Hopes and Dreams - Bolton FC Update One

[Robin 10]

Bolton Wanderers – Season 1 2005/06 – LMA 2006

Summer Holidays were booked for the end of June as a retired Ex pro-footballer of 1 year. As usual the temptation of making a late dash for pre season training at Hereford Town was in the back of my mind. But a chance to get away to foreign lands seemed the much easier option. I retired from the game at the age of 36 playing out my final season with Carlisle United. Now, 38 I used the time wisely to gain some badges and possibly get a job to get me on the coaching ladder. Luckily, a chance came at the Reebok Stadium with there Under 19’s at the start of the 2004/2005 campaign.

Results went very well and Bolton for the 1st time in a while started bringing through a few of there own home grown players. While the 1st team were managed by “Big Sam”, I took every opportunity to learn tactics and drills etc from him. Sam had been a fantastic manager for the club and was highly regarded by the Chairman and fans. From my own point of view things were going ok the U19’s were not due back in training until August so I had a lot of thinking to do.

In a very short space of time things changed very quickly at Bolton with Sam Allardyce taking the opportunity to test himself at higher level with Newcastle FC. I was given a call by Bolton Chief Exc Brian Lowes if I would cancel my vacation and take Bolton’s pre-season training camp. I was excited even verging on Ecstatic at the opportunity. In the meantime Bolton would look for a man to take the position full time. I sensed this was an chance to get my first real managerial appointment. Without hesitation I cancelled all Holiday plans and packed all my gear and headed to the training ground to meet Chairman Phil G.

It was now July the 1st and I was itching for the players to return so I could get them prepared for a tough season. We were expected to finish in a Uefa Cup position and do well in the Uefa, FA and Carling Cup because of Sam’s efforts. As the players arrived I was able to announce to them the 3 official friendlies that we would take part in.

6th July – Zenit St Petersburg (H)
13th July – Rio Ave (H)
20th July - S****horpe United (A)

After a hard day at the training ground I headed into my office to write a few notes and who was in my initial squad.

GK’s – J Jaaskelainen, I Walker
DF’s – B N Gotty, B Hill, N Hunt, R Jaidi, Ben Haim
MF’S – J Okocha, K Nolan, G Speed (C), I Campo, H Nakata (Loan), K Fadiga, R Gardener, J O Brien, M Fernandes, S Giannakopoulos
FWD’s – E Diouf, Vaz Tae, K Davies, H Pederson, Jared Borghetti

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Ok it has been a hard day its 5pm and I need to some downtime before chasing down some potential signings tonight. Thanks for reading and do comment!

[tim_massa_brawn]

Great first update! I can't wait to read more.

[Box of Clocks Version 2]

Looking forward to seeing how you get on.

[Paul Hill]

Wow, what a great first update. I've always loved the storytelling part of the updates. Loved Wolfsburg Editions story about Bourne Town. This one can be a classic! Good luck!

[Dark Tranquillity]

Lovely start. Nice story to, almost like a managers diary. Good luck with Bolton and I cant wait to see how you do.

[Robin 10]

July 2005
With only two days to go until our first game at the Reebok Stadium we flock into the training ground canteen to switch on Sky Sports News. Of course we are looking for our first opponents in the Uefa Cup.

Dundee United vs Bolton Wanderers

I was hoping anything but a Turkish club. But a good draw for us Dundee United themselves are in a transistion period of there own so I suppose then we are pretty equal. With what we have available to us here can't see us having too many problems up there or here at the Reebok.

New Signings
Nikola Zigic (cf) 2,300,000 + 25%
Richard Dunne (rb) 3,100,000 + 25%
Claudio Cacapa (lb) 3,000,000 + 25%

Luckily the chairman gave me some funds to help iron out any snags regarding the team and I am happy with the 3 players checking in to Bolton. We wont be selling anyone until probably January as I haven't been able to take notes but I have an idea of who I want and who I dont want.

