The 1994/95 season was a remarkable one for Bolton Wanderers in many ways. It began in a very unpromising fashion with a 3-3 draw against Grimsby Town followed by two defeats (a 2-0 loss at home to Bristol City followed by a 1-0 defeat away to Middlesborough) and after three games we had just one point and a goal difference of minus 3. In truth at that point you could have been forgiven for thinking we were in for another season with a mid to lower table finish in the league (just as we'd had the season before) and that what excitement we would have would be from the cups. However this season was going to see all sorts of unexpected things happening on and off the field and it would end with a bombshell that no one could have seen coming. Because so much happened I have decided to split this look back at that remarkable season into two separate blogs if only so you can read them without dying of old age before getting to the end.

Our first victory (and what a relief it was when it arrived) was a 1-0 win at home to Millwall with a goal from the ever reliable Patterson. It was actually a close match as the scoreline suggests but in the end we just about edged it, much to the chagrin of the Millwall fans who felt they had deserved at least a point. Honesty compels me to say they were probably right but in truth every team needs a touch of luck occasionally and this was ours. We had four points, finally a win under our belts and while it would be wrong to say we knew it would kick start our season then in hindsight that is precisely what it did. We saw the first signs of that in the very next league match in which Stoke City came to Burnden Park for what they must have felt was a genuine opportunity to pick up an away win.

In fact they were dismantled, swept aside almost contemptuously by a Bolton display that frankly would have had the pundits swooning and journalists scrambling for a thesaurus to find new ways to describe that brilliant performance. The final score was 4-0 to the Trotters and it could easily have been double that. Goals from McGinlay (as if you hadn't known), two from McAteer and one from Patalainen simply emphasised our all round superiority on the day. It was almost as if the previous matches in the league had been a warm up and things had finally 'clicked' as we played the sort of football every Wanderers fan knew we were capable of but hadn't seen as yet this term. It was a joy to watch and the eleven and a half thousand watching fans (minus those from the Potteries) were treated to a wonderful spectacle. In some ways that win was even better than the ones we'd enjoyed in the FA Cup against Arsenal and Liverpool in the two preceding seasons simply because it came on the back of what had seemed to be a mediocre start.


The next match saw us bump down to earth in a 3-1 defeat away to Sheffield United but this BWFC team was made of stern stuff, perhaps even sterner than we realised at the time because they responded immediately by hammering Luton Town at Kenilworth Road 3-0. Super John bagged a brace and the third was scored by Sneekes, a player who may not be as well known as other members of the 'White Hot' team but who was a valuable part of it nonetheless. In point of fact Sneekes popped up with goals and assists on a regular basis all through that season but for reasons that should be obvious he never quite got the same attention that McGinlay, McAteer, Paataleinen and the likes of David Lee got which in all honesty was a bit unfair to him because he was a good, solid player who never (as far as I can remember) failed to give his best and do everything that was asked of him.

Anyway, by December of 1994 we were rolling along quite nicely, in touch with the leaders and through to the semi-finals of the League Cup having despatched Ipswich, Sheffield United, West Ham and Norwich along the way. As Christmas came and went the Trotters fans were feeling pretty good about things and why not? There was a genuine chance of a trip to Wembley, we were in the top half of the table and the club itself looked to be on a solid financial footing (probably the most important thing of all given how close we had come to extinction just a few years earlier). Not only that but the FA Cup was about to start for us (something we'd genuinely rocked the football world in in each of the two previous seasons by dumping out the holders and beating other top-flight opposition). It was definitely a pretty good time to be a BWFC fan and while we weren't going to say we'd conquer the world we definitely felt this season could be special, that we had a real shot at winning a major trophy and getting ourselves into the Premier League for the first time since its formation. Of course we all knew that it might not go that way, that being a Bolton Wanderers fan involves at least as much disappointment as it does delight but speaking personally I greeted 1995 with a great deal of optimism at least as far as football was concerned.

