Down in The Valley, something stirred. V Charlton Athletic away Sat Aug 24th 3-0 'clock.

[BWFC_Insane]

Sheehan is weak as piss and a shirked at Wembley and in other big games.

This is a tough league and we need players who are robust enough and mentally strong enough to deal with it. He’s a luxury and we shouldn’t be carrying him.

I’m sick of excuses. He’s not up to doing the job we need and referees are what they are down here. It’s been a physically demanding grafting league with poor refs since we entered. Since forever. Deal with it.

Bollocks, lad.

He won the awards he did last season for a reason. He was the most consistent and best player in the side.

How can our most consistent player be a "luxury"? Absolute, unadulterated nonsense.

He won awards. Great. He didn’t turn up when it really mattered and is bullied out of games. He’s a luxury. Overrated. We treat him like he’s Barry bannan yet he’s half the player at best.

Sorry he’s symptomatic of everything we are that I despise. Soft, flat track bullies without any physical or mental spine. When the going gets tough blame the referees, pitches or opposition.

When we struggle when does Sheehan ever get a grip of the game. When does he ever turn it round through sheer graft and drive? Never is the answer. And just like with Evatt and xG nonsense all the awards in the world won’t change my view. You won’t get out of this league carrying him - and he doesn’t do enough when it really matters to warrant being carried

You constantly falling back on supposed physical deficiencies undermines your arguments, for me. If you look at our team today I don’t think you could justifiably call it small or soft. Lacking pace maybe, but in my opinion our failings are largely tactical.

Sheehan didn’t show up today because he doesn’t have the physicality to deal with the system or indeed teams like Charlton. It’s mainly that he can’t cover ground quick enough.

I agree lots is tactical but the attitude of the players and Evatt is part of the problem. And some of our fans echo that. ‘Couldn’t win today cos the ref didn’t protect us’. We are Bolton wanderers. We should be going out and bullying teams. Instead we let them do it to us.

[GhostoftheBok]

I'm absolutely baffled how he won the awards as watching him live most of last season, he only showed up in a handful of games.

If you're baffled about Sheehan being good last season that's on you.

In the real world, outside the head of an extreme minority of people, he was just really fecking good.

[The_Gun]

Sheehan is weak as piss and a shirked at Wembley and in other big games.

This is a tough league and we need players who are robust enough and mentally strong enough to deal with it. He’s a luxury and we shouldn’t be carrying him.

I’m sick of excuses. He’s not up to doing the job we need and referees are what they are down here. It’s been a physically demanding grafting league with poor refs since we entered. Since forever. Deal with it.

Bollocks, lad.

He won the awards he did last season for a reason. He was the most consistent and best player in the side.

How can our most consistent player be a "luxury"? Absolute, unadulterated nonsense.

He won awards. Great. He didn’t turn up when it really mattered and is bullied out of games. He’s a luxury. Overrated. We treat him like he’s Barry bannan yet he’s half the player at best.

Sorry he’s symptomatic of everything we are that I despise. Soft, flat track bullies without any physical or mental spine. When the going gets tough blame the referees, pitches or opposition.

When we struggle when does Sheehan ever get a grip of the game. When does he ever turn it round through sheer graft and drive? Never is the answer. And just like with Evatt and xG nonsense all the awards in the world won’t change my view. You won’t get out of this league carrying him - and he doesn’t do enough when it really matters to warrant being carried

You constantly falling back on supposed physical deficiencies undermines your arguments, for me. If you look at our team today I don’t think you could justifiably call it small or soft. Lacking pace maybe, but in my opinion our failings are largely tactical.

Sheehan didn’t show up today because he doesn’t have the physicality to deal with the system or indeed teams like Charlton. It’s mainly that he can’t cover ground quick enough.

I agree lots is tactical but the attitude of the players and Evatt is part of the problem. And some of our fans echo that. ‘Couldn’t win today cos the ref didn’t protect us’. We are Bolton wanderers. We should be going out and bullying teams. Instead we let them do it to us.

I don’t disagree with you regarding Sheehan’s physicality, but I do disagree with you regarding that being symptomatic of the rest of the team.

[TANGODANCER]

Charlton Athletic 2, Bolton Wanderers 0. The rest is history. Take it on the chin and move on.

Thanks for the game Djb, the only good thing that happened today.

[GhostoftheBok]

I don’t disagree with you regarding Sheehan’s physicality, but I do disagree with you regarding that being symptomatic of the rest of the team.

It's a talking point. Truth is irrelevant.

There was also "no fight" in them, despite it kicking off a couple of times and the lads being right up for it - with Vic happily offering out - and us winning more tackles and duals, despite dominating possession.

It's not enough to play badly. It has to be some kind of moral failing.

Back in reality, the issue was quality and not combativeness. We played badly, but we did try hard.

[officer_dibble]

I see they sent second to last sub Jay Matete out for interviews. Does Captain Rico ever front up when we lose and/or he has a stinker?

