I'M a 24 year old male from Standish in which supporting Wanderers over the years have proven difficult, writes Dan Walsh.
The majority of my friends support Wigan Athletic which after being relegated has proven quite irritating.
My dad supports Bolton and has got me following the team in which i was given my first season ticket in 96, the last year at Burden Park. Ever since then I've been following the Wanderers by having season tickets and going to as many away games as possible.
I admit when Gary Megson was in charge i was apart of the many fans who wanted him gone, especially after the trip to Lisbon.
When it appeared Owen Coyle was the favourite for the job i was very happy with the appointment as even though he played for the club slightly before my time, my dad told me he was a great player and he would bring attractive football to the Reebok.
His first half season in charge saw him save us from relegation and brought in players such as Jack Wilshere and Stuart Holden.
The next season saw us progress further with attractive football such as the goals against Wolves scored by Elmander and Holden and especially the Mark Davies goal against Blackpool. Even though we finished 14th after and a horrible 5-0 defeat to Stock in FA cup semi final, i still believed the club would move on to bigger and better things.
The last season in the premiership saw us get off to a cracking start against QPR away but the next 6 games decided our season. Yes they were against the bigger clubs in the league but we didn't take a single point and this put us far behind the rest of the teams near us.
Stuart Holden played against Villa in the cup which he controlled the game only to be ruled out for the rest of the season due to a cruel injury. Chungy was already out after the horrific injury sustained at Newport and what happened to Muamba was cruel luck. I thought Coyle responded to the situation amazingly and i thank him for his character during a very difficult time.
On the final day of the season we were relegated which again was down to cruel luck. The Jon Walters goal was a foul and i believe Peter Crouch went down very easily under the challenge from Bogdan. However, the reason we were relegated was down to us conceding too many goals. We scored one less goal than Liverpool last season but conceded twice as many. This proves that our defensive unit needed improving over the summer months.
So during the summer break, you would think Owen Coyle would work on the defence. He buys Matt Mills from a league competitor. The fact Leicester were willing to sell to a rival club shows what they thought of Matt Mills. Absolutely rubbish!!!! That is it, the team that was relegated but only buys one player to improve the defence....
After the summer break, i was ready for a promotion charge back to the Premiership. I bought my ticket for Burnley on the opening day full of optimism at a price of £30. We left Turf Moor with our tales between our legs and a good wake up call. Since that day we have improved very little.
We have only kept one clean sheet all season to a very average Derby County at home. I read that Coyle thinks we haven't been winning games due to not finishing games and poor refereeing. What about our defence? The same defence you have kept using for several games now. Tim Ream and Sam Ricketts deserve a shot at centre halves and Joe Riley should be given a chance at right back, Tyrone Mears is well below average. And whats with keeping Chungy on the bench? Yes he hasn't been up to his usual high standards, but what do you expect after the injury he sustained? The only way to improve him is to play more games.
Millwall was my last chance for Coyle. Our second string team won convincingly at The New Den last season and yes Millwall have improved but we should still be winning against teams like this.
I am sorry to hear that our players were victim to racial abuse today and I hope justice is served. I just wonder what Mr Gartside and Mr Davies are currently thinking right now?
If we get rid of Coyle who else do we get in??? To me that is the million dollar question.
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