I'm going to close today's blog here. In the next part I'll cover the League Cup, the run in to what many still believe to be the greatest play off final comeback ever and the earth-shaking shock that rocked our club to its foundations just a month after this remarkable season ended.

Author: luckyPeterpiper

Hello all and welcome to the fourth blog in the weekly series I call “Piper's Piece”. If you missed the first three then you can check them out on the Bolton Nuts News site: http://www.boltonnuts.co.uk/news--views or even here at http://forum.boltonnuts.co.uk/t14366-luckypeterpiper-s-weekly-blog.

In the meantime here's a very brief recap of what they say for those who already did read them or for those who want to read this one first. I've covered the arrival of Bruce Rioch and the 1992/93 season, the beginning of what would later become known as the “White Hot” years. In that first season we gained automatic promotion from the 2nd Division (League One to our younger readers) and got to the fifth round of the FA Cup, dumping Liverpool (the then holders) out at Anfield in one of the greatest single displays of football I ever saw from a BWFC side along the way.

It's almost impossible now to try and explain what that season felt like and meant to those who weren't there and didn't see it but I'll try. A few years previously we'd been on the absolute brink of extinction, down in the Fourth Division (League 2) and seemingly one step away from oblivion. We'd stepped away from that abyss thanks to some luck, some incredible loyalty from the fans and some true generosity from the board, notably the Warburton family and Gordon Hargreaves. However we were just about alive and while we'd got out of the bottom tier no one expected us to set the world alight anytime soon. When Bruce came in and suddenly we were beating Liverpool and spanking everyone in our own division (see my last blog for the record of the run in from January to May) it created a sort of euphoric sensation for fans that normally only comes after imbibing illegal substances. But even the most optimistic (and possibly under the influence of copious amounts of alcohol or other substances I won't mention here) fan didn't really expect that to continue. We were wrong, it had barely gotten started and the ride was about to get even more sensational.

In 1993/94 we went into the Endsleigh Insurance League Division One (The Championship) and had a solid (albeit slightly disappointing) League campaign, finishing 15th in the table but we were never in danger of going down and never really challenging at the top. In simple terms that season from a League standpoint was about consolidation and that's what we did. But while the league campaign might have been a little average the FA Cup most certainly wasn't, in fact this was the season when Premier League clubs truly came to fear seeing our name in the draw.

Because the entire Football League had been reorganised in the wake of the advent of the Premier League we actually had to play in the first round of the FA Cup despite being a second tier team. We faced Gretna, a non-league outfit who had done extremely well to get through the qualifying rounds and while we were of course favourites we certainly didn't take them lightly. It's a good job too because Gretna would have put us out in a giant killing of their own if we hadn't taken them seriously. In the event we won a very hard fought battle 3-2 with goals from John McGinlay (a penalty) and two from another soon to be familiar face, a Scottish striker by the name of Owen Coyle. The match was as close as the scoreline suggests and deserved better than the 6,500 attendance it got. However we had managed to avoid slipping on the banana skin and Gretna went home with some fairly useful funds for their club and a well deserved sense of pride in their players efforts.

Round Two was a much more routine affair against Lincoln City. We were away for that but we were utterly ruthless. Unlike the Gretna game where there had been some genuine battles in various parts of the pitch (Gretna's centre-backs in particular managed to keep Super John quiet for most of the match and not even David Lee could do much about their exceptional full backs) we bosses this one from start to finish. We won 3-1 (Thompson, Brown and Coyle all hitting the target) and never really let Lincoln get into the match. Bruce Rioch was unhappy we let them score but in truth it was a scant consolation for a team that was never really able to compete with their higher league opponents.

