15 YEARS AGO

BRUCE Rioch’s Bolton Wanderers were desperately pushing for a place in the FA Premier League but, if players union chief Gordon Taylor had his way, the Premiership would be consigned to the scrap heap.

Taylor, the PFA chief executive and former Burnden Park favourite, was preparing a hard-hitting analysis of what he believed was wrong with English football in the wake of England’s failure to qualify for the World Cup.

And he gave an insight into the substance of his report when he said: “I’d do away with the Premier League. I much preferred the old system which was fair.

“Three quarters of the money going on a quarter of the clubs? The equation isn’t quite right for me.”

Taylor saw danger on the horizon. “I’m really proud of the fact that 65 per cent of Premiership players have come from the lower divisions,” he added. “But it will be a bit of a King Canute job trying to keep 92 clubs in existence.

“I may be wrong. I hope I am. But the inevitable conseqeunce of the Premier League is a contraction of clubs, jobs and supporters. It’s change, but I don’t know whether it’s progress.

“The Premier League was formed with a view to making sure that the England team is at the forefront of our game. Well, two years on, we haven’t qualified for the World Cup.”

Wanderers had been going well in Division One — third behind leaders Wolves — but a 3-0 defeat at Barnsley prompted a furious Rioch to deliver a stinging rebuke after his team failed to score for the first time in 19 games. We were outplayed, out-passed, out-fought and out-thought,” he said.

Former Wanderers and England midfielder Peter Reid was preparing to make a rare appearance for Bury, where he was helping out his old Bolton team-mate Mike Walsh.

Another former Burnden regular, Dave Sutton, resigned as manager at Rochdale where he had been in charge for six-and-a-half years.

It was impossible to distinguish between the rugby league professionals and the amateurs at Hilton Park where Leigh avoided a major embarrassment, scraping an 18-12 victory over Leigh Miners in the Regal Trophy.

The Miners recovered from an early 8-0 deficit and led 12-8 at half time. And it was only after they were reduced to 12 men with the sin-binning of Tony Cottrell — a former Hilton Park favourite — that the pendulum swung the professionals’ way.

10 YEARS AGO

HE had only been in the job six weeks but Bolton Wanderers boss Sam Allardyce was in the running for manager of the month.

Wanderers stretched their unbeaten run to nine games with a scoreless draw at Portsmouth. But such was their new-found optimism that they left Fratton Park disappointed not to have banked all three points.

They were winning few friends with their style of play, but it was effective and it was gradually nudging them towards the upper reaches of Nationwide Division One.

The financial constraints that led to the resignation of Colin Todd still applied with Allardyce having to trawl the bargain basement for new signings. A double swoop on Everton netted midfielder Gareth Farrelly and full-back John O’Kane on loans while the first of what would be regular dips into the continental free transfer market brought the experienced Frenchman Franck Passi to the Reebok from Spanish club Compostella.

Todd, meanwhile, broke his silence over the incident involving his son, Andy, and Wanderers’ assistant manager Phil Brown.

Brown — still out of action with serious facial injuries — revealed he was planning to take legal action against Todd Jnr over an alleged assault that took place at the Mottram Hall Hotel on November 11, which left him needing surgery.

Todd Snr said: “It is sad that it has come to this. There are two sides to a story and there are a lot of truths to come out relating to events that took place since I left the club eight weeks ago and there will be a lot of people who will become involved if this goes to court. Phil Brown has decided to take the matter further and that is his prerogative, but Andy and his adviser had previously consulted lawyers and will vigorously defend any action taklen against him.”

Andy Todd, who was suspended by Wanderers following the incident, had since been transferred to Charlton for £750,000.

Bury manager Neil Warnock — a Sheffield United fan and a Blades shareholder — emerged as hot favourite for the vacant manager’s job at Bramall Lane following the resignation of Adrian Heath.

England’s cricketers were in deep trouble on the opening day of the first Test against South Africa at The Wanderers.

Michael Atherton, Nasser Hussain, Mark Butcher and Alec Stewart were all back in the pavilion with just two runs on the board.

Bolton all-rounder Mike Watkinson — still a key member of the senior one-day squad at Old Trafford — signed a new deal that would see him take over as Lancashire’s second team coach and captain.

Local cricket was mourning the death of Dennis Lyddon, who had been president of the Bolton League for 18 years.

40 YEARS AGO

THERE were battles on and off the pitch at Manchester’s White City, where the South African rugby union tourists played the North West Counties.

An estimated 4,000 anti-apartheid campaigners marched on the stadium, where there were fierce clashes with police. Three officers were hurt and several demonstrators were arrested.

On the field the Springboks won a hotly-contested game 12-9.

The Football Association seemed determined to clamp down on what they believed was an alarming deterioration in discipline in the game, judging by the eight-week ban issued to Manchester United full-back John Fitzpatrick.

What had he done to warrant such a punishment? Three bookings in two months.

It was not the first eight-week suspension handed down by the FA but the first to a player who had not been sent off.

Wanderers manager Nat Lofthouse recruited his former team-mate Willie Moir as a “spy”.

The former Scotland international, who captained Wanderers in the 1953 FA Cup final, was employed to assess future opponents.

“Willie has already reported on several clubs and this has been a big help to us,” Nat said.

Wanderers’ decision to play a friendly against West German club Neuss paid off in terms of morale with Warwick Rimmer, John Manning and Ian Seddon scoring in a 3-0 win. But financially it was a flop with only 2,478 supporters bothering to turn up.

Former world heavyweight champion Cassius Clay, who had not fought for 32 months, was planning a return to the ring.

Clay had been stripped of his title after being handed a five-year prison sentence for refusing to submit to US Army conscription in April 1967. He was out on bail and preparing to relaunch his career.