20 years ago

THERE were red faces at Burnden Park as Phil Neal’s Whites were thumped 4-2 by Bury.

The Shakers, upwardly mobile under manager Martin Dobson, had the drop on Wanderers in those days but never so convincingly.

And the defeat was made all the more galling by the fact that it was a former Bolton player – Steve Elliott – who did the damage with two of the goals.

Elliott, who was sold by Neal, pictured, might have had a hat-trick too if he hadn’t left it to team-mate Liam Robinson to convert the 75th minute penalty that put Bury 4-1 up and wrecked any chance of Wanderers salvaging something.

Not that they deserved it after going 3-0 down just after half-time. Elliott opened the scoring after 11 minutes, Dave Felgate fumbled Gary Leonard’s shot to gift Bury their second just before half-time and, when Elliott got his second straight after the interval, that was it.

Phil Brown pulled one back for Wanderers but their revival was stopped in its tracks when another former Bolton player, goalkeeper Simon Farnworth, pulled off a brilliant save from Trevor Morgan.

Farnworth was less pleased when he was beaten by Steve Thompson’s free-kick, but that was purely academic as Bury moved to eighth in Division Three with Wanderers trailing in 12th.

Bobby Robson spent the weekend doing what all England managers did as they prepared for international fixtures – sweating over fitness reports on his various squad members.

He had already put Peter Shilton on standby to add to his century of caps, should either QPR’s David Seaman or Newcastle’s Dave Beasant cry off for the friendly in Saudi Arabia.

Martina Navratilova made it 43 wins against her friend and rival, Chris Evert, when the pair met for the 80th time in the final of the Chicago tennis tournament.

30 years ago

PROMOTION to the First Division might have brought big-time football back to Burnden Park, but it clearly posed problems for some sections of the Bolton community.

Hence the delight expressed on the front page of the Bolton Evening News by town centre publicans and traders, who celebrated a victory of their own when the controversial Wanderers-Manchester United fixture scheduled for Saturday, December 23, was switched to Friday the 22nd.

United had been digging their heels in but finally gave the nod after the public outcry in the town about playing a high-profile derby on the last shopping day before Christmas.

On the field, though, there were few victories for Wanderers as they struggled to come to terms with life in the top tier. And the problems continued to pile up for Ian Greaves at Ashton Gate, where he saw his Super Whites beaten 4-1 by a Joe Royle-inspired Bristol City and had full-back Tony Dunne stretchered off with a dislocated shoulder.

Greaves was even more disappointed when his assistant manager, George Mulhall, quit Burnden to manage Fourth Division Bradford City.

The Bolton boss described Mulhall’s exit as a “bolt from the blue” and revealed that Wanderers were considering hitting the Yorkshire club with a compensation claim.

It wasn’t all bad news though. Wanderers announced the return of the legendary Nat Lofthouse. The town’s favourite sporting son was back at Burnden as manager of the executive club.

Another ex-Wanderer, Gordon Taylor, was making a name for himself at Bury. At 33 and nearing the end of his playing days, Taylor succeeded Derek Dougan as chairman of the Professional Footballers Association and impressed with his speech at the union’s annual meeting when he came down firmly on the side of referees.

Suggesting everyone should work together to cut down on violent play, Taylor said: “Managers can certainly go a long way by telling players how they should behave on the field.”

Football took centre stage at the High Court in London where Tommy Docherty, the ex-Manchester United manager, was suing his former player, Willie Morgan, for defamation.

Morgan, who was then playing for Wanderers, had, in an interview on Granada’s “Kick-Off” programme, suggested Docherty was “about the worst manager there has ever been”.

Larry Holmes gave challenger Alfredo Evangelista a jaw-shattering boxing lesson when he knocked out the Spaniard in the seventh round to retain his WBC heavyweight title in Las Vegas.

45 years ago

IT was all so “hush-hush” to begin with but eventually Bolton Wanderers manager, Bill Ridding, let the cat out of the bag.

The Burnden Park boss played a real cloak and dagger game concealing the identity of the player he was flying in from South Africa on the recommendation of ex-Wanderer Billy Butler, the England international and FA Cup winner. And there was even a dramatic element to the story when the mystery man failed to arrive on schedule at London Airport, where Ridding was waiting to greet him.

Then came the news that the player in question – six-foot Scottish-born centre-half Jimmy Moncur – had secretly signed for Wanderers while staying with his grandparents in Dundee and was set to make his debut in the reserves.

Wanderers were struggling at the time to pull away from the Division One danger zone and weren’t helped when they lost 1-0 at home to Liverpool – Ian Callaghan netting the winner midway through the second half after Eddie Hopkinson could only parry Peter Thompson’s shot. But they grabbed an unlikely lifeline four days later when they beat top-of-the-table Sheffield United 1-0 at Bramall Lane, where Hopkinson played a blinder and Peter Deakin got the goal.

Bury, then of Division Two, were equally anxious to get some points on the board but they gave manager Bob Stokoe a welcome pick-me-up. Stokoe was too sick to travel with the team to Swansea, but was cheered by news from the Vetch Field of a 2-0 win – the Shakers first win in two months.

British rugby league was in mourning after their once-formidable Lions lost a home Test series against an all-Australian side for the first time.

The previous time they’d lost a home Ashes series was in 1911-12 but that touring side included New Zealanders. This time, the Kangaroos needed no help as they completed a 50-12 rout in the second Test at Swinton after winning the first 28-2 at Wembley.

Leigh promoted ex-England scrum-half Gerry Helme from A team duties to temporary first team coach after sacking former Great Britain Test captain Alan Prescott.