In Round Three we drew Everton and having disposed of Liverpool at the same stage the previous year we felt quietly confident that we could do a “Stanley Park Double” by beating the blue half of Merseyside as well. No one thought it would be easy, only that it could be done if we played to our very best. Like Liverpool the season before we had drawn Everton at home and in a match that was full of passion and commitment from both teams but (surprisingly) a bit shy on quality the 1-1 draw was a fair result. Once again we would have to go to Merseyside for a mid-week replay. Lightning surely couldn't strike twice could it? Yes, it most certainly could. Once again more than thirty thousand Liverpudlians created a wall of noise and this time a sea of Blue rather than red engulfed Goodison Park while about three thousand Trotters took their places in one corner of that famous old ground.

What followed was 120 minutes of football that had absolutely everything good about a cup competition in it. Both sides went for every ball right from the off but they did it fairly (mostly) albeit very firmly. There was plenty of skill on show too and both teams were evenly matched. This wasn't the one sided affair we'd enjoyed against Liverpool almost precisely a year earlier, it was a full on, full blooded “old school” cup tie. In the end Bolton Wanderers edged it by three goals to two thanks to efforts from McGinlay (as if you hadn't guessed that already) Stubbs and Coyle. Those of us who were there began believing Wembley was definitely on for us because that match could just as easily have gone the other way and it seemed Lady Luck had decided to smile on us so why not?

The fourth round draw made us think She must have changed her mind. We got Arsenal, the holders and arguably the best team in England (with the possible exception of Manchester United) at that time and while it was a home tie no one was under any illusions about our prospects. For one thing their substitutes cost more than our entire squad put together and their reserves probably spent more on boots than our lads got paid. To give you an idea of the scale of the problem let's look at the Arsenal squad of the time. David Seaman in goal, the famous back four of Dixon, Adams, Winterburn and Keown. A young striker called Ian Wright had joined from Crystal Palace and the midfield was graced by the likes of Merson, Parlour and John Jensen. It was David versus Goliath on steroids. However at Burnden Park we played well and Arsenal never really seemed to fire which led to a rather lucky draw for the cup holders and a trip to Highbury for us. By now the pundits had stopped saying we'd wasted our chance and were talking about the danger to the Gunners. George Graham was their manager and he spoke confidently enough but even he seemed to be aware that taking us at all lightly would see his cup holding team of superstars being the latest to fall to the 'little club'.

The game at Highbury was a cracker. To be frank Arsenal set out a full strength attacking line up (at one point they would have four strikers on the field) and they went for us from the off. Their fans were loud, passionate and full of encouragement for the men in red but guess who scored the goal that put us ahead? Yep, John McGinlay scored with a header and the few thousand Trotters who made the long journey to London went into raptures. However this was a very di9fferent proposition to the Liverpool who'd pretty much let us boss the match a year before. Arsenal roared back and it wasn't long before Alan Smith got a deserved equaliser for the Gunners.

In the second half we were pinned back and defending desperately for the entire half. Arsenal threw everything at us and it seemed to be a matter of time before they took the lead but the White Wall held firm and in what is frankly one of the all time great defensive displays we held them at bay. When the final whistle went and extra time beckoned you could have been forgiven for expecting more of the same but something very strange happened. Almost from the kick off it was suddenly Arsenal who were on the back foot and we started pushing forward with confidence. To this day I still think Arsenal were somehow demoralised by their failure to score in the second half as if they suddenly came to believe they couldn't score against us again while we believed we'd taken their best shot on the chin and shrugged it off. All at once Arsenal looked a bit disjointed and tired while we looked like we'd only just kicked off and it wasn't really a surprise when we took the lead for the second time on the night.

