Search: 'Ivan Campo'

After a decade in the top flight Bolton seem destined for relegation, but Owen Coyle’s team are capable of conjuring up an unlikely belief and beating anyone on their day, argues Jon Callow

In August 2001, the Liverpool goalkeeper Sander Westerveld brought his career at the club to an early close with a late blunder that sent newly promoted Bolton Wanderers to the top of the table just three games into their current Premier League stint. Establishing themselves in the top division after years of ups and downs, Bolton became a tricky fixture for their distinguished guests. Liverpool collected just five points from their next five visits
to the Reebok.

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There’s less at stake in the East Anglian derby than there once was, and discontent is in the air at the end of poor seasons for both clubs, but Ipswich are at least cheered by the prospect of pushing their neighbours closer towards the third tier and by the imminent ousting of an unpopular manager, as Csaba Abrahall witnessed

It can’t have escaped your attention that the BBC recently moved Countryfile to prime-time on Sunday evenings. I’m not sure why, as it seemed the perfect accompaniment to coffee and croissants in its late-morning slot, but I imagine the unavailability of a large section of the agricultural community twice a year proved too detrimental to the viewing figures. The East Anglian derby hasn’t been played on a Saturday for 11 years and the scene at Diss station on this spring Sunday morning, rural-accented supporters in blue and white, green and yellow, heading to football instead of listening to John Craven’s views on otters, has become a common one.

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{mosimage} That didn’t last long. There will be no more jokes about Big Sam and Little Sam at Bolton – but Chris Deary wonders whether Gary Megson will become the biggest joke of all

With the nation picking over the bones of England’s hat-trick of sporting failures in football, rugby and Formula One, it was a good week for Bolton to bury the bad news. Sammy Lee had managed just three wins from 14 games since taking over from Sam Allardyce in April, leaving Wanderers second from bottom. Yet the timing of his departure on October 17 – ten days after his last game (a 1-0 defeat to Chelsea) and only three days before a daunting trip to Arsenal – suggests it was not just about results. 

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They are simple in theory but increasingly contentious in practice, believes Philip Cornwall, because so much more can be at stake when a spot-kick is awarded today

That you have never seen everything the game has to offer was underlined once more in Istanbul on Oct­ober 11. Something as simple, in theory, as a penalty produced a variation that was new to me.

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Ivan Campo moved to Bolton Wanderers to escape the torture of Real Madrid, but as Sid Lowe writes, he may have gone to the wrong place

When Iván Campo swapped Madrid for Bol­ton, few tears were shed – least of all by Campo himself. “Leaving meant I could start enjoying life again,” he said after his goalscoring Prem­iership debut. With Rodney Marsh’s words ringing in his ears, Campo may wish to revise that opinion now, but it was born of the sad truth that his Real Madrid career was as troublesome as his English adventure has turned out to be.

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