Consider this for a moment, if you will. If I were to ask a carefully chosen selection of football fans here in England who they'd like to see relegated from the Premier League (except for Derby who already are), what would be the most popular answer?
Chances are, you may well be wrong. According to an article in The Guardian on Friday, it's Bolton Wanderers, and I find that really quite staggering.
In the article, fanzines of all twenty Premier League sides were polled. They were asked four questions: 'Which club would you like to see relegated?' and 'Why?' (for footballing and non-footballing reasons), and 'Who will go down with Derby?' To my surprise, nine of the twenty responses to question 1 were 'Bolton', with Wigan and Sunderland taking three votes each, Fulham and Reading taking two each and Birmingham the remaining one.
It seems, from this harmless little straw poll, that Bolton have irked many a Premier League fan in recent times, but I was at a loss to know the reason why. It was probably rather intelligent of me, then, to read some of the answers to question 2. Here are a selection of some of them:
"Their philosophy of football is appalling and isn't exactly beneficial to the development of the sport as a spectacle."
"I hate the brand of football employed by Sam Allardyce and continued by Gary Megson."
"I don't like their brutish style of football, using the sharpened elbows of Kevin Davies to rough up opposing defences while El Hadji Diouf does his dying swan act all over the pitch."
"The most boring team in Premier League history. I left the Reebok early last week as I'd done my neck in looking for the ball in the sky."
...and so it goes on. Now forgive me if I'm wrong, but isn't this just a little unfair? OK, so Bolton may not play the most scintillating style of football in the world, but then neither do a lot of other teams. That's what makes football the rich tapestry that it is - lots of teams all playing in different ways.
I'll be honest and say that I did watch a couple of their UEFA Cup games on TV earlier in the season and didn't feel enormously entertained as a result, but it didn't automatically lead me to wish them an exit from the top flight, nor did I assume that was what you got every time Bolton ran out onto the pitch to play their next match.
When I read this article, I was expecting West Ham to be the main focus of everyone's attention, given the shenanigans of last season with the Tevez / Mascherano affair and the fact that football fans tend to have very long memories. Apparently I was wrong.
And yes I know technically West Ham aren't in the frame to be relegated this season, but I still thought someone would want to tell the world they should be removed from the setup.
So please, give Bolton a break - that's all I say. They may not be everyone's cup of tea, but they're pretty harmless in the overall scheme of things and deserve the credit of representing England in European competition twice in the last few years... Unless you know better of course. Tell us if there's someone you'd like to see relegated this season and why!
My first reaction would be stay Bolton as well. It's not that they play an unatrractive brand of football, many teams do. It's that they play a cynical game and come of their actions may border on criminal. I think the premiership would be better off with a side like WBA instead.
ReplyDeleteMe too. Besides the reasons already mentioned I used to hate seeing the pitch littered with BF Sam's overseas mercenaries signed on (dodgy?)sudden loan deals. Horrid club. Greenie had it right and they banned him.
ReplyDeleteTT
Man United and Chelsea!!!!
ReplyDeleteSeriously though Bolton and Fulham as they are boring, unattractive sides who have been in the Premiership too long now and have been boring audiences too many times out of their money.
Also Wigan instead of Derby would hev been much better as Wigan have a s**t pitch, s**t players (Heskey is their best which says it all) and they are like Bolton and Fulham unattractive and boring.
Not so sure about WBA as an alternative, Chris B! I've always found *them* to be somewhat uninspiring... mind you, that's probably down to Bryan Robson's leadership skills than anything else...
ReplyDeleteI will admit, TT, that Bolton do in many ways seem like a team of disparate souls pulled together from all four corners of the world without much of a 'team unit' thing going on. I suppose credit's due that they've achieved what they have using that approach.
P - you won't find me criticising Wigan on this blog site, OH no. The last time I went down that road, I was lucky to come out of it alive...! :-)
Bolton too.
ReplyDeleteI don't hate Bolton per se. It is Megson- there is something about him I just can't stand.
Roy Keane annoyed me so much during his career at Utd I'd have to opt for Sunderland to.
ReplyDeleteNow Chris, WBA have played some of the more exciting football in the championship. I know that Prem. WBA isn't Championship WBA, but what other promoted club would play better?
ReplyDeleteYou've got me there, Chris B! I think they stand the best chance of staying up out of all the promotion candidates this season...
ReplyDeleteWell, it's Wigan for me. Half empty stadium, boring football on a crappy "pitch" and uninspiring and uninteresting players.
ReplyDelete