The goal came from an Arsenal attack that we repelled and a fabulous ball from McGinlay to Walker who beat Seaman but not the post. However McAteer was one of a number of Trotters who'd run virtually the length of the pitch and were following up and he buried it into the net with a little under six minutes of the first half of extra time to go. In the second half of extra time we played 'break' football where we absorbed Arsenal attacks (and there were a lot of them) and tried to hit them on the break. With four minutes to go we made it work brilliantly and David Lee surged forward then cleverly laid it through for Andy Walker to finish clinically. It was 3-1 to Bolton and surely game over but there were a couple more incidents of note. Firstly Arsenal came within a whisker of scoring from a cross but it was cleared off the line. A minute later Lee was dragged down by Lee Dixon who inexplicably escaped punishment even though he was arguably the last man. Walker 'scored' the free kick but even more bafflingly the referee demanded a retake despite it being Arsenal's Martin Keown who had tried to charge the ball down by running in before it was taken, an action for which the Arsenal man was sent off. However it made no difference to the end result and for the second season in a row the FA Cup Holders had been knocked out on their own ground by Bolton Wanderers. I've added this short video of the extra time highlights for those who didn't see it or just want a little nostalgia.

Eleven days later we would beat Aston Villa by a single goal (Stubbs) to nil and enter the sixth round. Unfortunately we were unable to overcome the Premier League opposition of Oldham Athletic (I know but that's where Oldham were then) at their place, succumbing 1-0.

So while the 93/94 season might have been rather quiet in terms of the league it was yet another corker in the cup and more proof (as if it were needed) that Bruce Rioch and his men could play with the 'big boys' at their level. The White Hot Years were well under way.

That's it for this blog. Why not head over to Bolton Nuts forum, it's the place for all BWFC related matters and has great banter. Not only that there's the “Wandering Minds” section where you can talk about anything you like, football related or not, some great competitions and a fabulous “News” section that keeps you up to date on all BWFC matters from all over the media. To get involved just click the link below and follow the easy to follow steps to sign up completely FREE.

http://forum.boltonnuts.co.uk/

And if like me you can't make the match tonight then join Nuts to hear Tower FM's live match commentary as it happens thanks to the fantastic “Portal” service. In the meantime this was “Piper's Piece” and I hope to see you all again soon.

Author: luckyPeterpiper

For those of you who missed or didn't see Piper's Piece Number 2 a brief re-cap. I covered the first half of the 1992/93 season, Bruce Rioch's first at the helm of BWFC and left it where we dumped the then FA Cup holders Liverpool out of the competition, beating them 2-0 in a third round replay at Anfield, still for my money one of the all time greatest performances I've ever seen from the Trotters.

In the fourth round we faced Wolverhapton Wanderers who were in the First Division (now known as the Championship) and we rather unceremoniously dumped them out by two goals to nothing at Molyneux at the first time of asking with goals from Green and yep, you guessed it, Super John McGinlay. In the fifth round we faced off against Derby County and on February 13th, exactly one month after the triumph against Liverpool tired legs and a hectic schedule caught up with us. The 1st Division outfit beat us 3-1 and while we performed well and the scoreline did flatter the Rams the truth is they were the better side on the night. The Rams would play an epic quarter final against Sheffield Wednesday, drawing 3-3 at Pride Park before finally succumbing to the Yorkshiremen by a single goal to nil at Hillsborough. However, while all of that is interesting in its own right and the performance against Wolves was genuinely great it isn't nearly as important as what happened in the league.

Our run in to automatic promotion truly began on January 16th 1993, three days after beating Liverpool and you could have forgiven the players if they'd felt a little tired or perhaps even a bit deflated going back to the hum-drum business of third tier football so quickly. We lined up at Burnden Park to face Plymouth Argyle, a decent side who might even have felt they were in with a chance because we might be worn out after our Anfield exertions. If they did believe it they were deeply mistaken.

Seagraves, Walker and John “unable to miss” McGinlay smacked in three goals and Plymouth were basically steamrollered despite their own consolation strike. To be honest we looked like the lads had come back from a fortnight resting on a quiet beach somewhere and whatever Bruce and his backroom staff were putting in the pre-match drinks or half time tea is something I would just love to get my hands on. Our next victims (using the word advisedly) were Reading and we travelled there on 27th January, coming away with a 2-1 win thanks to the ever dependable David Lee and Andy Walker.
I'm not going to bore everyone to death by going through every game in that incredible run in. What I will do is touch on just a few of the highest points starting with the basic facts. After the Liverpool replay we had 22 league games left and here's how we handled them.

