15 June 2003
This season, as last, Bolton have stayed in the Premiership thanks to a victory in the final weeks of the campaign over the side that eventually finished 18th. This season, as last, that victory was largely thanks to the goal or goals of a foreign player (this is the English Premier League, but Irish, Welsh, Scottish, and Northern Irish players are not ‘foreign’ ). Last season it was Fredi Bobic’s hat-trick against Ipswich, this season it was Jay-Jay Okocha’s well-planned effort against West Ham.
Both times the side that’s been the victim of Bolton’s resilience and the unique managerial style of Sam Allardyce — involving loan deals, short-term contracts, players from all corners of the globe, and signing players without having seen them play, even on video — has been an attractive passing side with some good young English talent that performed well the previous season. Ipswich finished as high as fifth before they went down, getting into the UEFA Cup in the process, and West Ham finished seventh, just outside the European places.
So aside from the similarities between West Ham and Ipswich, what’s the problem? No team has a divine right to stay up, although Everton and Southampton have led charmed lives at times in the past few years and are now both flying high. Certainly West Ham and Ipswich are still good sides and have played better football this season than many sides that finished above them in the league. But Ipswich bought the wrong players in the close season and got complacent, and West Ham also suffered from complacency. In addition to which, West Ham’s defending was woeful for most of the campaign. They didn’t record a home win until January.
Some people don’t see it this way, unfortunately. To them, Bolton are an example of what is wrong with the modern game in England. Bolton field a team consisting of a Finn, an Icelander, a Jamaican, a Nigerian, a Spaniard, two Danes, and four Frenchmen and fans of other clubs don’t say ‘well, how did Allardyce get that lot to gel? All credit to the man,’ but ‘Bolton are a team of mercenaries — not an Englishman in the first team.’ Perhaps it was a shock to the system, I could certainly accept that; after all, this season marked the first time in history that Bolton fielded a side without one English player in the starting eleven, and Bolton are one of the founder members of the Football League. And perhaps I’m just over-sensitive about this because I do care about Bolton, and feel we don’t get the credit we deserve for being essentially a decent team put together with less money than any other Premiership side (promoted sides excluded).
I don’t think I am.
Alan Green, for whom I have grudging respect, said on the final day of the season: ‘I refuse go along with this Southern media bias and believe that the whole country wants West Ham to stay up.’ And the media slant doesn’t end at that, even though my blood was boiling on the last day to hear BBC accents in the studio suggest that the country wants West Ham to win and have to be corrected constantly by their reporters around the country. But let’s start from there — Bolton are a team of mercenaries, and West Ham were good English/British lads who had a poor season in difficult circumstances.
So English players aren’t ‘mercenaries’ ? Rio Ferdinand didn’t move from West Ham to Leeds to Man Utd in search of (greater) fame and fortune, Steve McManaman really did like the benches at the Bernabéu, and Lee Bowyer would have played for West Ham for free because that is the club he loves.
Yeah, right. Even one of the outstanding defenders in world football, Sol Campbell, went from the club he supported (Tottenham) to their arch-rivals (Arsenal). Partially to achieve success, yes, but also because of money: he was allegedly offered £200,000 a week from Barcelona but demanded flights back to London included, so had to settle for a mere £100,000 per week but without the cost of moving house.
Fun fact: before his retirement this summer to become a lawyer, Bolton and Iceland defender Gudni Bergsson was the longest-serving foreign player in the Premiership.
When Ipswich went down this phenomenon wasn’t as pronounced, but it was still there. Even if the foreign players aren’t more mercenary than British ones, they deny English youngsters a chance to play top-flight football every week. So say the naysayers.
This is true, to a point; that point being the transfer market. Ipswich went down, but Darren Ambrose and Titus Bramble have since gone to Newcastle, and Jamie Clapham is at Birmingham. Sheffield United have had trouble fighting off interest in Michaels Tonge and Brown; several young players from Nottingham Forest, Crewe, and Brighton (among others) are being sized up by top-flight clubs.
The moral of the story is that good, young players can make it up from the lower divisions to the Premiership, and even into the England side. Danny Murphy is a perfect example of this: he’s gone from Crewe to Liverpool and then England in four years.
This doesn’t excuse the rather poor state of Bolton’s youth system, though. But there are reasons. Most prominent is the catchment area, which is almost non-existent. Nearby are Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Everton, Crewe, Blackburn, and Leeds — and those are just the teams that have more money than Bolton (well, with the exception of Crewe, but their youth system is possibly the most respected in the country). It could well be the most concentrated region in the country for professional football clubs. Our youth academy is relatively new, and its most successful product is Kevin Nolan, who was rejected by Liverpool.
We could always buy British, in theory, players like those mentioned above. But British players are often so much more expensive than their foreign counterparts, and harder to get on loan. The transfer rules have only recently been changed so that in all-British transfers, the fee no longer has to be paid within twelve months.
Salva is a prime example of this: would Bolton be allowed to loan Andy Cole from Blackburn? No, but we can get someone of at least equal ability, who is younger and hungrier for football.
It’s just Salva’s nationality that makes it unacceptable — he is Spanish and Andy Cole is a former England international, which adds to the things commentators like to say at the start of games. ( ‘West Ham have five full England internationals in their side; Bolton have none.’ What happened to ‘Bolton got the more points than West Ham’ ? Surely if the less England internationals you have, the less good a team you have, as the media implies, then we played above ourselves and that should be celebrated. That or their England internationals didn’t perform and so don’t deserve to be in the national side.)
And all this ignores what was originally my main point: good football being played in England, no matter who is playing it, is good for the English game. We have been playing some good football this season, as have pretty much all of the teams in the Premiership. We’re not some Northern plodders who try to kick lumps out of the opposition; we get the ball down and we play well. We outplayed the Almighty United, Hallowed Be Thy Name at the Reebok Stadium and drew, having beaten them at Old Trafford. We eased through some potentially difficult matches against Southampton, Arsenal, Middlesbrough, and Tottenham. Jay-Jay Okocha and Youri Djorkaeff in particular have shown moments of class beyond most players at any club in the world.
Now from what Sam Allardyce has said, and from what John McGinlay (legendary Trotters striker) has said, the club want to build for the future, they want to tie down players on long-term deals, but they haven’t been able to. They haven’t been able to because getting relegated is a financial disaster if you have Premiership players on Premiership wages while receiving Nationwide League income. Last season all three relegated sides experienced serious financial difficulties, and only one bounced straight back. It also doesn’t help that Bolton’s owners, Burnden Leisure, are £40m in debt.
But now Bolton are going to have spent three consecutive season in the top flight for the first time in thirty years, and finally have a chance to build for the future. Phil Gartside, the chairman, has said there is money to spend, and my personal wish-list includes Florent Laville (who was only on loan), Bobby Zamora (who will probably go elsewhere), and a decent centre half who can preferably play at left back (we’ve been linked with Martin Laursen and Jonathan Zebina!). Another midfielder would be nice, too, as we’ve got rid of Töfting, Warhurst, and Farrelly this season. Campo and Frandsen have done well, with Nolan as backup, but Frandsen’s getting on a bit and Campo’s disciplinary record is poor.
The important thing is that we can think about these things, and look forward to another seasons fighting against the odds. Lawrenson has predicted us to go down next year, as this year and as the year before that. It’s becoming a tradition, or an old charter, or something. See you in a year and a bit, Mark, and remember why you lost your tache.