Bolton Wanderers fans' column: Straight from the Stands

Keep it fluid in the transfer window,

by Liam Hatton

FOOTBALL, especially during the manic period that is the January transfer window, is always a fluid situation.

Whether you are a football club reeling off signings like Saturday’s opponents Carlisle United to fight relegation, or a team like Bolton at the other end of the table, things can change in an instant.

Rewind 10 days or so and Bolton boss Ian Evatt was relatively happy with his squad, as additions were deemed unlikely. However, since that time a combination of injuries and other factors have reared their head.

Gethin Jones and Carlos Mendes Gomes departed to play for their respective countries in the AFCON and Asian Cup, and whilst those instances were perhaps planned for, with Evatt hoping to make it through that period without the need for incomings, it has proved too much with injuries suffered to the likes of Will Forrester and Randell Williams.

Williams will be missing for six to seven weeks, with the imminent announcement of Swansea defender Nathaniel Ogbeta a ready-made replacement in that mould. More signings are expected to follow as Evatt stoked the fire this week.

However, the squad is currently down to the bare bones - George Thomason picked up a two-game ban after Tuesday’s victory over Cheltenham Town, which just adds to Bolton’s problems.

The January transfer window almost always proves to be fast paced, even more so during the final week. Reports are rampant that Victor Adeboyejo is interesting teams abroad, which Evatt did shoot down the other day.

I personally feel it would be a shame as he is coming into his own and has enjoyed some good form as of late. As Bolton’s second striker he is currently on eight league goals for the season and the room for potential is obvious, plus it could easily disrupt Bolton’s attacking makeup at a critical junction in their season.

It will be interesting to see how Evatt and Chris Markham navigate this last week of window, finding a balance between signing players who can help right now and also keeping one eye on the situation when there is a fully fit squad in place.

Speaking of transfers and Wanderers bolstering their bid for promotion, it is especially noteworthy that shares have been issued to a sports data advisory firm called Ludonautics. Whilst I do not profess to be an expert in this field, it does seem at first glance this will offer additional support and expertise in relation to Bolton’s approach in the transfer market moving forward.

If Bolton are to compete in the Championship next year, they cannot do so purely by financially outmuscling other teams - especially those relegated from the Premier League armed by their parachute payments. That would not prove to be prudent or responsible for a club years removed from teetering on the brink.

The firm is headed up by Ian Graham and Michael Edwards who have experience at Liverpool working with Jurgen Klopp, so it has all the potential in the world for Bolton to follow the path teams like Brighton and Brentford have forged, by finding diamonds in the rough and selling on for huge profits.

As for right now, there is a game to look forward to as Wanderers are backed by close to 3,000 fans at Carlisle.

We all know the drill by now - another three points please.

There are no shortage of statistics when you watch football on TV these days (Image: PA)

Just mention the score,

by Tony Thompson

I REMEMBER when the only graphics you’d get on the screen watching Match of the Day were the teams before the game in a diagonal row and the odd goal-scorer.

Before the game the Liverpool line-up would be shown in 4-4-2 order and John Motson would explain how Terry McDermott had pulled his calf whilst shifting his wife’s washing machine – you can say things like that back then – and that would be the end of it.

As technology improved, we got substitutions. You just knew that if the editor had left in footage of someone coming on to the pitch that they were going to score. It was the same with bookings. If MOTD showed you getting one, you were in trouble.

Nowadays you get bombarded with statistics, no matter what channel you watch.

Pass success percentages, expected goals, shots on target, shots off target, corners, final third entries – it all means nothing to me compared with the box in the top left corner with the score.

I know people make a living from all the numbers involved in sport these days, and credit to them. But to a layman like myself a lot of the nonsense they flash up on screen detracts from the game you are watching. Old fashioned perhaps, but this old man is willing to die on that hill.

I don’t honestly know how football can be broken down into ones and zeroes but people are writing whole books on the subject now, so I suppose I am in the minority? And this week I read that my own club is getting on board with a company that is supposed to be quite good at that sort of stuff.

Apologies to Ian Graham – who seems a decent chap from what I gather – but Ludonautics is an odd name for a company. Sounds like an exercise video in the eighties where leotard-wearing women in their mid-40s would be doing star jumps and playing board games at the same time.

What they will bring to my club I don’t know. I don’t even think I want to know. Ignorance is bliss with this sort of thing, and I’ll continue to watch the football, or listen to Jack Dearden on the radio knowing it could be 2024, 2004 or 1974 and leaving the numbers up to the people who don’t find the game challenging enough to understand!