BWFC Legends Match - Macron Stadium May14th

[TANGODANCER]

Any chance of somebody doing a write up of the event?

[TonyDomingos]

Any chance of somebody doing a write up of the event?

There's comprehensive live reporting via the official Twitter. Currently, 6-1 to McGinlay. Muamba has got one of the six.

[TonyDomingos]

FT McGinlay 6-2 Kelly.

Goals from Super John, Jay Jay(2), Sam Stubbs(?), Muamba & John Thomas for Team McGinlay.
De Freitas & Jay Jay (swapped sides at ht) for Team Kelly.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Shit defending again, I see

[Burnden Paddock]

FT McGinlay 6-2 Kelly.

Goals from Super John, Jay Jay(2), Sam Stubbs(?), Muamba & John Thomas for Team McGinlay.
De Freitas & Jay Jay (swapped sides at ht) for Team Kelly.

Alan's lad. McGinlay's 3 sons all played, as did Will Jaaskelainen.

God how we've missed those skills of Jay Jay!!

[CrazyHorse]

Enjoyable afternoon in the sunshine that. Nice change seeing some players in Wanderers shirts give a shiny shite.

No joke, we should sign Abdoulaye Faye, Jay Jay, Gavin McCann and David Lee for next season.

Seeing Okocha doing what he does best for one last time was worth a tenner alone; anyone who couldn't make it missed a treat there.

[Burnden Paddock]

Enjoyable afternoon in the sunshine that. Nice change seeing some players in Wanderers shirts give a shiny shite.

No joke, we should sign Abdoulaye Faye, Jay Jay, Gavin McCann and David Lee for next season.

Seeing Okocha doing what he does best for one last time was worth a tenner alone; anyone who couldn't make it missed a treat there.

Absolutely so re Okocha!

David Lee's shooting skills were totally reminiscent of his time with us!

I quite liked the look of Sam Stubbs, some cracking tackles in the first half, not quite in keeping with a friendly

[Bruce Rioja]

Enjoyable afternoon in the sunshine that. Nice change seeing some players in Wanderers shirts give a shiny shite.

No joke, we should sign Abdoulaye Faye, Jay Jay, Gavin McCann and David Lee for next season.

Seeing Okocha doing what he does best for one last time was worth a tenner alone; anyone who couldn't make it missed a treat there.

A really enjoyable afternoon. Had what you might have hoped for; three goals from Jay Jay, a surprise appearance (and penalty goal) from Muamba, all good natured (though the challenge from Fab de F on Jaaskelainen jnr looked a bit dodge) plenty of entertainment. Wonderful to see some of the old heads, of whom I note (possibly incorrectly), that with the exception of The Badger, the players who manged to play for a full 90 minutes were all from Rioch's Wanderers! Hmmm.

[TonyDomingos]

Enjoyable afternoon in the sunshine that. Nice change seeing some players in Wanderers shirts give a shiny shite.

No joke, we should sign Abdoulaye Faye, Jay Jay, Gavin McCann and David Lee for next season.

Seeing Okocha doing what he does best for one last time was worth a tenner alone; anyone who couldn't make it missed a treat there.

My mate who went has just texted to say there were half a dozen who could walk straight into our first team and that JJ was class.

[malcd1]

Considering Faye only retired in 2015, I was surprised how much weight he had put on. Not as big as Zico or SJM but he is rather rotund.

I thought Richard Sneekes was one of the busiest and best players on the pitch but again carryiny a pound or two more than when he was playing.

Curcic, Klasnic, Okocha, McCann, David Lee and Simon Coleman are obviously looking after themselves. All are better than some we have watched this season.

An afternoon well spent in the sun.

[Burnden Paddock]

Considering Faye only retired in 2015, I was surprised how much weight he had put on. Not as big as Zico or SJM but he is rather rotund.

I thought Richard Sneekes was one of the busiest and best players on the pitch but again carryiny a pound or two more than when he was playing.

Curcic, Klasnic, Okocha, McCann, David Lee and Simon Coleman are obviously looking after themselves. All are better than some we have watched this season.

An afternoon well spent in the sun.

Really? Not a bad touch on the ball, but he was about 3 times the size that he was when playing for us. The one run that he had, resulted in him face planting the turf. Very funny though.

[bobo the clown]

^^ do you think he achieved his ambition, on retirement, to return home and make love to beautiful women ?

I wonder if he's planning to pop into Westnoughton while he's here. Those lasses must be in their 20's nearly by now.

[Bruce Rioja]

Considering Faye only retired in 2015, I was surprised how much weight he had put on. Not as big as Zico or SJM but he is rather rotund.

I thought Richard Sneekes was one of the busiest and best players on the pitch but again carryiny a pound or two more than when he was playing.

Curcic, Klasnic, Okocha, McCann, David Lee and Simon Coleman are obviously looking after themselves. All are better than some we have watched this season.

An afternoon well spent in the sun.

Curcic? He's as fat as a large portion of deep fried cheese! Agree re-the others though. Branny junior looked worth a coat of looking at too.

[twilight]

So that's football is it? Boy have I been missing some of those skills (i.e. Okocha) for a while
I wouldn't have missed watching Okocha for the world! He could still do the runaround all our present players.
Kind of made me a bit sad as well knowing what players we have had in the past and then thinking what we have now

[dave the minion]

Hello there all.
Am newly registered to this (after email address problems!) so after months of just reading am now able to make my first post.

