Freedman out!

[Hoboh]

I didn't see your name at first and thought it was someone being sarcastic .

Zola and Hoddle?! Jeezus wept. If they get Mackay then fair enough, but otherwise ha!

Well Freedmans name could be on the list! He'd do more than weep

[Puskas]

Richie Barker is available!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/26765666" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
If we can't get my top two choices - former Cambridge man John Beck or ex-Wanderers legend David Cross - I'd settle for him.

Any one of those three would be 10^7 times better than Freedman.

[boltonboris]

Richie Barker is available!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/26765666" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
If we can't get my top two choices - former Cambridge man John Beck or ex-Wanderers legend David Cross - I'd settle for him.

Any one of those three would be 10^7 times better than Freedman.

Speaks a lot of sense..

I quite like him.. But he's too immobile to play in midfield, or up top.. So he needs to be in that number 10 position that just doesn't work for us

[CrazyHorse]

Well I think we should get Billy Davies in.

[jonnycooper]

Why?are we getting someone new in? I thought Dougie Freedman had the gig!!!

[Bruce Rioja]

Well I think we should get Billy Davies in.

That x 1,000,000

[TANGODANCER]

I've seen Bolton under a lot of managers and never really shout for heads to roll because football today is so unpredictable. I am beginning to wonder though now (like many others have voiced) if this fella really does know what he's doing. In the Championship we aren't playing Champions League and swapping opponents of top order every game. How hard is it to pick your best side and give them a chance to play together with some confidence and team spirit? If Moritz doesn't fit in, why do we want him? Same with all the ten minutes a game players he uses to play negative defensive football that almost invites disaster. Use the subs by all means, but have some sort of a reason for doing it and give them playing time. Surely nobody wants to play for a manager who persists in divinity despite poor results and obvious fan disapprobation and has the club captain, despite his best spell for ages, uncertain of his place and not afraid to say so. ?

Okay, we're currently on a run that could be worse, but only because the rest of our season has us currently eighteen points behind Wigan and thirty five behind Burnley. Dougie might see beating Wigan as a major triumph,(should it even happen of course) but over the season it makes pretty grim reading. Are we really the same Bolton Wanderers who were, not too long ago, the first team ever to beat Red Star on their home ground in the comp, or drew 2-2 with Bayern Munich. Is it really only three seasons ago since Tamir Cohen had Arsene Wenger's head in his hands in despair..? Maybe Dougie needs to have a read up and see where we are. Not all his fault, granted, but he seriously needs to get his act together soon or it'll be too late. Instead of blaming the players and showing them the door, why not try making a team with some bottle and pride out of them. Isn't that what he's getting paid a fortune for?

[Hoboh]

I've seen Bolton under a lot of managers and never really shout for heads to roll because football today is so unpredictable. I am beginning to wonder though now (like many others have voiced) if this fella really does know what he's doing. In the Championship we aren't playing Champions League and swapping opponents of top order every game. How hard is it to pick your best side and give them a chance to play together with some confidence and team spirit? If Moritz doesn't fit in, why do we want him? Same with all the ten minutes a game players he uses to play negative defensive football that almost invites disaster. Use the subs by all means, but have some sort of a reason for doing it and give them playing time. Surely nobody wants to play for a manager who persists in divinity despite poor results and obvious fan disapprobation and has the club captain, despite his best spell for ages, uncertain of his place and not afraid to say so. ?

Okay, we're currently on a run that could be worse, but only because the rest of our season has us currently eighteen points behind Wigan and thirty five behind Burnley. Dougie might see beating Wigan as a major triumph,(should it even happen of course) but over the season it makes pretty grim reading. Are we really the same Bolton Wanderers who were, not too long ago, the first team ever to beat Red Star on their home ground in the comp, or drew 2-2 with Bayern Munich. Is it really only three seasons ago since Tamir Cohen had Arsene Wenger's head in his hands in despair..? Maybe Dougie needs to have a read up and see where we are. Not all his fault, granted, but he seriously needs to get his act together soon or it'll be too late. Instead of blaming the players and showing them the door, why not try making a team with some bottle and pride out of them. Isn't that what he's getting paid a fortune for?

