Where Are They Now? Bolton Wanderers 1977-78 Second Division Champions

[Riviman]

https://www.theleaguepaper.com/featured ... champions/

Interesting info for us older readers on the title winning team of 1977-78. Only Big Sam, Peter Reid and Mike Walsh went on to league management.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

https://www.theleaguepaper.com/featured ... champions/

Interesting info for us older readers on the title winning team of 1977-78. Only Big Sam, Peter Reid and Mike Walsh went on to league management.

Three isn't a bad amount for one team. Allardyce himself has noted (to your humble reporter) that any one team might have 14, 16, 18 players but only one manager and maybe two or three coaches, so there's a restrictive funnel there. Lots of them try to go in to coaching but that's a precarious living, often dependent on the manager's success, while the alternative is to start at the bottom – as Sam did at Limerick.

As a comparison, of the 22 players who appeared in our other recent second-tier champion season (1996/97), only two have managed clubs in the "92" (not as caretaker or interim). Care to guess who? I'll come back in a bit with the answer.

[enrdentw]

I have got one, he has managed several clubs in L1 and L2, struggling on the other, though...

[Burnden Paddock]

I have got one, he has managed several clubs in L1 and L2, struggling on the other, though...

Had to google the second one. I would never have got it otherwise. I wouldn't have known that he was with us in that particular season.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Yeah, one is much lower-profile than the other, both in the Wanderers pantheon and football generally.

Will leave it awhile in case anyone wants to play.

[Harry Genshaw]

I know the obvious one who pitched up down the road 2 (or 3?) times but I've no idea on the other. I did wonder if Chris Fairclough had managed briefly in the lower tier but from the comments above its somebody who managed at a high level and perhaps didn't feature much in the side?

[enrdentw]

I think you got the missing one with Fairclough...

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Of the 22 players who appeared in our other recent second-tier champion season (1996/97), only two have managed clubs in the "92" (not as caretaker or interim).

The easy one is John Sheridan, who has managed Oldham (thrice!), Chesterfield, Plymouth, Newport and Notts County.

The other is Wayne Burnett, who has managed Dagenham & Redbridge (in the Football League) plus Fisher Athletic, Dulwich Hamlet and Grays Athletic; he’s now head coach of Tottenham’s U23 team and does talks for the FA, coaching the coaches.

Others have managed at other levels: Per Frandsen has managed four Danish clubs, John McGinlay managed Ilkeston and Gresley, Jamie Pollock managed Spennymoor.

Others have gone into coaching and assistant-managering (us that a verb?) without being a (permanent) No.1:
• Gerry Taggart was Leicester caretaker (with Frank Burrows) after we nicked Megson, and was Paul Dickov’s assistant at Oldham
• Keith Branagan has done some keeper-coaching for us
• Gavin Ward has coached at Gainsborough Trinity, Shrewsbury Town and Nottingham Forest
• Chris Fairclough has coached at Forest and Charlton
• Andy Todd has coached at Linfield, Newport and Blackpool.
• Jimmy Phillips has been our caretaker and interim manager while youth-coaching
• Bryan Small has coached at Stourport Swifts
• Alan Thompson has coached at Newcastle, Celtic, Birmingham, Blackpool and Bury
• David Lee has coached at Wigan and us
• Scott Sellars has been in the backrooms at Chesterfield, Man City and now Wolves
• Steve McAnespie has coached at Indiana Invaders and New Orleans Shell Shockers – he had to be rescued from Hurricane Katrina.

Others seem to have left the game altogether: Gudni Bergsson, Nathan Blake, Scott Green, Scott Taylor and Simon Coleman don’t seem to have done any coaching at professional clubs, while Michael Johansen is an agent.

[bristol_Wanderer3]

Others seem to have left the game altogether: Gudni Bergsson, Nathan Blake, Scott Green, Scott Taylor and Simon Coleman don’t seem to have done any coaching at professional clubs, while Michael Johansen is an agent.

Interesting stuff. Bergsson always had a post-football legal career lined up didn't here? Didn't he take some time out of the game when we was younger to complete his studies?

I have seen Blake doing written punditry on Cardiff....

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Others seem to have left the game altogether: Gudni Bergsson, Nathan Blake, Scott Green, Scott Taylor and Simon Coleman don’t seem to have done any coaching at professional clubs, while Michael Johansen is an agent.

Interesting stuff. Bergsson always had a post-football legal career lined up didn't here? Didn't he take some time out of the game when we was younger to complete his studies?

I have seen Blake doing written punditry on Cardiff....

Yeah, IIRC Gudni's now a qualified lawyer back home. Scott Taylor's an electrician. Coleman ran a local kids' academy for a bit.

[Prufrock]

He's President of the Icelandic FA I think, not sure if that counts as leaving football altogether.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

He's President of the Icelandic FA I think, not sure if that counts as leaving football altogether.

Well, it's an honorific title which has very little to do with managing or coaching, which is the point of the discussion

(But yes, fair enough, it's not "leaving football altogether")

[Prufrock]

I don't know what they do!

He got interviewed about them qualifying for the world cup which meant there was more Gudni in my life than there would otherwise have been which is a Good Thing

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

I don't know what they do!

He got interviewed about them qualifying for the world cup which meant there was more Gudni in my life than there would otherwise have been which is a Good Thing

In football, presidents tend to smile, meet the public, open things and perhaps just occasionally give advice, but they're rarely as powerful as the chief executive (the one who executes decisions...) or that old football "chief exec" synonym, the chairman.

Any Gudni is good Gudni. It is truly a pleasure that for 37 games we had both him and Bruno N'Gotty in our team: Gentlemen defenders who could play a bit.

[boltonboris]

Blake works for BBC Wales doing matchday commentary / punditry