Already too late to sack Coyle

[Worthy4England]

It'll be reet.

Heard that a few times, and I guess it depends on your view of "reet". My idea of "reet" has us playing in the Prem. A lofty height that we strove so long to achieve through the 1980's and into the 1990's. My idea of "reet" isn't watching Bolton on a half built tip, down in Division 2. Been there, done that, got the T-Shirt. Will do it again if necessary, but really don't WANT to. Perhaps the bubble was always going to burst. Only so much wonga, Eddie Davies in the middle of a huge economic downturn can plow in. So I understand we aren't rich.

I also understand we've had injuries. Had bad luck. Lost some players (some who were ours, some who weren't).

I think I understand when I'm seeing the best we've got, out on the park, playing with the best formation we can come up with and giving 100%.

If I was seeing that, I'd be saying OC had a really shitty deal.

But I'm not.

I'm seeing a disorganised shambles of makeweights. So I'm rightfully (in my mind) pissed about it.

Looking back through the annals of time, from when the Prem cut to 20 teams, and seeing what points the bottom 3 were on after 15 games, and whether they survived makes poor reading unless "reet" is Championship football next season.

3rd bottom generally have between 11 and 16 points. 10 out of 15 of them have survived.

2nd bottom have between 9 and 13 points. 8 out of 15 survived. The one occasion a team had 9, they survived. Wigan had already changed their manager by now sacked Ray Hutchings, back on the 5th of November.

The bottom team after 15 games have had between 5 and 12 points. 1 out of the 15 survived. We know that team well, because it was our expense - Everton in 1997/8. They had 12 points after 15 games and were being managed by Howard Kendall, a Manager with years of decent and successful Premiership experience. After 15 games, they were one win away from 16th place, one draw from being out of the bottom 3 on GD - there wasn't a huge gap between bottom of the table and safety.

We will end today three points adrift, with a Manager who's clearly floundering, as he did with Burnley.

A win yesterday would have seen us in 17th. Whilst still being sure in my own mind that we should jettison Coyle, it would have looked a bit better (notwithstanding that for every team that's escaped from the bottom 3 after 15 games, one gets dragged in).

For me, I think we're already down, even if we act this week coming. The fixtures coming up are a mixture - can't recall the last time we won at Fulham in the league, Blackburn away, we've lost more than we've won. We have a good record against Newcastle at home and against Wolves at home, but by then I believe the die will be even more intractable than it is now.

If OC is still in a job Monday, I think we just have to accept that he's taking us down and will be with us next season.

My real gripe, is that we've just sat and watched it happen, saying "it'll be reet."

After all we've been through to get to and maintain our place in the Prem, shame on you Phil Gartside (and I'm not normally too critical of Garty)

[BWFC_Insane]

Agree with all this. Though Coyle is out of contract end of the season and will likely walk away from the mess he has created!

[Eborted]

^
Seconded

[Whookam]

My real gripe, is that we've just sat and watched it happen, saying "it'll be reet."

To be fair some of us haven't. We've seen that our problems cannot just be down to injuries and a supposed lack of investment. It's clear the man in charge has no grasp of tactics nor does he know his best team and despite being a supposed motivator his relationship with some of the squad is terrible. Remember Terry Venables prediction that we'd go down this season and the reaction on this forum? The problem was that the signs were so obviously there in the latter end of the season yet they were ignored. There was too much belief in the hype about Coyle's management ability, too many people willing to the swallow the "good football" line despite all evidence the contrary. The Coyle Legend has been a crutch for many Bolton fans, they simply refuse to believe that a much loved ex-player and now manager could preside over the collapse of the club. Yet it has happened,

'It'll be reet'

Those three words have quite possibly consigned us the Championship.

Great post BTW.

[Worthy4England]

My real gripe, is that we've just sat and watched it happen, saying "it'll be reet."

