With rumours at full throttle with regards to the future of just who will land footballs wooden spoon prize of owning Bolton Wanderers, lets look at the two candidates careers and see why their "passion" for Bolton is driving them to remortgage their kids dolls house to purchase Titanic Wanderers FC.
Deano signed to Bolton Wanderers in October 1997 for £3.5million, which was a record signing for Bolton at that time.
He scored just three goals in 17 Premier League starts in 1997–98, as Colin Todd's side slipped out of the top-flight after finishing 18,
behind 17th place Everton on goal difference. He rediscovered his scoring touch in the First Division, hitting 12 goals in 26 starts in 1998–99. He then hit 14 goals from 24 league starts in 1999–2000, as Sam Allardyce led Bolton to the semi-finals of the play-offs, the FA Cup and the League Cup. He scored 15 goals from 29 starts in 2000–01, including a hat-trick past Scunthorpe United in a 5–1 win at the Reebok Stadium. The "Trotters" reached the play-off final, and beat Preston North End 3–0 at the Millennium Stadium to regain their top-flight status. He was restricted to nine league starts and 22 substitute appearances in 2001–02, scoring once each against Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur. He made ten goalless appearances in 2002–03, though was briefly joined in Lancashire by his brother David for the first time since leaving Watford.
He joined Coventry City on loan in December 2002, making six goalless appearances, before he signed permanently for the club the following month.
Stelios "not the easy jet guy" Giannakopoulous
On 28 May 2003, after ten years of professional football in Greece he was snapped up by English Premier League side Bolton Wanderers. The manager at the time Sam Allardyce described Stelios as "...an attacking midfielder who knows how to score goals. His main attribute remains his ability to make late runs into the penalty area and his flair to shoot accurately from range." It was at this point that the popular name 'Stelios' came about as the player unconventionally chose for his first name to be printed on his shirt instead of his very long (and difficult for the English journalists) surname. He made his Bolton début against Manchester United and helped Bolton reach the 2004 Football League Cup Final and their highest ever Premier League finish in his first season. Stelios' first two seasons with the club were successful, demonstrated by the fact that both Manchester City and Liverpool openly attempted to sign him before he signed a new contract with Bolton in August 2005.
His fine form continued into the 2005–06 season which was Stelios' most successful as he was top scorer for Bolton with 12 goals, an impressive tally for a midfielder. One of the highlights of that season was the winning goal he scored against Arsenal in an FA Cup Fourth round match played at the Reebok Stadium on 28 January 2006. His form dipped slightly in the 2006–07 season where he missed several games through injury and failed to score any goals although he was still a regular player for the club with 28 games.
On 17 March 2006 he was chosen to play in a 50th aνniversary game for the pact of Rome and for the participation of Manchester Unitedin UEFA competitions, in a match that took place in Old Trafford. Giannakopoulos played in the second half alongside players such asSteven Gerrard, Robbie Fowler, Andrea Pirlo,Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrik Larsson, Gennaro Gattuso and others against Manchester United in a 4-3 loss.
With Sam Allardyce leaving the club at the start of the 2007–08 season and only a year left on his contract, there were rumours of Stelios moving to another Premier League club or returning to Greece. However Stelios stayed at Bolton and although he was not as regular a player as previous seasons (due to injury and managerial changes) he was able to help Bolton with a string of late goals. The first one during injury time in the League Cup3rd round tie against Fulham at Craven Cottage, the second one in the UEFA Cup, when Stelios scored in the 3rd minute of injury time to salvage a 1–1 draw against Aris Salonica and the third one in a Premier League game versus Derby when Stelios again scored in injury time to earn Bolton a much needed 3 points in what was a poor season for the team. His last ever goal for Bolton was a crucial one and came on 26 April 2008 when he scored in the 1–1 draw against Tottenham Hotspur helping Bolton avoid relegation.
At the end of the season Stelios was not offered a new contract and was released by the club fuelling speculation that he would be returning to his native Greece and finishing off his career at Olympiacos. However the player confirmed that he would prefer to stay in the Premier League, and was subsequently linked with a move to newly promoted Premier League club Hull City, after interest from their new manager Phil Brown who worked with Stelios at Bolton.
So that is their bolton careers, courtesy of a popular online encyclopedia, but what about thw rumours of who they are teaming up with to buy Eddie out?
Deano and his business partner in sports shield are buying us between them. No one else involved. Apart from Amir Khan who has pledged to fight 4 nights a week in front of a packed crowd to boost funds. (Ok, maybe not that often!)
Stelios on the other hand is heading a consortium of investors from North America (red bull?) And somewhere else.
So who do you think has FC Red Bull of Bolton's best interest at heart? Do you think either of them will happen? What if the joint partnership of Richard Branson and Bill Gates bid got stuck in their outbox or in Bolton's spam filter?
Leave a comment below and let us know what you think and don't forget to join us in the Chatbox today for what may well be Eddies last game at the helm.
