ALAN Stubbs, a winner when he helped Celtic deny Rangers a record 10th successive Championship in Scotland on Saturday, was a loser however yesterday's relegation battle had worked out.

Stubbs was captain of the Bolton side relegated from the Premiership in 1996 before making a £3.5 million move to Glasgow but is also a lifelong Everton fan.

He confesses a leaning toward the Merseysiders but concedes: "I couldn't win no matter what happened.

"I'd have been disappointed if Everton had gone down because I've supported them since I was a boy. But I played at Bolton for a few years and I have a lot of friends there.

"I am where I am now because they helped me a lot. It's sad to see them go down."

Tears in the eyes of men, women and children at Stamford Bridge, showed the depth of the disappointment among Wanderers fans.

Carl Goulding, of Newton-le-Willows, said: "We should have stayed up.

"I always thought we would take it to the last game of the season but I'm gutted at being relegated this way, especially after the results we've had recently. We thought we would have done it."

It was not enough, he said, to look back on the disallowed goal against Everton in the first home game on September 1. "There were about four or five other occasions when things went against us.

"That was just one."

John Smalley of Bolton was bitterly disappointed at the end. "I honestly thought we'd do it," he said.

"I didn't think Everton could beat us. Missed chances have cost us again but it's bitterly disappointing to be going down on goal difference after having that goal disallowed on Sept 1."

Previous sport story

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.