Articles written by thebish
Total Posts: 26903
Total Articles: 41
Member Since:
7th July 2006
Tattoos
Puygrenier has arrived at the Reebok sporting a huge Roman numeral tattoo on his forearm: I.VIII.VI. It is a bit of a mystery what this signifies, as nothing obvious about the number 186 springs to mind, nor the separate numbers 1-8-6. It is not his date of birth - Jan...
Ologies, Scopies, and Mancies
Haruspicy is prediction of the future by cutting open a goat - splashing its entrails over the ground and poking about in them to see meaning. The selection of the Bolton midfield is a little bit like that. The innards of the Bolton midfield comprise Kevin Nolan (but not anymore), Gavin McCann, Fabrice Muamba,...
Just Flick to Kick, and Break a Leg
Recent TW advice on away match previews is to steer clear of facts and make it a personal journey of anecdote and discovery. I have seen Bolton at the giant winebar-cum-inverted-ashtray masquerading as football stadium the Emirates on three occasions. A proper stadium has floodlights on pylons! Everybody who had...
Don't Mention the Smog
The Boro game fast approaches, and many stereotypes leap to mind. The lazy previewer could easily be tempted to lapse into tired old cliches and stock descriptions of that fine Teesside town nestled between Stockton and Hartlepool. But not this previewer - this preview will be an entirely SMOG-free zone....
Lock up Your Bins
A few years ago, passengers on board an EasyJet flight that flew over Liverpool complained when at 35,000 feet the captain announced: "Please hold on to your wallets, we're flying over Liverpool." A very cheap shot even for my standards - but, well, they deserve it don't they! Anyway it's a perfect bridge to...
Party the Whole Week Long
I volunteered to do this preview before the 2-0 victory against Blunderland, honestly expecting to have to prepare a piece that anticipated our imminent relegation and struggled to find some graveyard humour to soften the blow. However, Diouf into the top corner, Murphy just over the line, and the whole scenario is changed! Mathematically we...
Boiled or Fried?
The Spuds came to the Reebok back in September 2007. They were managed by their very own Mr Potato Head back then and we were managed by a stunted chipstick – it seems like another age. Back then our team-sheet boasted the names of Gerald Cid and Abdoulaye Meite in...
Lessons from history: thebish's Fulham preview
Of the 37 times Bolton have played host to Fulham, we've won 21, Fulham only seven. We've never played Fulham on 29th January; our last outing on this day was the 4-0 home drubbing by Man U in 2002. So history is on our side...but history is against us! On that...
Trick or Treat?
Mystic Megson opens his Bolton League Cup account with a tasty north-west derby. He says he has had time to chat individually with most of the squad, and he has scrawled some team-sheet notes for Sbragia to translate: Goalie: The other one – Arab, I think Back four: The O'Briens (not sure...
Opportunity Knox
I can remember days when I have traveled to away games at Arsenal with a beating heart and a sense of expectancy - not because I have ever been there when we have won, not because my "head" has ever expected a win, but because my "heart" refused to rule...