[BWFC_Insane]

I've seen Bolton under a lot of managers and never really shout for heads to roll because football today is so unpredictable. I am beginning to wonder though now (like many others have voiced) if this fella really does know what he's doing. In the Championship we aren't playing Champions League and swapping opponents of top order every game. How hard is it to pick your best side and give them a chance to play together with some confidence and team spirit? If Moritz doesn't fit in, why do we want him? Same with all the ten minutes a game players he uses to play negative defensive football that almost invites disaster. Use the subs by all means, but have some sort of a reason for doing it and give them playing time. Surely nobody wants to play for a manager who persists in divinity despite poor results and obvious fan disapprobation and has the club captain, despite his best spell for ages, uncertain of his place and not afraid to say so. ?

Okay, we're currently on a run that could be worse, but only because the rest of our season has us currently eighteen points behind Wigan and thirty five behind Burnley. Dougie might see beating Wigan as a major triumph,(should it even happen of course) but over the season it makes pretty grim reading. Are we really the same Bolton Wanderers who were, not too long ago, the first team ever to beat Red Star on their home ground in the comp, or drew 2-2 with Bayern Munich. Is it really only three seasons ago since Tamir Cohen had Arsene Wenger's head in his hands in despair..? Maybe Dougie needs to have a read up and see where we are. Not all his fault, granted, but he seriously needs to get his act together soon or it'll be too late. Instead of blaming the players and showing them the door, why not try making a team with some bottle and pride out of them. Isn't that what he's getting paid a fortune for?

The thing you're forgetting is he inherited a Bolton side near the bottom of the Championship.

He didn't inherit the side that drew in Bayern Munich or the one that finished 6th in the premiership. He had a group of players who were languishing at the bottom end of the championship.

They still are, but comparing what he inherited to bygone times isn't going to help.

I don't think there is a quick turnaround for where we are. It is going to be a slog. Once you drop out of the top flight, history says that there is a stronger probability of this happening than there is of bouncing straight back. People act like we're different to Leeds, Coventry, Bradford, Sheffield Weds/Utd, Burnley, Derby, Southampton, Leicester etc etc who all fell out of the top flight and took a while to get back their (or haven't yet managed it) and some dropped further....but why are we expecting a different outcome? All those sides went down thinking they'd be more than good enough to come back, but they didn't. There is no special reason why we were in a different boat, however good we thought we were, this league doesn't take any prisoners.

[Hoboh]

I've seen Bolton under a lot of managers and never really shout for heads to roll because football today is so unpredictable. I am beginning to wonder though now (like many others have voiced) if this fella really does know what he's doing. In the Championship we aren't playing Champions League and swapping opponents of top order every game. How hard is it to pick your best side and give them a chance to play together with some confidence and team spirit? If Moritz doesn't fit in, why do we want him? Same with all the ten minutes a game players he uses to play negative defensive football that almost invites disaster. Use the subs by all means, but have some sort of a reason for doing it and give them playing time. Surely nobody wants to play for a manager who persists in divinity despite poor results and obvious fan disapprobation and has the club captain, despite his best spell for ages, uncertain of his place and not afraid to say so. ?

Okay, we're currently on a run that could be worse, but only because the rest of our season has us currently eighteen points behind Wigan and thirty five behind Burnley. Dougie might see beating Wigan as a major triumph,(should it even happen of course) but over the season it makes pretty grim reading. Are we really the same Bolton Wanderers who were, not too long ago, the first team ever to beat Red Star on their home ground in the comp, or drew 2-2 with Bayern Munich. Is it really only three seasons ago since Tamir Cohen had Arsene Wenger's head in his hands in despair..? Maybe Dougie needs to have a read up and see where we are. Not all his fault, granted, but he seriously needs to get his act together soon or it'll be too late. Instead of blaming the players and showing them the door, why not try making a team with some bottle and pride out of them. Isn't that what he's getting paid a fortune for?