P W D L GF GA Pts
22 17 3 2 40 16 54

No, that is NOT a typo, we lost only TWICE in twenty two games and scored FORTY goals. What wouldn't any of us give for a run like that today? During that run in we played what I still think of as the most exhilarating, entertaining football I've ever seen in my days as a Trotter. There may have been individual matches where we played better later on but for sheer consistency of quality, for the way I woke up on every match day with a grin and positively looking forward to the game I still think there's been nothing quite like it since. What makes it even better in my eyes is this was just the start although we didn't know it then.

Along the way on that incredible rollercoaster ride to automatic promotion we didn't just beat teams, we slaughtered them, most notably a 4-1 spanking handed out to Exeter City on 20th March (goals from Kelly, McAteer, Walker and McGinlay) and a 5-0 hammering handed out to Chester City ( Brown, Seagraves, McGinlay, Patterson and Winstanley) on 24th April. In fact one thing that really stands out for me in looking back at the Rioch era is we had goals from everywhere, they seemed to come from all over the pitch in a way that doesn't happen today. The final day of that season saw us confirm second place and automatic promotion with a 1-0 win against Preston North End with a goal from (who else) Super John himself and boy we loved that!

I wish I had more room to write about this incredible season, to do it justice would take a hundred blogs and the better part of a year at least but it's now time (albeit reluctantly) for me to move on and simply close with this.

The 1992/93 season was the start of a resurgence that would see Bolton Wanderers charge into the Premier League and all the way to European qualification. Along the way we'd see a World Cup winner in our shirt, we'd see football magic so good it was named twice and we'd see players from every corner of the globe gracing the turf of the Reebok (now Macron) Stadium with their skills and we'd never fear anyone who faced us no matter how big they were supposed to be. Of course there was a downside and as it turned out a big one but speaking for myself I can only say it was one hell of a great ride while it lasted and that we shouldn't assume it cannot or will not happen again.

For me 1992/93 was the season it all began and I for one will never cease to be grateful for the fact I was lucky enough to be there to see it as it happened. I'm hoping that our younger fans might just be in for their own 'White Hot Era' soon, that Phil will be able to lead us on a journey similar to the one we enjoyed under Bruce Rioch's leadership.

Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed reading this and if you haven't done it yet why not head over to the Forum at http:www.boltonnuts.co.uk/forum? It's simple and free to join and you can talk about all things BWFC related in our BWFC banter, news and development sections or you can literally talk about anything that piques your interest in Wandering Minds. Come along and get involved in the conversation. In the meantime this wraps it up until next week for “Piper's Piece” and I hope you'll join me again then when I'll be talking about the summer of 1995 and Bruce's shock departure to Arsenal.
Author: luckyPeterpiper

To those who've read the first blog welcome back. If you haven't seen it then don't worry, you can find it here:
www.boltonnuts.co.uk/news--views/luckypeterpipers-weekly-blog

Anyway, this blog is about Bruce Rioch's first season in charge of BWFC and boy wasn't it a corker? In fact the first hint that this season was going to be incredible and very different from what had happened over the previous eight or nine years came in the very first match of the season. Our opponents were Huddersfield Town, a side that was well respected in the Division (now known as Division Two rather than Three thanks to the newly formed Premier League) and were seen as genuine promotion contenders and play off certainties. While the game was at home (Burnden Park) it was expected to be quite a tough start for us and I for one would probably have been happy with a point.

