Thursday 9 August 2007

F365 Season Preview : Bolton Wanderers

Odds on championship: 1,500-1. Odds on relegation: 6-1

Manager: Sammy Lee (since May). Odds on first out the job: 7-1

Last season: 7th, 56 points; FA Cup fourth round; Carling Cup fourth round

In: Gavin McCann (Aston Villa, £1m); Jlloyd Samuel (Aston Villa, free); Blerim Dzemaili (FC Zurich, free); Zoltan Harsanyi (FC Senec, undisc); Gerald Cid (Bordeaux, free); Heidar Helguson (Fulham, undisc); Adam Bogdan (Vasas, free); Danny Guthrie (Liverpool, loan); Christian Wilhelmsson (Nantes, loan); Daniel Braaten (Rosenborg, £500,000); Mikel Alonso (Real Sociedad, loan);

Out: Tal Ben Haim (Chelsea, free); Quinton Fortune, Henrik Pedersen, David Thompson (all released); Chris Howarth (Carlisle, free);

A team that after a number of years in the top flight qualified for Europe (again) are being widely considered for relegation, simply because they have lost their manager and replaced him with his assistant.

That Sammy Lee is a well qualified former international who enjoyed more club success than his previous boss has generally been overlooked because of the scale of Sam Allardyce's achievement in turning Bolton into top-flight regulars for the first time in a couple of generations. A year ago I was writing that.....

Read the full article here

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