The thing you're forgetting is he inherited a Bolton side near the bottom of the Championship.

He didn't inherit the side that drew in Bayern Munich or the one that finished 6th in the premiership. He had a group of players who were languishing at the bottom end of the championship.

They still are, but comparing what he inherited to bygone times isn't going to help.

I don't think there is a quick turnaround for where we are. It is going to be a slog. Once you drop out of the top flight, history says that there is a stronger probability of this happening than there is of bouncing straight back. People act like we're different to Leeds, Coventry, Bradford, Sheffield Weds/Utd, Burnley, Derby, Southampton, Leicester etc etc who all fell out of the top flight and took a while to get back their (or haven't yet managed it) and some dropped further....but why are we expecting a different outcome? All those sides went down thinking they'd be more than good enough to come back, but they didn't. There is no special reason why we were in a different boat, however good we thought we were, this league doesn't take any prisoners.

Because anything well run looks and learns by the past mistakes of others and sets a different course.
Then again I ain't ever seen much in football to suggest much other than 'Brains go out the window' or folk get fed up and leave the mess to others.

[BWFC_Insane]

I've seen Bolton under a lot of managers and never really shout for heads to roll because football today is so unpredictable. I am beginning to wonder though now (like many others have voiced) if this fella really does know what he's doing. In the Championship we aren't playing Champions League and swapping opponents of top order every game. How hard is it to pick your best side and give them a chance to play together with some confidence and team spirit? If Moritz doesn't fit in, why do we want him? Same with all the ten minutes a game players he uses to play negative defensive football that almost invites disaster. Use the subs by all means, but have some sort of a reason for doing it and give them playing time. Surely nobody wants to play for a manager who persists in divinity despite poor results and obvious fan disapprobation and has the club captain, despite his best spell for ages, uncertain of his place and not afraid to say so. ?

Okay, we're currently on a run that could be worse, but only because the rest of our season has us currently eighteen points behind Wigan and thirty five behind Burnley. Dougie might see beating Wigan as a major triumph,(should it even happen of course) but over the season it makes pretty grim reading. Are we really the same Bolton Wanderers who were, not too long ago, the first team ever to beat Red Star on their home ground in the comp, or drew 2-2 with Bayern Munich. Is it really only three seasons ago since Tamir Cohen had Arsene Wenger's head in his hands in despair..? Maybe Dougie needs to have a read up and see where we are. Not all his fault, granted, but he seriously needs to get his act together soon or it'll be too late. Instead of blaming the players and showing them the door, why not try making a team with some bottle and pride out of them. Isn't that what he's getting paid a fortune for?

The thing you're forgetting is he inherited a Bolton side near the bottom of the Championship.

He didn't inherit the side that drew in Bayern Munich or the one that finished 6th in the premiership. He had a group of players who were languishing at the bottom end of the championship.

They still are, but comparing what he inherited to bygone times isn't going to help.

I don't think there is a quick turnaround for where we are. It is going to be a slog. Once you drop out of the top flight, history says that there is a stronger probability of this happening than there is of bouncing straight back. People act like we're different to Leeds, Coventry, Bradford, Sheffield Weds/Utd, Burnley, Derby, Southampton, Leicester etc etc who all fell out of the top flight and took a while to get back their (or haven't yet managed it) and some dropped further....but why are we expecting a different outcome? All those sides went down thinking they'd be more than good enough to come back, but they didn't. There is no special reason why we were in a different boat, however good we thought we were, this league doesn't take any prisoners.

