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<div style="width: 522px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><div><figure class="image"></figure></div>Bolton Manager Gary Megson</div>
In October 1999 Sam Allardyce breezed into his office at the Reebok Stadium to take over a club at the foot of the first division table. Amazingly, he guided Bolton Wanderers to the play-off semi finals the same season as well reaching both domestic cup finals.
The following season Wanderers finished in third place and again competed in the play-offs – this time they dispatched Lancashire rivals Preston North End 3-0&nbsp; in the final. Allardyce had led Bolton to promotion in his first full season.&nbsp; The first two years in the Premier League were&nbsp;understandably spent fighting off relegation which they did successfully. What we didn’t expect was for the Trotters to then&nbsp;finish in the&nbsp;top eight four season’s consecutively&nbsp;– qualifying for the UEFA Cup twice in the process and even achieving sixth place in 2004/05.
These highly succesful seasons in the Premier League owe no small part to Wanderers’ success in the transfer market. During this era Youri Djorkaeff, Jay Jay Okocha, Fernando Hierro, Ivan Campo and Nicolas Anelka all donned the the white shirts of the Lancashire club.&nbsp;Not only did Bolton qualify for Europe, they made it to the League Cup&nbsp;final in Cardiff where they were beaten by Middlesbrough.&nbsp;
However those days of European qualification, cup finals and regular top ten finishes seem like a distant memory. When Big Sam left to take over at Newcastle United&nbsp;in April 2007, Bolton&nbsp;turned to his&nbsp;assistant Sammy Lee.&nbsp;Lee’s tenure was disastrous. Despite ensuring qualification for Europ in the month after taking over his name sake, Little Sam lasted lasted until October of the next&nbsp; season with just one win to his credit. In stepped Gary Megson and the continual battle against relegation. Despite the direct style of football not really changing since Allardyce’s reign, it seems poor signings have led the club to the position they are in.
Johan Elmander arrived at the club in 2008 for a whopping fee of £8.2 Million from Toulouse&nbsp;with Daniel Braaten going the other way.&nbsp;He has managed a pitiful 5 goals in his 28 games for the club. For the sake of pointless statistics that is £1.64 million pounds per goal, tad expensive for a centre forward you feel?
Gary Cahill was signed last season from Aston Villa for £5 Million. Now I want to go on record and mention that I watched Cahill on loan for Sheffield United in the same season and make 16 appearances for the Blades. He looked an outstanding player in the Championship but £5 Million quid is a big fee when you consider that Everton landed Phil Jagielka for £4 Million.
Bolton were once incredibly shrewd in the market but have splurged on mediocre players since the days of Sam Allardyce. Add Gretnar Steinsson (£3.5 million),&nbsp;Danny Shittu (£2 Million basic) and we add&nbsp;further weight to the issue.&nbsp; Matt Taylor has been a reasonable acquisition, a tad over-priced at&nbsp;£4 million but at least he has 10 goals to his credit. Yes, the £8.2 million striker Elmander&nbsp;has been out-scored by a left back/midfielder.
I know that transfer fees for players are forever spiralling upward, but does anyone out there not think that Allardyce wouldn’t have spent that cash better than Megson? Considering that the Trotters sold Nicolas Anelka to Chelsea in January 2008 for £15 Million those transfer funds have been poorly distributed. Maybe Bolton saw Megson a fit appointment in relation to his direct style of physical football – it can’t have been his charisma. A quiet character by the name of Neil Warnock once commented on Megson releasing an auto-biography by saying&nbsp;“Oh he’s writing a book&nbsp;is he? Well it’ll be the best f**king cure for insomniacs that’s ever been published”.
I&nbsp; fear that Bolton, a good&nbsp;family club&nbsp;may join the likes of Southampton, Coventry and Middlesbrough in&nbsp;domiciling in mid-table anonymity for years before finally suffering the drop. Bolton have been good for the Premier League and have been a model for other promoted clubs to base their for model for success on. However with the current&nbsp;man in charge&nbsp;I cannot see Wanderers firing back up the table – particularly if they don’t replace Kevin Nolan.

Bolton Slowly Sliding - World Soccer Talk

Bolton Slowly Sliding

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<div style="width: 510px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><div><figure class="image"></figure></div>Liverpool&apos;s enormous trophy cabinet but nothing from 2009</div>
They huffed, they puffed but they failed to blow United’s house down. Liverpool look set to finish the season with no silverware to show for it and yet to make an appearance at the rebuilt&nbsp;Wembley.
After&nbsp;tonight’s victory&nbsp;for Manchester United at the JJB the title race will be over if&nbsp;United gain a single point from their remaining two games. With the wretched form that is currently plaguing the Gunners and the return to dominance from United, you wouldn’t be to surprised if they did it in style this Saturday either.
So what has cost Liverpool any silverware&nbsp;this season?&nbsp; The delicate hamstrings of the truly outstanding Fernando Torres certainly has had an impact. Even if Torres features in Liverpool’s final two games he will still have only made 24 appearances in the Premier League this season. When a team is missing a player like Fernando Torres a team needs a goalscorer to replace him. This wasn’t expected to be a fatal&nbsp;problem, after all&nbsp;they signed Robbie Keane for £19 Million&nbsp;in Summer – how wrong we were. The Irishman signed from Spurs on July 28, never really got to grips with life at the club he supported as a boy. In fact, the man&nbsp;who&nbsp;was ‘fast red and talked&nbsp;like father ted’ only found the net&nbsp;7 times after 28 games in all competition – only 5 of those were scored in the league. Keane&nbsp;re-signed for Tottenham in the mid-season&nbsp;transfer window.
Even in spite of the above, Liverpool still have a better goal difference. However it is the points they have dropped, particularly at home that have cost Liverpool a first Premier League title. Liverpool have drawn seven games at Anfield. The five that stick out&nbsp;being Stoke City, Fulham, West Ham, Hull City, Manchester City. Naturally you can not expect to win every game&nbsp;and therefore accept they will drop a few points.&nbsp;&nbsp;Hence, I did not mentioned the home deadlocks with Everton and Arsenal in the previous statement. The Reds away form has so far, bettered their title rivals. but United have won 16 out of 18 homes games and that is why the title yet again is heading to Old Trafford.
The Reds could have so easily progressed further than the quarter-final stage of the Champions League, had it not been for a superb display from Chelsea and some sloppy marking from set-pieces in the first leg. That 3-1 defeat left the Reds a mountain to climb at Stamford bridge. Athough they made a great go of it drawing&nbsp;4-4 in the&nbsp;return leg. But, alas it was was not enough to stop Guus Hiddink’s side progressing to the next stage at their expense.
I mentioned in the opening of this article that Liverpool are yet to feature at the new Wembley, which of course means that they have failed to make&nbsp;either domestic cup final in the last three seasons. This season they were denied a run to Wembley by Merseyside rivals Everton. Incidentally, Liverpool’s last domestic trophy was the FA Cup in 2006 – beating West Ham on penalties after a 3-3 draw.
Worry not Reds fans, despite this season’s near misses. I do not think for one minute that the current side is not capable of great things – this summer will be a big one at Anfield. If Liverpool can add a little bit more depth to their squad by signing players truly capable of challenging for places in a fully-fit squad then they will take some stopping.

Liverpool - On The Verge Of Nothing This Season - World Soccer Talk

Liverpool – On The Verge Of Nothing This Season

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Pulaha Chaudhuri

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