clubs, as well as a mediocre CV and a cloud of toxic reviews from fans of Forest, Blackpool etc about the style of football he served up. Let me prompt your memory:

- Norwich: sacked after one season
- Blackpool: 1 season, no promotion, left by mutual consent (ie, sacked)
- Stockport: 1 season, no promotion, left by mutual consent (ie, sacked)
- Stoke: moved on by new owners. Give him a pass on that.
- WBA: two promotions, one relegation, sacked/resigned after a very poor start to Albion's second spell in the PL. Fell out with not one but two chairmen in three years.
- Forest: one and a half seasons, 1 relegation, hated by fans, resigned
- Leicester: jumped ship

I was among the many who felt that a club with 8th, 6th, 8th place premiership finishes behind us could afford to show a bit more ambition than this sorry list.