Because anything well run looks and learns by the past mistakes of others and sets a different course.
Then again I ain't ever seen much in football to suggest much other than 'Brains go out the window' or folk get fed up and leave the mess to others.

But those sides all did different things. Burnley didn't spend much in the top flight, stayed debt free, came down, accepted they weren't going straight back up, ran the club to its means. And accepted championship football. They've struck gold now, but along the way they've sold their better players and hardly shown "ambition" if that is a thing to show.

Southampton were a mess but invested heavily in their academy and have produced a string of top players. They went down a division further before their younger players and home grown players started to pull them back....

There isn't a one size fits all. Perhaps we are trying to emulate Southampton? Wouldn't be a bad model to follow, but does take time and patience.

[Hoboh]

I've seen Bolton under a lot of managers and never really shout for heads to roll because football today is so unpredictable. I am beginning to wonder though now (like many others have voiced) if this fella really does know what he's doing. In the Championship we aren't playing Champions League and swapping opponents of top order every game. How hard is it to pick your best side and give them a chance to play together with some confidence and team spirit? If Moritz doesn't fit in, why do we want him? Same with all the ten minutes a game players he uses to play negative defensive football that almost invites disaster. Use the subs by all means, but have some sort of a reason for doing it and give them playing time. Surely nobody wants to play for a manager who persists in divinity despite poor results and obvious fan disapprobation and has the club captain, despite his best spell for ages, uncertain of his place and not afraid to say so. ?

Okay, we're currently on a run that could be worse, but only because the rest of our season has us currently eighteen points behind Wigan and thirty five behind Burnley. Dougie might see beating Wigan as a major triumph,(should it even happen of course) but over the season it makes pretty grim reading. Are we really the same Bolton Wanderers who were, not too long ago, the first team ever to beat Red Star on their home ground in the comp, or drew 2-2 with Bayern Munich. Is it really only three seasons ago since Tamir Cohen had Arsene Wenger's head in his hands in despair..? Maybe Dougie needs to have a read up and see where we are. Not all his fault, granted, but he seriously needs to get his act together soon or it'll be too late. Instead of blaming the players and showing them the door, why not try making a team with some bottle and pride out of them. Isn't that what he's getting paid a fortune for?

The thing you're forgetting is he inherited a Bolton side near the bottom of the Championship.

He didn't inherit the side that drew in Bayern Munich or the one that finished 6th in the premiership. He had a group of players who were languishing at the bottom end of the championship.

They still are, but comparing what he inherited to bygone times isn't going to help.

I don't think there is a quick turnaround for where we are. It is going to be a slog. Once you drop out of the top flight, history says that there is a stronger probability of this happening than there is of bouncing straight back. People act like we're different to Leeds, Coventry, Bradford, Sheffield Weds/Utd, Burnley, Derby, Southampton, Leicester etc etc who all fell out of the top flight and took a while to get back their (or haven't yet managed it) and some dropped further....but why are we expecting a different outcome? All those sides went down thinking they'd be more than good enough to come back, but they didn't. There is no special reason why we were in a different boat, however good we thought we were, this league doesn't take any prisoners.

Because anything well run looks and learns by the past mistakes of others and sets a different course.
Then again I ain't ever seen much in football to suggest much other than 'Brains go out the window' or folk get fed up and leave the mess to others.

But those sides all did different things. Burnley didn't spend much in the top flight, stayed debt free, came down, accepted they weren't going straight back up, ran the club to its means. And accepted championship football. They've struck gold now, but along the way they've sold their better players and hardly shown "ambition" if that is a thing to show.

Southampton were a mess but invested heavily in their academy and have produced a string of top players. They went down a division further before their younger players and home grown players started to pull them back....

There isn't a one size fits all. Perhaps we are trying to emulate Southampton? Wouldn't be a bad model to follow, but does take time and patience.

Something in short supply when you have paying punters, more so punters whoose interests in times such as these can be swayed.

