Fleecing the Rams. Away V.Derby County, Sat 21st Jan.3.0' clock.

[Worthy4England]

Meh, they'll miss out on top 2, be proper gutted, we'll beat Ipswich in the Semis and do them at Wembley, as it'll be our second home after smashing Plymouth in the Pizza cup.

[GhostoftheBok]

Also an example of a (lauded, successful) manager who was happy to let him go.

Yup.

If he'd do the work he'd be in the 11 on ability. Same goes for his time at Rotherham.

I'd love to see him start against Forest Green and smash it.

[officer_dibble]

We can all agree on that!!

[brommers95]

Meh, they'll miss out on top 2, be proper gutted, we'll beat Ipswich in the Semis and do them at Wembley, as it'll be our second home after smashing Plymouth in the Pizza cup.

[sonicthewhite]

Meh, they'll miss out on top 2, be proper gutted, we'll beat Ipswich in the Semis and do them at Wembley, as it'll be our second home after smashing Plymouth in the Pizza cup.

And DJ shall show us the way brothers, amen!

[The_Gun]

Sooo… hopefully a lower league Haaland through the door before Charlton next weekend then. You’d hope we have enough to beat FGR at home, but Charlton away will be another tough one.

[BWFC_Insane]

There is still a big job to get into the play offs this season. Games in hand out Barnsley above us and Peterborough level.

Wycombe will also still fancy their chances.

I’d not assume we beat FGR either. We need to find that cutting edge up top and create the chances and stick em away whilst remaining as solid as we have been before today at the back.

Then there is a little matter of a semi final to get to Wembley that Bolton fans will not take well to losing.

I keep repeating it but I think now has to be the time. Time to strengthen. To be bold. Next season there will be the same challenge. And we will be weaker with Trafford, Bradley and possibly one or two more gone.

This is the moment to go for it. To add the quality. If not I think there will be a lot of disillusionment amongst a fan base who has stuck with the club through thick and thin.

[Prufrock]

You coughing up the readies? We've got what we've got. Very easy to spend other people's money.

I trust them not to put the club's future at risk. Anything else can feck off.

[Prufrock]

The top six obsession also has the ring of one of those heuristic-biased thinking things to me. Obviously everyone gets fewer points against the top six. That's true of pretty much everyone including the rest of the top six. A lot of draws and a few wins.

[BWFC_Insane]

You coughing up the readies? We've got what we've got. Very easy to spend other people's money.

I trust them not to put the club's future at risk. Anything else can feck off.

I suspect it’s loans or short term fixes. That will be all we can afford. But as Evatt says in his post match. Big Dan isn’t fit enough. And we are light up there and need numbers.

We’ve sold players and one assumes that was done with a plan to bring in. Cos again Evatt himself is saying we are light.

I’d far rather be like Plymouth and sign the best loans etc we can right now. If the best we can afford isn’t enough then so be it. But certainly shouldn’t be in anyway worrying about next season now.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Love you to pieces, mate, but I'm worried by your persistent insistence that we shouldn't worry about next season.

Not worrying about the future is what made it nearly vanish.

[Worthy4England]

You coughing up the readies? We've got what we've got. Very easy to spend other people's money.

I trust them not to put the club's future at risk. Anything else can feck off.

Yup. I think part of the problem is IE raising expectations vs budget...this journey (to the promised land), isn't happening quickly without someone who doesn't mind putting significant losses on their tax break.

[Bertie Wooster]

Michael James & Sharon Brittan have been a life saver for BWFC, without them we wouldn't have a club and to be where we are challenging in the play off's is testament (if that's the right word ?) to them. We have improved window after window under Evatt but today just showed that that extra bit of quality is the difference.

Our model of bringing in lots of young players with sell on potential is fine & has worked to date, but to make that next step (if that's what everyone wants) means bringing in some experienced championship quality players probably on wages higher than we are currently paying and can afford & for me that's where the club is currently at - its a risk either way and it's not my money therefore I can't advise which is best for the club, however if we want to get out of League 1 in the next year or so then FV need to speculate or seek some serious investment otherwise IMO this is us for the foreseeable - crowds up, the football is a lot better to watch but we will continue to struggle against the top 3 or 4 teams who have better quality players. We have a decent side but not quite at the level of the teams above us & without speculating a little its difficult in seeing how we address that gap to the higher spending League 1 teams.

[The_Gun]

You coughing up the readies? We've got what we've got. Very easy to spend other people's money.

I trust them not to put the club's future at risk. Anything else can feck off.

I suspect it’s loans or short term fixes. That will be all we can afford. But as Evatt says in his post match. Big Dan isn’t fit enough. And we are light up there and need numbers.

We’ve sold players and one assumes that was done with a plan to bring in. Cos again Evatt himself is saying we are light.

I’d far rather be like Plymouth and sign the best loans etc we can right now. If the best we can afford isn’t enough then so be it. But certainly shouldn’t be in anyway worrying about next season now.