Author: y2johnny
Deano signed to Bolton Wanderers in October 1997 for £3.5million, which was a record signing for Bolton at that time.
He scored just three goals in 17 Premier League starts in 1997–98, as Colin Todd's side slipped out of the top-flight after finishing 18,
behind 17th place Everton on goal difference. He rediscovered his scoring touch in the First Division, hitting 12 goals in 26 starts in 1998–99. He then hit 14 goals from 24 league starts in 1999–2000, as Sam Allardyce led Bolton to the semi-finals of the play-offs, the FA Cup and the League Cup. He scored 15 goals from 29 starts in 2000–01, including a hat-trick past Scunthorpe United in a 5–1 win at the Reebok Stadium. The "Trotters" reached the play-off final, and beat Preston North End 3–0 at the Millennium Stadium to regain their top-flight status. He was restricted to nine league starts and 22 substitute appearances in 2001–02, scoring once each against Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur. He made ten goalless appearances in 2002–03, though was briefly joined in Lancashire by his brother David for the first time since leaving Watford.
He joined Coventry City on loan in December 2002, making six goalless appearances, before he signed permanently for the club the following month.
Stelios "not the easy jet guy" Giannakopoulous
On 28 May 2003, after ten years of professional football in Greece he was snapped up by English Premier League side Bolton Wanderers. The manager at the time Sam Allardyce described Stelios as "...an attacking midfielder who knows how to score goals. His main attribute remains his ability to make late runs into the penalty area and his flair to shoot accurately from range." It was at this point that the popular name 'Stelios' came about as the player unconventionally chose for his first name to be printed on his shirt instead of his very long (and difficult for the English journalists) surname. He made his Bolton début against Manchester United and helped Bolton reach the 2004 Football League Cup Final and their highest ever Premier League finish in his first season. Stelios' first two seasons with the club were successful, demonstrated by the fact that both Manchester City and Liverpool openly attempted to sign him before he signed a new contract with Bolton in August 2005.
His fine form continued into the 2005–06 season which was Stelios' most successful as he was top scorer for Bolton with 12 goals, an impressive tally for a midfielder. One of the highlights of that season was the winning goal he scored against Arsenal in an FA Cup Fourth round match played at the Reebok Stadium on 28 January 2006. His form dipped slightly in the 2006–07 season where he missed several games through injury and failed to score any goals although he was still a regular player for the club with 28 games.
On 17 March 2006 he was chosen to play in a 50th aνniversary game for the pact of Rome and for the participation of Manchester Unitedin UEFA competitions, in a match that took place in Old Trafford. Giannakopoulos played in the second half alongside players such asSteven Gerrard, Robbie Fowler, Andrea Pirlo,Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrik Larsson, Gennaro Gattuso and others against Manchester United in a 4-3 loss.
With Sam Allardyce leaving the club at the start of the 2007–08 season and only a year left on his contract, there were rumours of Stelios moving to another Premier League club or returning to Greece. However Stelios stayed at Bolton and although he was not as regular a player as previous seasons (due to injury and managerial changes) he was able to help Bolton with a string of late goals. The first one during injury time in the League Cup3rd round tie against Fulham at Craven Cottage, the second one in the UEFA Cup, when Stelios scored in the 3rd minute of injury time to salvage a 1–1 draw against Aris Salonica and the third one in a Premier League game versus Derby when Stelios again scored in injury time to earn Bolton a much needed 3 points in what was a poor season for the team. His last ever goal for Bolton was a crucial one and came on 26 April 2008 when he scored in the 1–1 draw against Tottenham Hotspur helping Bolton avoid relegation.
At the end of the season Stelios was not offered a new contract and was released by the club fuelling speculation that he would be returning to his native Greece and finishing off his career at Olympiacos. However the player confirmed that he would prefer to stay in the Premier League, and was subsequently linked with a move to newly promoted Premier League club Hull City, after interest from their new manager Phil Brown who worked with Stelios at Bolton.
So that is their bolton careers, courtesy of a popular online encyclopedia, but what about thw rumours of who they are teaming up with to buy Eddie out?
Deano and his business partner in sports shield are buying us between them. No one else involved. Apart from Amir Khan who has pledged to fight 4 nights a week in front of a packed crowd to boost funds. (Ok, maybe not that often!)
Stelios on the other hand is heading a consortium of investors from North America (red bull?) And somewhere else.
So who do you think has FC Red Bull of Bolton's best interest at heart? Do you think either of them will happen? What if the joint partnership of Richard Branson and Bill Gates bid got stuck in their outbox or in Bolton's spam filter?
Leave a comment below and let us know what you think and don't forget to join us in the Chatbox today for what may well be Eddies last game at the helm.
Author: y2johnny
Why not come and join in the fun with our match day Chat Box along with Radio Nuts only on Bolton Nuts!
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