[BWFC_Insane]

I don’t disagree with you regarding Sheehan’s physicality, but I do disagree with you regarding that being symptomatic of the rest of the team.

It's a talking point. Truth is irrelevant.

There was also "no fight" in them, despite it kicking off a couple of times and the lads being right up for it - with Vic happily offering out - and us winning more tackles and duals, despite dominating possession.

It's not enough to play badly. It has to be some kind of moral failing.

Back in reality, the issue was quality and not combativeness. We played badly, but we did try hard.

Fight isn’t ’punching someone’ it’s a mentality. Who grips the game when we are struggling? Young George shows some desire and often is the only one I see trying to up the tempo. Santos the captain is one of the worst. Unacceptable error and tries to blame everyone else.

We all know teams that have that character - this one doesn’t. When it gets hard they hide. Sheehan literally hid behind an opponent at Wembley because he didn’t fancy it after being tackled.

[GhostoftheBok]

I see they sent second to last sub Jay Matete out for interviews. Does Captain Rico ever front up when we lose and/or he has a stinker?

Media duties are usually assigned before the game.

[officer_dibble]

To one of the subs?

[GhostoftheBok]

To one of the subs?

There's usually a list and the media get to pick from it. Obviously I've no idea if the BN guy asked for Matete, but if it's anything like it used to be he'd have been one of 3-4 names offered.

Evatt may do things very differently, but that'd be normal.

[dave the minion]

Sheehan literally hid behind an opponent at Wembley because he didn’t fancy it after being tackled.

You do know "literally" means it actually happened, rather than it being just your biased opinion don't you?

[Bertie Wooster]

12 wins out of the last 33 since new years day - how on earth is the guy still in a job ?

[GhostoftheBok]

12 wins out of the last 33 since new years day - how on earth is the guy still in a job ?

Because having over a 50% win percentage, a promotion and a cup win tends to earn you time at most football clubs.

That time isn't infinite, though. If he keeps winning 1 in 3 he'll be gone before long and deservedly so.

Lose at home to Exeter and that time may run out a lot faster.

On the other had, we have two away cup games and three home league games as the next group of 5.

Any manager worth a stitch sees those fixtures and licks their lips.

[BWFC_Insane]

12 wins out of the last 33 since new years day - how on earth is the guy still in a job ?

Look, as Evatt says we are playing a style that means we will stay up in the championship. Stop complaining. If we played more exciting football we might go up but we’d probably come down. The style we play guarantees we never come back down.

Oh and his bag of receipts is now so big he can burn it and help the pensioners out who have lost their winter fuel allowances.

[The_Gun]

Ghost with the more valid point there. Evatt has a good track record vs basically any historical metric, so it’s not hard to understand why he’s still our manager.

[DJBlu]

12 wins out of the last 33 since new years day - how on earth is the guy still in a job ?

Look, as Evatt says we are playing a style that means we will stay up in the championship. Stop complaining. If we played more exciting football we might go up but we’d probably come down. The style we play guarantees we never come back down.

Oh and his bag of receipts is now so big he can burn it and help the pensioners out who have lost their winter fuel allowances.

It's extremely amusing that our manager irritates you so much.

I'd imagine he knows his onions too.

[nicholaldo]

Ghost with the more valid point there. Evatt has a good track record vs basically any historical metric, so it’s not hard to understand why he’s still our manager.

With the caveat that managerial win percentage is heavily dependent on context.

[The_Gun]

Ghost with the more valid point there. Evatt has a good track record vs basically any historical metric, so it’s not hard to understand why he’s still our manager.

With the caveat that managerial win percentage is heavily dependent on context.

Everything is dependent upon context, yes.

I personally think we should change our manager, but I can understand that our owners might look at Evatt’s record and determine that he’s done well.

[GhostoftheBok]

Ghost with the more valid point there. Evatt has a good track record vs basically any historical metric, so it’s not hard to understand why he’s still our manager.

He's rebuilt the football department, taken us up and then made us perennial promotion contenders.

The status of the club means our ambitions go far beyond that, but if we were "Generic Utd" he'd be untouchable at the minute. If we sack him he'll get a lot of very good job offers.

That's the reality of it.

People can debate all the rest forever and a day.

[GhostoftheBok]

With the caveat that managerial win percentage is heavily dependent on context.

Yes, it is. Equally, a manager can do a good job at a club for years and then plateau and need replacing.

The fact a manager gets sacked doesn't mean he was the wrong appointment, or that he should have been sacked years ago.

You can also show too much loyalty for past achievements.

If Evatt does get sacked this season he'll leave us vastly better off than he found us and any new manager will have a lot to thank him for.

We've signed some talented players and backed this manager heavily. We will likely back him more in the next week. Sacking him now would be a bizarre decision when anything up to half the squad will have just shown up to play for him.

However, he's been backed to go up. If that starts to look impossible he'll have to go.

You either sacked him immediately after the final, or you give him a full chance this season. We've gone with the latter, so stick with it.