We’ve sold two players and brought three in, it would also be very surprising if we don’t bring at least one more before the end of the month. Maybe calm down and see where we stand by the time the window *slams* shut, eh?

[GhostoftheBok]

If you don't have money you need time.

The first season we came up there was a door to go through, but we didn't get close. Nobody's fault, there were players there to get and we either didn't see or couldn't get them. Fine.

This season was always going to be like this. We couldn't get players we needed over the line and we're playing catch-up now.

The issue with saying "just do everything for now" is that we'll once again be playing catch up in the summer and it never ends.

We do have to push to go up this season and every season, but not at the cost of building sensibly - because then you just end up constantly fighting fires on a much grander scale.

You can't just "go for it!" every season, because you go broke fairly quickly.

[nicholaldo]

You coughing up the readies? We've got what we've got. Very easy to spend other people's money.

I trust them not to put the club's future at risk. Anything else can feck off.

I suspect it’s loans or short term fixes. That will be all we can afford. But as Evatt says in his post match. Big Dan isn’t fit enough. And we are light up there and need numbers.

We’ve sold players and one assumes that was done with a plan to bring in. Cos again Evatt himself is saying we are light.

I’d far rather be like Plymouth and sign the best loans etc we can right now. If the best we can afford isn’t enough then so be it. But certainly shouldn’t be in anyway worrying about next season now.

We’ve sold two players and brought three in, it would also be very surprising if we don’t bring at least one more before the end of the month. Maybe calm down and see where we stand by the time the window *slams* shut, eh?

It's a good point.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Postmatch Evatt quotes.
https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/2 ... by-county/

I think we dipped below our standards. They executed their gameplan better than we executed ours. We knew what was coming, we knew the press was going to be aggressive, we knew they would come after us and that we would have to be smart in tight areas and recognise where the space was. But I don’t think we asked their centre-backs enough questions and that isn’t down to the centre-forwards, it is just about putting the ball in the right areas when we are inviting that pressure.

I don’t think either team created lots. There wasn’t a lot of opportunities in the game. But they looked more aggressive than we were, more combative, and won too many first contacts, too many second balls. The game was still a tight one and that is where the frustration kicks in because if we had been anything like where we can be then the score would have been completely different.

There are lots of reasons why we struggled – we didn’t close the space quick enough when we were forced to play long. The gaps between the back three and the forwards was too big and that meant it was difficult to land on the second ball. Their centre-forward brought it down unopposed so many times and was able to connect the play so many times. When that happens you cause your own problems. All over the pitch we dipped below our usual standards.

If we are not going be aggressive and press to win the ball back like we should do, then we need to be really smart with the ball. And we were not courageous enough until the score was 2-0, being brave enough to pass through the lines. That isn’t bravery or courage – anyone can play at 2-0 down, it needed to happen from minute one.

We have told the players and the squad some truths today and that will always be our way. Some people might be sat there and thinking ‘we are doing OK and we have been on a good run, give us a break’ but absolutely not. We want the best. We want to keep pushing and striving to be the best we can be, and we need to work harder than that. It is a frustration for me because the players have got so much more to offer than that.

There is a lot of hard work going on behind the scenes and for those people who think we look light, I completely agree. There is work happening – we need one or two more. We have identified people we want to sign, we will do all we can to make it happen.

I'll just add that "one or two" may be idiomatic rather than a bookkeeper's estimate...

[GhostoftheBok]

I'll just add that "one or two" may be idiomatic rather than a bookkeeper's estimate...

Bookkeeper's estimate is more like 4, if we want to be that top side he keeps talking about.

[Worthy4England]

Michael James & Sharon Brittan have been a life saver for BWFC, without them we wouldn't have a club and to be where we are challenging in the play off's is testament (if that's the right word ?) to them. We have improved window after window under Evatt but today just showed that that extra bit of quality is the difference.

Our model of bringing in lots of young players with sell on potential is fine & has worked to date, but to make that next step (if that's what everyone wants) means bringing in some experienced championship quality players probably on wages higher than we are currently paying and can afford & for me that's where the club is currently at - its a risk either way and it's not my money therefore I can't advise which is best for the club, however if we want to get out of League 1 in the next year or so then FV need to speculate or seek some serious investment otherwise IMO this is us for the foreseeable - crowds up, the football is a lot better to watch but we will continue to struggle against the top 3 or 4 teams who have better quality players. We have a decent side but not quite at the level of the teams above us & without speculating a little its difficult in seeing how we address that gap to the higher spending League 1 teams.

Welcome back, Bertie. I'm in this "bucket" we've gone from non-existant to "solid L1." Combo of board pulling us out of admin and Evatt driving play-style. We're not out of admin, in the sense we've paid all the bills, patience is a virtue...

[Prufrock]

I don't think everyone disagrees we're light up top. If we don't get one in by end of Jan, sure panic away but they obviously get it and are trying.

Evatt's comments ring true. Would have been mad to drop Aimson but the way to combat what they did is go and defend on the halfway line and we couldn't.