However we didn't just win, we dismantled Huddersfield. The end score was 2-0 but honestly it could have been 4 or even 5. The goalscorers were Julian Darby and the now legendary John McGinlay. While it wouldn't be true to say it sent shockwaves through the division it did surprise me, not just the win itself but the manner of it. We'd played fast, attacking football and done it not just well but with real style and flair, something we hadn't seen since the heady days of Ian Greaves and Frank Worthington. We quite literally brushed Huddersfield aside and made them look positively ordinary in doing it. The crowd had been around the 8,000 mark but in the second half especially you could have been forgiven for thinking it was three or even four times that thanks to the sheer volume of our delighted singing. Even so we didn't get carried away, we'd seen false dawns before and so when we went home we were delighted but we still didn't really think we were going to keep up that level of display for the whole season. And the next match, a defeat at Brighton by 2 goals to 1 (our goal came from Walker) quickly brought us back down to earth with a bump. But even there we'd played pretty well and been unfortunate to leave with nothing. However it's impossible to be a Trotter without having a certain amount of pessimism and so there were plenty of us who felt the Brighton result was a more realistic indicator of where we actually were than the Huddersfield result. As it turned out the doomsayers weren't just wrong, they were miles off the mark.

Back to back wins against Reading and Blackpool at home (2-1 and 3-0 respectively) followed by a goalless draw away at Stoke City showed Rioch had not just used the summer well but had actually brought the team far further forward than any of us had dared to think was possible. We continued to perform well in the league despite the occasional losses but the first indicator that things had really changed came in the FA Cup. In the first round we faced Sutton Coldfield Town and won 2-1 with goals from Super John and Andy Walker. In truth while the scoreline looked close we never really got out of second gear and never looked in serious danger despite a valiant (and well applauded by both sets of fans) effort from the part timers. However in the second round we really took the brakes off. We faced Rochdale and the Bolton Evening News, the fans and even Bruce Rioch himself expected it to be a tough encounter. We had home advantage but Rochdale, another North West side had some pretty good players and we expected a rugged, blood and thunder game against our neighbours.

It wasn't. We annihilated Rochdale 4-0 and I can still remember my jaw dropping when I watched that game. The way we passed the ball around on a pitch that was already half mud half sand and basically breezed past Rochdale players as if they weren't there was a joy to behold. Jason McAteer, Andy Walker and John McGinlay (twice) found the back of the net and by the end of that one sided massacre even the most pessimistic Trotter realised this season was something special. I honestly think that until that day we'd hoped we'd be there or thereabouts at the end of the season but now we knew it. And when the third round draw was announced and we heard we were facing the mighty Liverpool (still a major force to be reckoned with despite it being four years since they'd won the league) we actually believed we had a chance, we weren't at all afraid of the 'Big Team'.

The first match was at Burnden Park and the result was 2-2. Bolton and Liverpool had fought hard but the Premier League outfit had basically underestimated us and the goals from Seagraves and McGinlay had very nearly been enough to put us through to the fourth round at the first attempt. However a replay at Anfield now lay ahead and I think it would be dishonest to say we thought we'd win there. In fact most sports writers and most neutrals were of the firm and perfectly understandable opinion that we'd blown our chance and Liverpool would put us out handily. Honesty compels me to admit that I privately agreed with them. Ten days later I (and Des Lynam among others) were proven to know nothing about football.

The date was January 13th 1993 and it should live forever in the memory of any Trotter who was there. Liverpool fielded a full strength side and the Kop was full, a sea of red, white and yellow with thousands upon thousands of the Liverpool faithful singing “You'll Never Walk Alone” loud enough to be heard from Lime Street Train Station (where I and a few friends got off the train). I'd never actually been to Anfield before and as we approached the ground I could hardly hear myself think let alone anything my friends said. The atmosphere inside the ground was electric. There was a small pocket of White and Blue banners (about 2,500 of us travelled which in those days was a lot but still dwarfed by the better than 30,000 Liverpudlians) and when the players took the field it looked like the Christians (BWFC) vs the Lions in the colliseum. It sounded like it too although we sang ourselves hoarse in a futile (initially) bid to be heard. It took exactly three minutes for that to change and you win no prizes for guessing who changed it.