Went to the game today with the other half and 5 year old - brilliant day out to be honest. A few comments from me in case anyone is interested:

1) what an absolute joy to see Okocha playing for a Bolton team. The man is a genius with a football and I would give my right arm to have him back playing for us again. OK, so his pace has gone and he seems to fall over his feet more than he used to, but the skills were there for all to see. A joy to watch again, and testament to how good he was that he had to swap sides at half time to give the other team a chance;

2) Made a comment to my five year old that clearly went over his head but I hope he remembers in future - he should consider himself very privileged to have seen Okocha playing for his team: won't see anything like that for a significant period of time;

3) Some of the players on display today would run rings around most of out first team and I genuinely believe - not just saying this but I genuinely believe it - would strengthen us (David Lee, Okocha, McCann and some of the kids. Christ, even De Freitas did more than Madine has done all season)

4) Talking of which, is David Lee the fittest man on earth. He must be in his 50s and his pace and work rate was absolutely outstanding

5) Holdsworth played about 30 minutes, so can this please be the end of the rumours that he's off work sick with stress? A bit like the benefit claimers who are found out doing extreme sports etc, I don't really think he can pretend to be ill and then sneak into the Macron do you?

6) Really nice touch to see Jussi & Brannigan's kids come on and play a half in goal, and Stubbs' & Supa's sons to be given a run out;

7) Brilliant to see Muamba turn up on the bench and then come on (albeit carefully!). Had a couple of chances too - one with Brannigan junior saved quite well at his feet, which I am not sure was in the script.... Equally great to see everyone let him take the penalty too, which he missed, only for the ref to order a retake so he could score (did worry about his heart given the ferocity of his celebration!!)

No idea if Classic is still playing or when he retired, bt he didn't look a day older than when he was playing for us. Went down late on with what looked like nasty twisted knee and I feared the worst for a while, but he got up and carried on after treatment

9) I know everyone's personal circumstances are different, but only regret is that there were a lot of players who I would have loved to see come back (Youri, Campo, Stelios, Bergson, Ricky, Ngotty, even Hierro)

10) Did I mention how good Okocha is?

11) What a joy it was to see Bolton players giving 2 shits and enjoying themselves for a change

12) Regardless of what Deano and the new owners are, or are not doing, can't fault the guy for saying the right thing to the fans. Made a little speech at the end and basically just says all the right things and does seem to have a genuine passion for the club

13) Holding and Clough brought in as assistant managers - a nice touch as a little reward for their efforts last season (just hope it isn't the last time we see him in Bolton gear). Also a reminder of the sheer collective disgrace that the senior players are that none of them appeared to have been invited to come along or even join in.

14) Good to see Jussi come back on for the last 15 mins as a striker (didn't seem much worse than our usual first choice)


Sorry for the long post - just wanted to putty thoughts down for those who couldn't come along and wanted to know what went on.

[Athertonian]

Thank you Dave the Minion for your report. Seems as if I missed a most enjoyable afternoon treat.

[TonyDomingos]

Cheers, DtM. Was Okocha playing? How did he do?

[TANGODANCER]

Thanks Dave and welcome to the-wanderer.

[malcd1]

Considering Faye only retired in 2015, I was surprised how much weight he had put on. Not as big as Zico or SJM but he is rather rotund.

I thought Richard Sneekes was one of the busiest and best players on the pitch but again carryiny a pound or two more than when he was playing.

Curcic, Klasnic, Okocha, McCann, David Lee and Simon Coleman are obviously looking after themselves. All are better than some we have watched this season.

An afternoon well spent in the sun.

Really? Not a bad touch on the ball, but he was about 3 times the size that he was when playing for us. The one run that he had, resulted in him face planting the turf. Very funny though.

I take that back then as he was on the far side from me. I may have had him mixed up with one of the younger players.

I must admit most looked a little different from how I remembered them. It took me a while to recognise some of them while others had hardly changed.

Where was Mark Winstanley and Kevin Davies? I know Mark was down for playing. I also expected KD to be there.

[bedwetter2]

Considering Faye only retired in 2015, I was surprised how much weight he had put on. Not as big as Zico or SJM but he is rather rotund.

I thought Richard Sneekes was one of the busiest and best players on the pitch but again carryiny a pound or two more than when he was playing.

Curcic, Klasnic, Okocha, McCann, David Lee and Simon Coleman are obviously looking after themselves. All are better than some we have watched this season.

An afternoon well spent in the sun.

Really? Not a bad touch on the ball, but he was about 3 times the size that he was when playing for us. The one run that he had, resulted in him face planting the turf. Very funny though.

I take that back then as he was on the far side from me. I may have had him mixed up with one of the younger players.

I must admit most looked a little different from how I remembered them. It took me a while to recognise some of them while others had hardly changed.

Where was Mark Winstanley and Kevin Davies? I know Mark was down for playing. I also expected KD to be there.

A few of us went and were thoroughly entertained in the sun. BTW. wasn't it hot in the Lofthouse stand?

I've got to say it brought the memories of better times flooding back of when JJ was in his pomp and nothing could get past Abdoulaye Faye to mention just two.

Although it was a nothing game, what it did once again prove to me is that;
1. Players should enjoy themselves when playing
2. With that, it is easier for them to gel into a team
3. Technical skills are not as important as being committed
4. Respect for the fans goes a long way towards building success

All of those were present during the Rioch and Allardyce years but subsequently missing. Megson managed to destroy everything that had been achieved within a season and the following managers were just not good enough at man-management to turn things round.

I have hope that we can turn things around next season with a positive attitude and the right manager to bring this about (not a Coyle, but someone who is tactically aware).