[BWFC_Insane]

Something in short supply when you have paying punters, more so punters whoose interests in times such as these can be swayed.

Well yes but what choice do you have? We chased success by throwing whatever money Eddie put in to the club at it and ended up where we are with the debt we've got.

You can't support a club like Bolton and expect round the clock success. However much we might want it, the 11 years in the top flight may well have spoiled us all. Considering before that in two decades and more we'd managed what? 2 top flight seasons both ending in relegation?

At some point we were going to struggle it is just an inevitability.

I think there are lots of questions but nobody seems to have answers beyond "we have to be better". I think everyone accepts that and wants it, but foot stomping saying how once we drew with Bayern away and look where we are now isn't going to change it. Yes we're shite. We once weren't. But the football cycle isn't just going to ignore us. No club, not ANY club will maintain constant success. The pride of Trafford are finding that out now. And it is relative. This season for them, relatively is probably as bad as the season we're having ourselves. If you take the history and relative positions and wealth of the clubs into account.

[Hoboh]

Something in short supply when you have paying punters, more so punters whoose interests in times such as these can be swayed.

Well yes but what choice do you have? We chased success by throwing whatever money Eddie put in to the club at it and ended up where we are with the debt we've got.

You can't support a club like Bolton and expect round the clock success. However much we might want it, the 11 years in the top flight may well have spoiled us all. Considering before that in two decades and more we'd managed what? 2 top flight seasons both ending in relegation?

At some point we were going to struggle it is just an inevitability.

I think there are lots of questions but nobody seems to have answers beyond "we have to be better". I think everyone accepts that and wants it, but foot stomping saying how once we drew with Bayern away and look where we are now isn't going to change it. Yes we're shite. We once weren't. But the football cycle isn't just going to ignore us. No club, not ANY club will maintain constant success. The pride of Trafford are finding that out now. And it is relative. This season for them, relatively is probably as bad as the season we're having ourselves. If you take the history and relative positions and wealth of the clubs into account.

Most are realistic enough to know we cannot have never ending success, a decline can be a disaster from which you pick yourself up from, this isn't its a rot!

[TANGODANCER]

The thing you're forgetting is he inherited a Bolton side near the bottom of the Championship.
He didn't inherit the side that drew in Bayern Munich or the one that finished 6th in the premiership. He had a group of players who were languishing at the bottom end of the championship.
They still are, but comparing what he inherited to bygone times isn't going to help.

I don't think there is a quick turnaround for where we are. It is going to be a slog. Once you drop out of the top flight, history says that there is a stronger probability of this happening than there is of bouncing straight back. People act like we're different to Leeds, Coventry, Bradford, Sheffield Weds/Utd, Burnley, Derby, Southampton, Leicester etc etc who all fell out of the top flight and took a while to get back their (or haven't yet managed it) and some dropped further....but why are we expecting a different outcome? All those sides went down thinking they'd be more than good enough to come back, but they didn't. There is no special reason why we were in a different boat, however good we thought we were, this league doesn't take any prisoners.

Though not much of a match-goer these days, I still care greatly about Bolton, and I think I might be aware of what Dougie inherited BWFCi, My post wasn't intending to kick off a major war by stating the obvious, facts that most already know. My comparison was then and now of the club and the short time it's taken for the mighty to fall. Despite who's responsible for the situation you can't run away from the truth or the reality. I don't, and never did take it for granted we would do a trampoline right back up; the point is we went down in the first place and none of the four musketeers: Lee, Megson, Coyle or Freedman have looked like making us the team we were.

If you'll forgive the book comparison, beyond our current D'Artagnan the braveheart, the rest is history. Aramis (make that near-a-miss), Porthos (make that shire hoss) and Athos, (make that pathos) have all gone to the sword. Right now our current reluctant hero is in danger of being foiled (see what I did there) by Cardinal Sin, ie stubbornly putting his own views forward and ignoring the fans and the realities. Safety in the Championship is but a handbrake, and even that isn't stone-wall guaranteed yet. The point is, we'll see that as some sort of victory. How depressing is that? Our stadium and facilities are second to none, but we're fur coat and no knickers as a football force right now.

