Bolton sign off in Birmingham Stunner!

Article by e-Bolton Correspondent Alan Houghton

Bacon butties and beer sustained us pre-match in the Fanzone for this ungodly early kick-off. I’ve still not got used to the demands of TV. Mind you, the Saturday lunchtime kick-off is better than the killer Saturday evening kick-off. The excellent Inside View performed brilliantly while there seemed to be more Reebok Rebels than ever dancing enthusiastically. Will they need a name change we wondered as the Reebok becomes the Macron?

To their credit, Birmingham came en masse for our Reebok finale and what could be their Championship farewell. Andy Lonergan came in for the injured Adam Bogdan in an otherwise unchanged team. This meant young Oscar Threlkeld got a home debut. As expected Birmingham were up for it and we seemed happy to play on the counter. Their poor quality up front and our lack of enthusiasm led to a dull first. They demonstrated why they’ve been struggling of late and have found themselves in such a perilous position.

All the drama started after the break. Chung Yong Lee put us one up, after David Wheater ‘midrifted’ Rob Hall’s hammered free kick into his path. Birmingham hearts sank. News from Leicester that Doncaster were losing lifted the Blues only for Lukas Jutkiewicz to dash their hopes again as he fired in the second, minutes later. But led by our old warhorse Paul Robinson, they pulled one back when Nikola Zigic had the right altitude to nod home. Neil Danns and Lukas Jutkiewicz should have finished them off after good work by substitute Andy Kellett but they found their saviour in Paul Caddis, as he gently headed the equaliser well into stoppage time. Birmingham were safe for another year and they naturally celebrated like crazy. The much relieved Lee Clarke charged into the Birmingham end. The Bolton fans gave Robbo and his team a generous round of applause. We’ve had enough last match traumas of our own in the past, so we knew what they had gone through. They had been knocked down but they had got up again. Congratulations to them as football proved it’s not over until the fat lady sings! Once again we had thrown away a winning position and ended up with a draw at home. We actually ended the season with more wins and points gained away from home and this is something that needs sorting urgently. Our away form would have put us in the play-offs but our dismal home form would have put us in the relegation battle.

The end of season lap of applause, with the exception of “mini” Spearing and his Dad lacked enthusiasm from both the players and the fans, which reflected the disappointing season and a lot of players with uncertain futures. As scarves and replica shirts head for the washing machines, all eyes are now fixed on the comings and goings as Dougie Freedman reshapes his squad. The two good spells we had this season, in October/November and the last quarter of the season was led by loan players, who with the exception of Neil Danns have gone back to their parent clubs. This is Dougie Freedman’s big chance to get the squad he wants. Five players are out of contract and it will be a chance to get Chris Eagles, Zak Knight, Tyrone Mears and Adrain Moritz off the wage bill as none of them are giving value for money these days. Stuart Holden is a more complex decision. The cold financial decision would be to say goodbye. But his wages may have been covered by the USA and insurance so that we haven’t lost anything on him and it may be worth taking a risk on a pay as you play basis. Three experienced and well paid players are coming back from loans. Hopefully we can get some money for players like Marvin Sordell, Keith Andrews and Craig Davies. Several youngsters have been out on loan. Some youngsters have started training with the senior squad and some got a game in the last few matches. Dougie Freedman needs to either get the loan players he needs back permanently or some similar players in or put his hopes on youngsters filling the gaps. I’m sure that he is fully aware of what he wants and he is operating in difficult financial circumstances. There is the big unknown of who might come in for one of our players as you can bet that if they do, it will be for one of the better players like Adam Bogdan, Tim Ream or Mark Davies. A decision would then have to be made of whether we can sacrifice one of our better players to fund the rebuilding job. We’re not in a position to turn down any half decent bids for our players. That’s modern day football reality.

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