“Wanderers in that happy valley” (POE)
Well, after playing one of the founder members of the League yesterday (Accrington) we have another one in Bolton Wanderers, currently occupying 9th place in League One - just a couple of points below the play-off zone. Fixtures between the two clubs go back to 25th November 1899 when we drew 2-2 with them in a home game. We didn’t see them at all for 70 years after that season as they were predominantly a top-flight club while we acted as a ping-pong ball between Divisions III (South) and (North). However, we met regularly from 1972 onwards in League 3, the highlight (or lowlight) being on 10th September 1983 when we were on the wrong end of an 8-1 thumping.
As far as the F A Cup is concerned, The Trotters can lay claim to a prominent pedigree in that direction - F A Cup winners in 1923, 1926, 1929 and 1958 - finalists 1894, 1904 and 1953, semi-finalists 12 times.
No doubt there are other players who have featured for both clubs, but top of the list would be Michael Ricketts. He started as a trainee with us, scored quite a few goals as a young man and was sold to Bolton Wanderers for £400,000. Whilst with them he was awarded his England cap for a friendly with Holland, and when Bolton sold him on to Middlesbrough for £2.5 million we received a windfall of £420,000 thanks to our sell-on clause. He has retired from playing now, of course (he is 45yrs old) but for the past 7 years he has been the President of the Jamaica Football Federation.
Bolton’s current League One form, just to give you an idea of their abilities…
28th September Crawley (A) WON 0-2
1st October Northampton Town (A) WON 2-4
5th October Shrewsbury Town (H) Drew 2-2
19th October Burton Albion (H) WON 2-1
22nd October Birmingham City (A) Lost 2-0
26th October Peterborough Utd (H) WON 1-0
There’s a nice touch of humour almost linking the two clubs - the naming of their stadium … when we moved from Fellows Park there was much debate on what the new ground should be called, and in view of the fact that it was built on the site of what had been a sewage farm some suggestions were voiced in favour of “W C Fields” - sadly that didn’t catch on. But in Bolton’s case their newly built stadium having gone through a few names in its brief history is currently (for 5 years) sponsored by a building materials recycling company, the stadium having the delightful name of The Toughsheet Stadium. Bolton’s chairman is on record as saying he’s looking forward to seeing the TV presenters trying to keep a straight face when announcing it!
Forecast? Based on our performances so far this season against higher League opposition I think it’s reasonable to say that we have a good chance of progress. This is, after all, THE cup competition, with the prospect of money spinning fixtures for any progress from Round 3 onwards. I would expect to see Mat Sadler start his strongest XI, but possibly giving Uncle Albert and DJ a bit more time than the 10-minute cameo plays seen so far. We don’t seem to have any new nasty injuries … a possible spanner in the works could happen if Loan Player clubs insist that their men will be cup-tied - we shall see.
Anyway, here’s to an almost full Bescot, and that forecast? I’ll go for a 2-1 home win!
UTS