Both managers will be eager to get some points after disappointing starts to the season. Former Wanderer Phil Brown has so far suffered two defeats this season; the first against Chelsea (a respectable 2-1 at Stamford Bridge) and a midweek 5-1 battering by Tottenham Hotspur at the KC Stadium, including a hat–trick from Jermain Defoe.

Yesterday Phil Brown told the official Hull City website;

“Tomorrow represents the start of the season for us. We’ve had two games against two of the best teams in the country. We’ve got nothing from those games apart from pride in the first and a little bit of a lesson in the second.

“I took the lads for a little hike this morning and took them down to Boothferry Park. It’s quite alarming when you think that ten years ago, that was the state of this football club.”

The trip to Boothferry Park was to remind the players how far the club had come over the last decade, although it may have just made them think about how strange their manager can be.

Brown concluded,

“At this moment in time, we’ve got to make sure that the first win comes as soon as possible to take a little bit of pressure off people.

Tomorrow is a big game for us and Bolton represent tough, quality opposition who have been there and are now a model for a lot of clubs.”

I presume that Phil is saying, like Bolton, Hull have been in the lower division and battled their way to the top division. Whether Bolton are a ‘model for a lot of clubs’ is open to debate.

Bolton will be without Gardner who has suffered a hamstring injury which may take he another 2 or 3 weeks to recover from. Joey O’Brien (knee) and Ricardo Vaz Te are definitely out too. Gretar Steinsson could make a return having missed the opening match, he scored against The Tigers last time Bolton met them at The Reebok Stadium, 1–1 was the final score.

Last time Bolton travelled to the KC Stadium they won with a single goal. Hopefully The Wanderers will do the same today.

BWFC Prediction

Hull City 0–2 Bolton Wanderers

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Bolton Wanderers play hosts to Sunderland Association at The Reebok Stadium in the opening game of the season. Bolton’s summer signings have a better chance for a place in the starting 11 as Gavin McCann and Andy O’Brien may be out due to injury. Bolton’s latest signing Lee Chung–Yong is very unlikely to make the start, but if he is on the bench I have a sneaky feeling that he will come on for the last 5 minutes.

Sunderland have their own injury problems — their first choice goalkeeper, Craig Gordon, will be on the bench with Marton Fulop starting between the sticks. Winger Andy Reid and defender Paul McShane are also unlikely to feature. The Black Cats new boss, Steve Bruce, has had a summer spending spree; including former Spurs striker Darren Bent who cost £10m.

Sunderland’s Danny Collins seems to think he knows everything about The Wanderers. He told the official Sunderland website;

“I’ve played against Bolton a few times and you know what you’re going to get from them – quite a few long balls, balls clipped into Kevin Davies and Elmander.

“They play to their strengths and will look to cause us problems off the front two. I’ve played against Kevin a few times and he’s a handful – he’s a big strong lad who’s done well at Bolton.

“We know what to expect when we go down there. I think perhaps the likes at Stoke looked at Bolton when they came up – teams who aren’t ready for a battle are going to struggle.”

This will be the 140th time that Bolton and Sunderland have played each other. We can only hope that Bolton can defeat the Black cats for the 50th time.

BWFC24’s Prediction

Bolton Wanderers 1 – 1 Sunderland

A confident start by the Wanderers with plenty of goal scoring opportunities for Elmander and Davies that batter the woodwork. Darren Bent to get Sunderland’s equaliser in the last 10 minutes.

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Bolton Wanderers verses Hibernian is being billed as Jussi Jaaskelainen’s testimonial. The idea of having a testimonial match for Jaaskelainen was not because he is leaving and hanging up his boots. It is more of a celebration of Jussi’s service to the club after joining The Whites in 1997. The celebrations will continue into the evening with dinner being served in the Premier Suite. You can join Jussi, team–mates and former BWFC squad member for dinner for just £82.50.

When it was announced that Hibernian Football Club were to play at The Reebok Jussi told the Bolton News website;

“I am extremely proud of what I have achieved at Bolton Wanderers and it has been tremendous to represent this club for as long as I have done.”

Bolton’s goalkeeper also said that he was looking forward to meeting fellow countryman and former Wanderer Mixu Paatelainen, but poor Mixu was sacked from his managerial position at Easter Road. Mixu may make an appearance, not as the Hibernian manager but as one of the former Bolton players that are to appear in the Legends Match. It would be great to hear his name being sung to ‘No Limits‘ by 2 Unlimited.

The Legends Match will involve a number of Burnden Park greats including; former captian Gudni Bergsson, Love God Ivan Campo, Claus Jensen, pie eater Tony Kelly, BWFC academy’s David Lee and Nicky Spooner (maybe Jimmy Philips too), Gerry Taggart, eighties striker John Thomas, Alan Thompson (who scored the best goal on the day that Bolton lost to Liverpool in the League Cup at Wembley in 1995), Andy Walker (the great striker who unfortunately broke his leg, but still managed to raise a crutch to the Burnden terraces after chants of his name).

Alas John McGinlay has not been mentioned on the official Bolton Wanderers website, but you never know if he will make a special appearance to make the ladies swoon. The last I heard is that Super John was in Ohio as the Cincinnati Kings assistant coach.

Other notable Wanderers that will make an appearance include the infamous Frank Worthington (see below) and nineties goalkeeper Keith Branagan. Local boxer Amir Khan is also said to be making a ’special appearance’.

The Legends Match kicks off at 1:15pm and Bolton take on Hibs at a more traditional 3:00pm start.

It should be a grand day out for Wanderers fans of all ages.

The “Beautiful Worthington Goal”

Read more about the Legends Match and Jussi’s Testimonial against Hibs on the official Bolton Wanderers website.

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This is the first game since Sammy Lee’s departure and caretaker manager Archie Knox may have problems with selecting potential goal scorers with Anelka and Wilhelmsson both doubtful due to injuries picked up during international duty.

Squad selection is likely to be reminiscent of Sam Allardyce days with Nolan and Speed making a return and Ivan Campo feeding Diouf and Davies with accurate long balls to catch Arsenal off guard at the back.

Bolton’s recent performance should not be forgotten either. In their last Premier League match, against Chelsea, Bolton showed a willingness and commitment that should have earned them at least a point, but a clumsy error in defence gave Chelsea the only goal.

As Knox told BWFC’s official website:

“It was a good performance against Chelsea albeit the result wasn’t the right one. Hopefully, we will take a little bit of encouragement, despite it being a defeat, from the performance.

“It’s all fine patting yourself on the back having lost a game, but that doesn’t put any points on the board. You can only pat yourself on the back when you have achieved something.”

With talk like that I could get to like the temporary boss.

Archie also admitted that The Prem is a difficult league, rather like Sammy Lee, was he making early excuses for what some will take as certain defeat for The Wanderes.

“They are all massive games in the Premier League – there’s not one game where you would say ‘Thank God we are playing them!’

“Every game is a massive game but there’s no harder task than Arsenal away.”

Statistically Bolton should loose 3-1 today after being ahead at half-time (0-1 obviously), let’s all hope that that is not the case.

BWFC Prediction : Arsenal 1 – 1 Bolton Wanderers

At the time of writing SkyBet are offering 12-1 for a Bolton win and 9-2 for a draw. It could be a good time to take advantage of Skybet’s Free £20 Bet!

Don’t forget “The Premiership is upside down“, sing it loud and with great pride.

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