Pre Season Scores
6th July - Bolton 6-0 Zenit St Petersburg
(Stelios 3, 47, Diouf 6, Okocha 25, 75, Jaidi 41)

13th July - Bolton 5-1 Rio Ave
(Diouf 42, 59, 72, 82, Nolan 52)

20th July - S****horpe 1-1 Bolton
(Gardener 18)

Comments
It is over and out the way I want to get the players as fit as possible in terms of getting ready for the actual 90 minutes. Diouf was really playing well but I switchd to 4-5-1 at S****horpe leaving Zigic up on his own so that explained the 1-1. But yes I am happy we have West Brom first and I can't wait to get cracking.

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August 2005
It has been a truely unreal 6 weeks being manager of Bolton Wanderers it is everything I thought it would be and more. The players seem to have bonded pretty well and in the little training games we have they are coming on leaps and bounds.

In terms of team selection I will start with Jaaskainen in goal and a back four of Cacapa, Ben Haim, Jaidi and Richard Dunne coming in at (rb). In the engine room I will have Okocha, Speed, Nolan and Stelios. Hopefully scoring the goals for me will be Diouf and Nikola Zigic.


13th August - West Brom 2-1 Bolton
(******* 10, Earnshaw 21 / Zigic 86)
MC - I am not a happy man and the boys have been given a reminder about our pre-season plans and today we didn't perform to our strengths hence why we lost.

21st August - Bolton 4-1 Wigan
(Zigic 8, 70, Diouf 19,60 / Camara 38)
MC - Won a sort of local derby, totally different team today they played so well and passed the ball to a level Wigan couldn't cope with.

24th August - Bolton 1-0 West Ham
(Cacapa 38)
MC - Totally dominated from start to finish but lacked the finishing touch to our fine build up play. Cacapa took over FK's today and it worked a treat, his goal was a peach.

27th August - Sunderland 0-1 Bolton
(Zigic 81)
MC - Sunderland gave us more of a run this time than West Ham did. Again we looked the better side but this time Zigic hit the target from close range and made the journey home that bit more enjoyable.

End of August - Thanks for the comments tim_massa_brawn, Box of Clocks Version 2, Paul Hill and Dark Tranquillity

[The Gunners]

Its nice to see you have returned to update.

Surprised you picked LMA 06, nonetheless, a nice start to the season.

[tim_massa_brawn]

nice updates

[Robin 10]

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September 2005

Managers Memo
Didn't expect to lose at the Hawthorns on the opening day but I think that was actually good for everyone. Proving that there are no easy games at this level. Wigan, West Ham and Sunderland no dis-respect to either of this teams but they are games that we should be wnning... and we did. Looking this coming month we start with Portsmout coming to the Reebok. Then 2 of the next 4 games are Uefa Cup matces versus Dundee United. In between our Europeon tie we travel to Stamford Bridge then we are back at the Reebok to take on Arsenal.

On the Squad front it is looking very good the players worked very hard in Pre Season and as a result we have hd no injuries to write home about. I don't expect this to continue as we have many more games to participate in but at the moment its very good.


10th Sept - Bolton 5-0 Portsmouth
(Diouf 19, 36, 59 Zigic 71 Vaz Te 90)
MC - Excellent stuff from the players today. Portsmouth maybe not the same team as last year under Redknapp but we were in no mood to give sympathy and were clinical in front of goal.

15th Sept - Dundee United 2-4 Bolton
(Robson 13, 80 / Davies 7, Gardener 37, 40 N Gotty 77)
MC - Tick in the box tonight

17th Sept - Chelsea 0-3 Bolton
(Stelios 12, 86 Douf 48)
MC - CLASS, ok we were slighly lucky with the run of the ball but my back line defended like warriors and we were only leaving with 3 points today.

24th Sept - Bolton 2-2 Arsenal
(Zigic 71, 75 / Van Persie 40, Ljunberg 82)
MC - Fantastic game for the neutral but I am tearng my hair out as to how we have not picked up all 3 points.

29th Sept - Bolton 3-1 Dundee United
(Diouf 42, 57, 81 / McCntyre 13)
MC - 7-3 on agg and I am very happy

October will come tonight

[Box of Clocks Version 2]

Good start with some impressive results in particular against Chelsea. Good signings to.