5 YEARS AGO

BOLTON Wanderers were on course to qualify for the UEFA Cup — in fact, there was talk of a possible Champions League place until a 2-1 defeat at Newcastle gave them something of a reality check — but not everything in the Reebok garden was rosy.

Chairman Phil Gartside claimed stayaway fans had been “a let down to the team and to themselves” after a crowd of just 16,151 turned up to watch Sam Allardyce’s Whites beat Fulham in the fifth round of the FA Cup.

The Bolton chief later insisted that his remarks in a Sky TV interview were not meant to criticise the club’s supporters but merely “asked the question” as to why the crowd was so low. Nevertheless, he stirred up a storm and provoked an angry reaction from many supporters who gave a catalogue of reasons why they had stayed away — not least Allardyce’s policy of selecting below-par teams for cup matches.

But skipper Jay Jay Okocha would hear no criticism of the manager who had made Wanderers such a formidable Premiership force.

Earlier in the season Allardyce had rejected an offer to manage Newcastle and in the build up to the game at St James’ Park, Okocha said it was time Bolton Wanderers proved to the world that he was right to turn down the Toon Army.

Wanderers went into the game nine points better off than the Geordies and the talismanic Nigerian international suggested it was the perfect opportunity to make a point.

“He’s done a fantastic job with the little budget he has,” Okocha said. “This is my third season here and I know what is going on.”

Unfortunately, Wanderers didn’t have the best of afternoons on Tyneside, where Toon boss Graeme Souness savoured sweet revenge for a defeat at the Reebok earlier in the season.

Souness claimed the media had “made a bit of mischief” over his reported criticism of Allardyce’s tactics. But he insisted he was making “observations” rather than criticising when he referred to Wanderers’ “in your face” type of football and suggested Okocha must have has sore arms after repeatedly hurling long throws into the Newcastle box.

Souness said: “Sam deserves all the credit going for the squad he’s got together and the position they find themselves in the table, and I’m not going to fall out with him over it, like some people have tried to suggest.”

Outspoken Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho was the subject of the club’s seventh disciplinary probe of the season after being sent from the touchline by a police officer during the Blues Carling Cup final victory over Liverpool.

However, while he apologised for the controversy which marred his first trophy in English football — inciting Liverpool fans by putting his finger to his mouth to shut them up — he launched an angry attack on his critics.

“I have a lot of respect for Liverpool fans,” Mourinho said, “and what I did — the sign of silence, shut your mouth — was not for them it was for the English press.”

Meanwhile, the people behind Bolton’s Olympic boxing silver-medalist Amir Khan denied rumours that he was about to turn professional.

25 YEARS AGO

BOLTON old boy Neil Redfearn got the better of his old team-mate Warren Joyce in a crucial midfield battle as Lincoln City inflicted Wanderers’ 13th away defeat of the season at Sincil Bank.

The Imps won a physical encounter 2-0 and Redfearn was at the heart of the action.

Manager Charlie Wright, concerned by a downturn in form after an inspirational run had seen him promoted from the caretaker role, reinforced his attack with the signing of much-travelled Liverpool-born striker Tony Evans on loan from Wolves.

And, in a second surprise move, Wright offered Sheffield Wednesday left back Ian Bailey the chance to revive his career after injury setbacks.

Bailey had made a good impression on Wanderers fans three years earlier during a five-match loan spell when he was a Middlesbrough player and accepted an invitation to train with Wanderers with a view to re-joining the club on loan.

Rugby league legend Alex Murphy — back at Leigh for a third spell as manager — described his players as “pathetic” after they scraped through a Silk Cup Challenge Cup first round tie 14-6 against Second Division Huddersfield.

“I’ve seen Leigh three times this season and each display has been pathetic,” Murphy said. “This was little different. Unless we improve we’ll struggle to make any progress.”

Bolton-based chemicals and fertiliser firm Rigby Taylor Ltd, pulled off a sponsorship coup when they signed Open golf champion Seve Ballesteros to promote their products.

50 YEARS AGO

JUST seven months after becoming a professional, 17-year-old Farnworth boy Ernie Phythian had his dreams come true when he made his senior debut for Bolton Wanderers.

Impressive in the reserves, the young centre-forward was drafted in by manager Bill Ridding who was still looking for a replacement for Nat Lofthouse, who had recently been forced to retire through injury.

Phythian was described as “local boy made good” when he was handed his chance for the game at Sheffield Wednesday. But it turned out not to be the winning debut he, or his many local fans, had hoped for.

Wanderers, who lost goalkeeper Joe Dean — standing in for the injured Eddie Hopkinson — to a shoulder injury after just 16 minutes, also had centre-half and captain John Higgins sent off on the hour for protesting against the award of a harsh penalty, just after Alan Finney had put Wednesday in front.

That emergency keeper Derek Hennin saved the penalty was remarkable enough, but even more astonishing was that the nine men of Wanderers managed to prevent the home side scoring again — and caused problems of their own, including a Phythian header that was not far off target.

Ridding’s first job the following morning was to drive up to the North East to sign Sunderland goalkeeper Johnny Bollands for £6,000.

Survivors of the Munich air disaster in February 1958 attended the unveiling of a memorial at Old Trafford to the eight players and three officials of Manchester United and the eight journalists who died in the disaster.

The ceremony was given no advanced publicity to allow the survivors — manager Matt Busby and players Dennis Viollet, Bobby Charlton, Albert Scanlon, Harry Gregg, Bill Foulkes and Ken Morgans plus two others who had not played since the crash, Jackie Blanchlower and Johnny Berry — to pay their respects in private.