To be fair some of us haven't. We've seen that our problems cannot just be down to injuries and a supposed lack of investment. It's clear the man in charge has no grasp of tactics nor does he know his best team and despite being a supposed motivator his relationship with some of the squad is terrible. Remember Terry Venables prediction that we'd go down this season and the reaction on this forum? The problem was that the signs were so obviously there in the latter end of the season yet they were ignored. There was too much belief in the hype about Coyle's management ability, too many people willing to the swallow the "good football" line despite all evidence the contrary. The Coyle Legend has been a crutch for many Bolton fans, they simply refuse to believe that a much loved ex-player and now manager could preside over the collapse of the club. Yet it has happened,

'It'll be reet'

Those three words have quite possibly consigned us the Championship.

Great post BTW.

To be fair, you're right.

[Choppers]

Indeed.

Megson may have been vile toward the fans, but Coyle's positivity is actually rubbing me up the wrong way too. It's as though we're all dense and don't notice the constantly changing turnstiles of our first eleven, with below-par players giving below-par peformances in a ridiculously rigid attachment to a 4-4-2 formation that everyone knows how to play again and we don't even have the players to play. His unfair singling out of individual players who have been here longer than him is no better than the way Megson shifted Nolan, or attacked the fans. Whatever way you look at it, it is poor management.

I think personally I haven't joined the "Coyle must go" bandwagon (if it is indeed one) until now because I didn't want to see it for what it was. That said, I've been saying to friends and colleague for over a month that we're going down, but it's as though I didn't truly accept it until recently.

Bottom line is that he failed to replace the talent we lost. He probably had an inkling that Elmander and Sturridge would be going, but we replaced with N'Gog - a player that Coyle doesn't rate anymore it would seem. Selling Al Habsi and Taylor were mistakes - and I won't hear anything different to that. People can argue that it freed up funds...but for what? Those funds were used on players that Coyle refuses to use! He can't be blamed for our injuries, but football is a squad game nowadays and our squad is performing like a lower level Championship team.

It is perhaps a touch ironic that a Bolton Legend is to be the one to finally take us down.

On the positive, for us armchair fans, demoted Prem teams often get more games on the TV!

[BWFC_Insane]

Indeed.

Megson may have been vile toward the fans, but Coyle's positivity is actually rubbing me up the wrong way too. It's as though we're all dense and don't notice the constantly changing turnstiles of our first eleven, with below-par players giving below-par peformances in a ridiculously rigid attachment to a 4-4-2 formation that everyone knows how to play again and we don't even have the players to play. His unfair singling out of individual players who have been here longer than him is no better than the way Megson shifted Nolan, or attacked the fans. Whatever way you look at it, it is poor management.

I think personally I haven't joined the "Coyle must go" bandwagon (if it is indeed one) until now because I didn't want to see it for what it was. That said, I've been saying to friends and colleague for over a month that we're going down, but it's as though I didn't truly accept it until recently.

Bottom line is that he failed to replace the talent we lost. He probably had an inkling that Elmander and Sturridge would be going, but we replaced with N'Gog - a player that Coyle doesn't rate anymore it would seem. Selling Al Habsi and Taylor were mistakes - and I won't hear anything different to that. People can argue that it freed up funds...but for what? Those funds were used on players that Coyle refuses to use! He can't be blamed for our injuries, but football is a squad game nowadays and our squad is performing like a lower level Championship team.

It is perhaps a touch ironic that a Bolton Legend is to be the one to finally take us down.

On the positive, for us armchair fans, demoted Prem teams often get more games on the TV!

Yep his whole, we will put it right next week wears thin when you realise he's said it for 6 months and is still having to say it.

Can't watch him in interviews as his whole demeanour makes me want to punch the screen!

[Loyal White]

It'll be reet

[hi there, i'm chris]

Wait, surely if Coyle's contract is up at the end of the season, then this "too expensive to sack" rumour that's been doing the rounds is rubbish?

I didn't realise it was up at the end of the season. Was he only giving a 2 and a half year contract?

[thebish]

Wait, surely if Coyle's contract is up at the end of the season, then this "too expensive to sack" rumour that's been doing the rounds is rubbish?

I didn't realise it was up at the end of the season. Was he only giving a 2 and a half year contract?

is it "Coyle" is too expensive to sack - or "back-room team Coyle" is too expensive to sack?

[Peter Thompson]

What worries me is that if (big if ?) this £6M - £7M rumour is true, who the fcuk agreed to such compensation in his and his staff's contracts - Coyle was hardly Mourinho.