Super John McGinlay powered in a header that left thirty thousand Liverpudlians silent and two and a half thousand trotters were suddenly the loudest thing in Liverpool. Graeme Souness was so angry that we could clearly lip read his reaction (I won't repeat it here since children may read this) while Bruce Rioch looked almost as if he was saying 'I told you so' to anyone who'd doubted exactly what his players could do. In fact on a smug scale of one to ten Bruce rated a twelve right there and it was only going to get higher. For the next 76 minutes Liverpool attempted to get back into the game but they ran into a White shirted brick wall all night. Not only that but we had just about as much possession as they did and we used it better, in fact if you'd just arrived from Mars you could have been forgiven for thinking the team in white were the Premier League outfit while the guys in red were the third tier nobodies being brushed imperiously aside. Our superiority was simply confirmed in the seventy ninth minute when Andy Walker headed in the second goal.

However the true man of the match (if you could pick one) had to be David 'shining like a, like a light' Lee. He totally dominated the Liverpool defence, he single handedly wreaked carnage and sowed confusion every time he had the ball and despite fielding seven full internationals the Reds had absolutely no answer to him. It was almost a crime that he didn't get on the score sheet at least once but he set up both goals and generally put on a display that would today have eight figure bids for his services flying into the chairman's office. The end result was that Bolton Wanderers went onto the fourth round against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Liverpool went home with their tails between their legs and an apoplectic Graeme Souness decrying them as lacking passion and fight. The video below really doesn't do justice to those amazing ninety minutes but I've included it for those who might have forgotten the goals or those too young to have witnessed this remarkable event as it happened.

I think it's only appropriate to end this blog here because to do otherwise would either make this blog into a novel or be a grave injustice to the rest of the 1992/93 season in which we lost just once in nineteen league games, winning fifteen of them and charging up the table into second place and automatic promotion. I'll cover that amazing two and a half month ride in the next instalment.

Until then why not check out the Bolton Nuts forum. It's the place to be for all BWFC related chat and opinion and also features awesome sections like 'Wandering Minds' where you can talk about literally anything, football related or not. To join the conversation and make your voice heard click the link below and follow the simple steps to become a member.

http://forum.boltonnuts.co.uk/

I hope to see you there. Until next week this was Piper's Piece. All the best to everyone.

Author: luckyPeterpiper

For those of you who haven't been on the Bolton Nuts website or forum before (in which case where have you been because you're missing an awesome site) I am a 47 year old Trotter who has been following BWFC for forty years, thirty of them as a season ticket holder in my own right. This is my first attempt at a BWFC blog and I plan to make it a weekly event. There'll also be 'mini-blogs' if we have a mid-week game or if something of immediate and genuine impact (good or bad) happens between the 'main' Friday missives. It's my hope you'll enjoy them and that some other fans will want to add a blog or two of their own. Right now it's my intent to have one of these ready for you to read and comment on every Friday and I'd like to briefly thank sluffy for letting me do them. I'd also like to thank (in advance) karlypants and BoltonTillIDie who I understand will be judiciously editing these and adding appropriate images or video as needed. Anyway let's get down to business.

On first glance it would seem to be a very gloomy time to be a Trotter. The club has just suffered relegation to League One, the new owners don't appear to be on the best of terms, there doesn't appear to be any money in the kitty for transfers in and a new manager sits at the helm of a club that has just released a lot of players and is on the verge of selling one of our best young prospects. We've barely avoided administration of not outright liquidation and the new season is just a few weeks away. However what strikes me isn't all the bad or negative things that have happened in the last few months, it's the remarkable, almost uncanny parallels between the 2016/17 season and events that took place thirty years ago before many of our current fans were even born.

