Bruce or Sam.

[seanworth]

Sam.

[Worthy4England]

Sam all the way for me.

I'd have a harder time trying to decide between Rioch and Greaves....

[bw@bw]

Sam all the way for me.

I'd have a harder time trying to decide between Rioch and Greaves....

Beautifully put

Then again, no Greaves, no Sam

[Bruce Rioja]

A very happy 66th Birthday today to this magnificent gentleman.

[StaffsTrotter]

Bruce (and Todd) - no doubt a major turning point fo rthe club. Some great football - proper 4 4 2 with width. Some giantkilling performances to catch the public eye. Wouldn't have guessed how things would turn out when I went to shrewsbury 2-0 down and a certain mcginlay opened his account in a 2-2 draw. In the promo season the run we had from December and started with a few 4 goal performances was one of those periods when you just turned up expecting to win. Funny if you look at some of those signings of non league players, journeymen and cast offs what managment and organisation can do. Really gutted how it ended with Bruce and wonder how we would have fared had he stayed.

Sam - ultimate respect to this guy. Took us to places and got us players we could never have dreamed of. In a world of mercenaries he actually was BWFC through and through. In the majority of post match interviews (certainly before he started getting a bit big bollocks) he had me thinking this is a guy who's watching the same game as me and not coming out with the normal 1 eyed bullshit.

Think it interesting that both took a lot out of the US in terms of being media savvy and both were regarded as disciplinarian managers who took no shit.

In a plus ca change way also makes me smile when I think of some of the shit these managers and their players got - think mixu prior to his swindon heroics. Remember the numb nuts in the Lofthouse Lower shouting 'taxi for allardyce' in about his 3rd home game. They are still there giving their own unique form of support to the team.

Overall Sam because of the period and level at which he operated.

[BWFC_Insane]

I've been racking my brain trying to work out which ground it is in the Rioch picture Bruce posted.

Finally figured it out!

[Lord Kangana]

Molineux isn't it?

[LeverEnd]

Like most have said, onn paper Sam without doubt, but there was a slight cynicism about it all and it never had the romance of the Rioch years. It was like half the country became Bolton fans for a bit because of cup upsets, plus we had the promotions to enjoy. No weakened teams and prioritising the league and all that shite, just go out and try to win every game.
All this after years of Phil Neal. We had higher expectations by the time Sam got to us, plus Bruce left us on the up at the end of his contract with nothing but well wishes.
I'll never enjoy football again like I did while Bruce was manager, no doubt about it

[LeverEnd]

(Oh, and because Rioch fell out with Wrighty too...)

The story goes that he tried making Ian Wright watch video's of John McGinlay and remarked "Look how a proper striker moves" and Wrighty was none too impressed

I'm not making that up either...

Haha! I've heard that before as well. Would have loved to have seen Wright's face, the massive nice person.

[Bruce Rioja]

I've been racking my brain trying to work out which ground it is in the Rioch picture Bruce posted.

Finally figured it out!

The away end at the old Den, I think. I remember it painfully well. The c*nts.

[Bruce Rioja]

I'll never enjoy football again like I did while Bruce was manager, no doubt about it

This. This exactly. This forever without a doubt.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

I'll never enjoy football again like I did while Bruce was manager, no doubt about it

This. This exactly. This forever without a doubt.

Thirded.

We had amazing times with Sam, but the Bruce period just epitomised to me what is great about football.

[bwfcdan94]

Don't remember Rioch but from what I have heard I would go Rioch.

[Worthy4England]

I'll never enjoy football again like I did while Bruce was manager, no doubt about it

This. This exactly. This forever without a doubt.

Thirded.

We had amazing times with Sam, but the Bruce period just epitomised to me what is great about football.

Understandable and your opinion is your opinion. That said, I enjoyed the football most under Ian Greaves. I thought we were best under Sam Allardyce. Brucie is probably about third on my list.

[BWFC_Insane]

Molineux isn't it?

Yep. Must be the cup game before it was redeveloped!

[LeverEnd]

I'll never enjoy football again like I did while Bruce was manager, no doubt about it

This. This exactly. This forever without a doubt.

Thirded.

We had amazing times with Sam, but the Bruce period just epitomised to me what is great about football.

Understandable and your opinion is your opinion. That said, I enjoyed the football most under Ian Greaves. I thought we were best under Sam Allardyce. Brucie is probably about third on my list.

Would love to be able to remember the Greaves days, but I was only 5 when he left. Remember sitting on my Dad's shoulders at the back of the paddock but nothing about the football! First game I actually remember was in the 2nd div relegation season of 82/83, a rare win over Newcastle, so I grew up watching a club in decline. When Rioch turned up I'd never seen a really successful Bolton team (with the honourable exception of the Sherpa Van Trophy triumph in 1989!). When Sam turned up I'd been spoiled a bit.

[Worthy4England]

I'll never enjoy football again like I did while Bruce was manager, no doubt about it

This. This exactly. This forever without a doubt.

Thirded.

We had amazing times with Sam, but the Bruce period just epitomised to me what is great about football.

Understandable and your opinion is your opinion. That said, I enjoyed the football most under Ian Greaves. I thought we were best under Sam Allardyce. Brucie is probably about third on my list.

Would love to be able to remember the Greaves days, but I was only 5 when he left. Remember sitting on my Dad's shoulders at the back of the paddock but nothing about the football! First game I actually remember was in the 2nd div relegation season of 82/83, a rare win over Newcastle, so I grew up watching a club in decline. When Rioch turned up I'd never seen a really successful Bolton team (with the honourable exception of the Sherpa Van Trophy triumph in 1989!). When Sam turned up I'd been spoiled a bit.

I think there's the nub of it. I was 14/15 when we went up under Greaves, so still fairly excitable especially after the year we missed out. By the time Rioch was here, I was a much more cynical, grumpy, owd bugger, so the "shine" wasn't the same, even though some of the achievements might have been greater. That said, by the time Sam took over, I was even more cynical, grumpy and owd...but still prefer what we did under Sam, to what we did under Greaves or Rioch...

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

I'll never enjoy football again like I did while Bruce was manager, no doubt about it

This. This exactly. This forever without a doubt.

Thirded.

We had amazing times with Sam, but the Bruce period just epitomised to me what is great about football.

Would it be cheeky of me to suggest that you three are all remembering yourselves at a certain age and stage in your lives here, as much as anything else?

[thebish]

I'll never enjoy football again like I did while Bruce was manager, no doubt about it

This. This exactly. This forever without a doubt.

Thirded.

We had amazing times with Sam, but the Bruce period just epitomised to me what is great about football.

Would it be cheeky of me to suggest that you three are all remembering yourselves at a certain age and stage in your lives here, as much as anything else?

yes - that has to be true - and i think they have all pretty much acknowledged that... it's inevitable!

football is so much shitter nowadays for many reasons - chief among them being the fact that I have grown up and am now a cynical grumpy old man rather than an excitable an excitable teenager... i have other competing priorities that i didn't have back then...

[LeverEnd]

I'll never enjoy football again like I did while Bruce was manager, no doubt about it

This. This exactly. This forever without a doubt.

Thirded.

We had amazing times with Sam, but the Bruce period just epitomised to me what is great about football.

Would it be cheeky of me to suggest that you three are all remembering yourselves at a certain age and stage in your lives here, as much as anything else?

Not all cheeky, entirely accurate for me.