[BWFC_Insane]

Wait, surely if Coyle's contract is up at the end of the season, then this "too expensive to sack" rumour that's been doing the rounds is rubbish?

I didn't realise it was up at the end of the season. Was he only giving a 2 and a half year contract?

is it "Coyle" is too expensive to sack - or "back-room team Coyle" is too expensive to sack?

If it costs 7M to pay off Coyle and his back room staff then I suggest that we hire a hit man to take all the useless fookers out. If what we are paying that bunch of charlatans for 6 months work is 7M the we might as well close the Reebok, disestablish BWFC and all take up synchronised knitting or sommat on Saturday afternoons.

If Coyle is on 50 quid a week it's too much!

[Worthy4England]

Wait, surely if Coyle's contract is up at the end of the season, then this "too expensive to sack" rumour that's been doing the rounds is rubbish?

I didn't realise it was up at the end of the season. Was he only giving a 2 and a half year contract?

Yes.

[EagleEye]

I'm not sure who is out there that could be brought in and would do a better job. Sometimes there's a short boost in performance and results when a new manager takes over but if they don't have the quality then the same problems will just resurface.

The biggest problem that Coyle has is the fact that the squad is, unfortunately, rubbish. Out of all the teams in the Premier League this season this Bolton side is definitely one of the weakest. Yes the newly promoted sides might look weaker on paper but you can't really account for what happens to those clubs.

The side also has a serious lack of depth which means the losses of Holden and CYL and also Sturridge from last year are pretty hard to deal with. Given that the club doesn't have much pulling power it was always going to be a case of taking risks when it comes to replacing them.

Some of the recent signings have been poor but what were the alternatives? Chances are there were only a limited number of options when it comes to signings and taking risks was the only option, as doing nothing at all isn't an option.

It seems the squad is now a mishmash of players who are either not good enough at all or suit a certain style of play which other players don't suit. There doesn't appear to be a real 'team' there and so it's little wonder that the squad seems to be pretty inept.

It might be that Coyle is to blame for making the recent signings or for failing to get some cohesion in the side but I think most coaches would have had the same problems this season. There isn't the money to sign quality players and the team lacks pulling power. There's no suitable core to the squad and those reliable players that you could always depend on, in particular Kevin Davies, should already have been replaced but with no suitable replacements they end up remaining the best available while their standards decline, as do the standards of the whole team.

Sacking Coyle might work, but it will probably only be a very temporary solution, if indeed it is a solution at all. Without the funds or a consistent core to the side the team is only ever going to be going down.

[Prufrock]

Good to see you've popped your forum cherry.

Sorry.

[Choppers]

The Sturridge thing annoys me a a bit. He scored a sackful of goals for us and made it clear he wanted to go back to Chelsea multiple times.

He was never going to be a Bolton player this season, Coyle above all should have known that. If not, he's just a bad judge of character, simple as.

[Worthy4England]

The Sturridge thing annoys me a a bit. He scored a sackful of goals for us and made it clear he wanted to go back to Chelsea multiple times.

He was never going to be a Bolton player this season, Coyle above all should have known that. If not, he's just a bad judge of character, simple as.

Me too, but for a different reason. We had 30 points, before he kicked a ball, with 14 games left to play.

Did he help improve our league position - probably yes.

Was he the difference between staying up and getting relegated - probably no.

[officer_dibble]

Good post Worthy, very sobering

But we know it already - their is such an atmosphere of acceptance about it now at the reebok

If we decided to take the administration hit now I could almost understand it!

[dasher]

One thing a new manager would (hopefully) bring would be some discipline into the team plus some organisation that we are sadly lacking. Defensively we are a shambles, we struggle to pass the ball to each other, and our main strategy seems to be Jussi smacking the ball in the direction of Davos head yet we have no one running off him for the times he does win the ball. Coyles teams selection are getting rather bizarre now. Tuncay on the right wing was a very strange selection as was Pratley ahead of Muamba.

Basic problem is that there are just no signs of improvement

Very very depressing watching us at the minute.

[boltonboris]

There is no way on Gods green earth, that we are paying Coyle and his backroom staff £14 Million a season..

What a load of fvckin' rubbish