If anything that situation was even worse, we'd barely escaped extinction, we'd been relegated to Division 4 (League 2 to those not old enough to remember life before the Premier League), our ground was a wreck and we'd sold a chunk of the Embankment to the now defunct and then infamous Normid store chain to keep some money, any money in the kitty. Crowds were falling, the players were whomever we could get and we seemed to be going nowhere fast. By the end of the 1980's the immediate threat of extinction had faded largely thanks to Lifeline and the continued support of both Gordon Hargreaves and the Warburton Family but even though we felt a little bit more optimistic about things and we had got out of the bottom flight we didn't seem to be doing much else which was by and large fine by many fans, myself included. For the most part we were just happy we still had a club to support. There might not have been many of us but those of us who were still there were fiercely loyal to the club but not even we really believed we were 'big' in the sense that someone like Leeds United could claim. None of us really expected to be brushing shoulders with the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal (the two most successful clubs of the time) on a regular basis any time soon. It was far more likely to be Carlisle United we'd face next season rather than Manchester.

What none of us knew, not even the most cock-eyed optimistic Trotter alive could even have dared to dream was just how radically things were about to change for the better. When the 1990's began you could be forgiven for thinking Bolton Wanderers were just one more small, skint Northern club who bumped along in the bottom two divisions and that would always be the case. Yes we'd made it back up to Division Three (League One) but after two miserable failures in the play off's we'd sunk to mid-table obscurity and (as more than one sports writer opined at the time) we'd seemed to have found our level. No one really liked or disliked us, we weren't at all important in the football world and what glories we had enjoyed were all in the very distant past. Or so it seemed.

On the 29th of May 1992 Bolton Wanderers officially announced the appointment of a new manager by the name of Bruce Rioch. He was a former professional footballer who had been well respected in his time on the field most notably with Derby County with whom he had won the football league in 1974-75 under the late great Brian Clough but despite a solid playing career which included 24 caps for Scotland he hadn't really shaken the earth as a manager. In fact he'd started his managerial career as a player manager at Torquay United in the early 1980's before a short stint in the USA as manager of Seattle Sounders in the now defunct NASL (North American Soccer League) before returning to England to manage Middlesbrough and later Milwall, jobs he'd performed in solidly albeit unspectacularly. By and large his appointment went unremarked and barely noticed by anyone except the Bolton Evening News and BBC North West. Most of the football world, most especially the media were focussed on the creation of the new Premier League and whether or not the fledgling Sky Sports channel (which back then was just one channel) could actually make it work commercially. No one could have guessed that it was the start of a totally incredible period in the history of Bolton Wanderers that would later come to be known as 'The White Hot Years', a period in which clubs like Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United would actually dread seeing our name come up against theirs in any cup competition, a period that would see us jump from the third tier to the Premier League in just three seasons and along the way play brilliant football with players who are now rightfully lauded as 'Legends' among the Trotters faithful.

I'll cover Bruce Rioch's time in charge in the next blog. All I will say now is that younger fans need not think the fact we're in the third tier means things will be boring or the football will be dire. As this is the first blog in what I hope will become a series I simply think it's appropriate to say we've been here before and far from being the disaster it appeared to be it was actually the springboard for some of the most exciting times to be a Trotter that I can remember. So chin up boys and girls because if we perform half as well under Phil Parkinson as we did under Bruce Rioch then good times are right around the corner.

In the meantime, if you'd like me to write a blog about something specific such as a particular player or perhaps a specific season then why not drop me a line via BoltonNuts.co.uk and I'll do my very best to accommodate any requests I get either as part of the 'main' blog which will come out once a week or if it's a particularly interesting topic I'll write it up as a separate 'Special'. Either way why not check out the rest of the Bolton Nuts forum and site, it's well worth the time. Until next week take care and I hope you've enjoyed (or at least stayed awake till the end) the first 'Piper's Piece'.

Author: luckyPeterpiper