[SmokinFrazier]

I've seen Bolton under a lot of managers and never really shout for heads to roll because football today is so unpredictable. I am beginning to wonder though now (like many others have voiced) if this fella really does know what he's doing. In the Championship we aren't playing Champions League and swapping opponents of top order every game. How hard is it to pick your best side and give them a chance to play together with some confidence and team spirit? If Moritz doesn't fit in, why do we want him? Same with all the ten minutes a game players he uses to play negative defensive football that almost invites disaster. Use the subs by all means, but have some sort of a reason for doing it and give them playing time. Surely nobody wants to play for a manager who persists in divinity despite poor results and obvious fan disapprobation and has the club captain, despite his best spell for ages, uncertain of his place and not afraid to say so. ?

Okay, we're currently on a run that could be worse, but only because the rest of our season has us currently eighteen points behind Wigan and thirty five behind Burnley. Dougie might see beating Wigan as a major triumph,(should it even happen of course) but over the season it makes pretty grim reading. Are we really the same Bolton Wanderers who were, not too long ago, the first team ever to beat Red Star on their home ground in the comp, or drew 2-2 with Bayern Munich. Is it really only three seasons ago since Tamir Cohen had Arsene Wenger's head in his hands in despair..? Maybe Dougie needs to have a read up and see where we are. Not all his fault, granted, but he seriously needs to get his act together soon or it'll be too late. Instead of blaming the players and showing them the door, why not try making a team with some bottle and pride out of them. Isn't that what he's getting paid a fortune for?

The thing you're forgetting is he inherited a Bolton side near the bottom of the Championship.

He didn't inherit the side that drew in Bayern Munich or the one that finished 6th in the premiership. He had a group of players who were languishing at the bottom end of the championship.

They still are, but comparing what he inherited to bygone times isn't going to help.

I don't think there is a quick turnaround for where we are. It is going to be a slog. Once you drop out of the top flight, history says that there is a stronger probability of this happening than there is of bouncing straight back. People act like we're different to Leeds, Coventry, Bradford, Sheffield Weds/Utd, Burnley, Derby, Southampton, Leicester etc etc who all fell out of the top flight and took a while to get back their (or haven't yet managed it) and some dropped further....but why are we expecting a different outcome? All those sides went down thinking they'd be more than good enough to come back, but they didn't. There is no special reason why we were in a different boat, however good we thought we were, this league doesn't take any prisoners.

He inherited a side which people said underperformed in getting relegated from the Premier League on the final day. If Coyle wasn't such a poor manager, where would we have finished that season? 12th? 14th? That's the sort of team Freedman inherited and it doesn't tell the whole story to merely point out where we were when Freedman took over - that's like saying that Redknapp took Spurs from a relegation battle into the Champions League. Our potential is a lot higher than what Coyle and Freedman have got out of the players. This squad, the one Freedman inherited and says aren't good enough for the Championship, was capable of staying in the Premier League if we'd had a better manager than Coyle.

You can't have it both ways. Either the players are useless, which excuses both Coyle and Freedman, or it's the players who've been let down by two useless managers.

[Prufrock]

How does it excuse Coyle? He signed the f*ckers. He's a shithouse either way.

[jaffka]

How does it excuse Coyle? He signed the f*ckers. He's a shithouse either way.

Yep and so is the present incumbent.

[Prufrock]

I prefer a shithouse who takes us sideways to one who takes us backwards.

Ideally I'd like someone to take us forwards. That would be nice.

[jaffka]

I prefer a shithouse who takes us sideways to one who takes us backwards.

Ideally I'd like someone to take us forwards. That would be nice.

Interesting that your view of him is now a 'shithouse'.