Premiership Betting Preview for the 2007/08 Season - Bolton Wanderers
2nd Jul 2007, 14:19
Forbes magazine’s annual rich list of football clubs published in March of this year showed that ten of the top twenty-five most valuable football clubs in the world play in the Premiership. Their relative positions in that elite group correlate closely with success on the field, underlining the close relationship between spending power and success, the prevailing philosophy of ‘speculate to accumulate’ seems to hold true. The frenetic horse-trading of the summer months is the most important phase in the process of Premiership clubs reorganising and strengthening their squads, providing ante-post players with vital clues to next season’s competition. Keep checking the Premiership market at PinnacleSports.com to see where the smart money is going.
Sammy Lee Facing Tough Transitional First Season as Bolton Boss
Bolton Wanderers start the new season under the management of Sammy Lee, who replaced his old boss Sam Allardyce at the end of last season. Allardyce had spent eight years in charge of the Trotters, in which time he lifted them from the Championship (then Division One) into the Premiership for six consecutive seasons. During his tenure Wanderers enjoyed two UEFA Cup campaigns, playing in Europe for the first time in the club’s history, and reaching the League Cup final in 2004, where they lost to Middlesbrough.
It was the lack of silverware that Allardyce cited as his motivation for moving to Newcastle United, who paradoxically are probably the biggest under-achiever in English football. Lee now has the difficult job of impressing his own style on Bolton, and stepping out of the shadows of Allardyce, no easy task given that ‘Big Sam’ was such an imposing character.
The direct and uncompromising style of football is unlikely to change, and Lee has continued the policy of signing under-performing players from all corners of the globe on free or low-cost transfers. Lee’s ability to manage this melting-pot of nationalities he has inherited will be one of his biggest tests. He will of course be familiar with all his personnel have worked at the club for two seasons as assistant coach, but the role of manager conveys much greater responsibility and he will be viewed very differently once he enters the minefield of team selection.
Lee started his tenure of the club by releasing four players who had reached their sell-by date – ex-Man Utd midfielder Quinton Fortune, utility player Henrik Pedersen, Premiership journeyman, David Thompson and Cesar Martin who has never able to make his mark at the club. Central defender, Tal Ben Haim, has also left the club, but against Lee’s wishes. The Israel international was a key player last season, and will certainly be missed, as he begins a new career at Chelsea.
To date, Sammy Lee has bought several players on free or low-cost transfers who fit the Bolton mould such as ex-Villa duo, Gavin McCann and Jlloyd Samuel, while Gerald Cid and Blerim Dzemaili join having signed pre-contracts under Allardyce. Cid is a 24 year old French central defender, with just eleven Ligue starts, while despite being only 21 years old, Dzemaili made 111 appearances for FC Zurich and seven for the Swiss national side.
The 2007/08 season could prove pivotal for Bolton Wanderers. The decision of Allardyce to leave the club suggests that he felt he had achieved as much as he could with the resources available, and in the absence of plans for stadium extension or takeover. Unless the club does move forward by growing its fan-base or attracting new investment, it could struggle to maintain its place as a top-side and this season will either see the club adapt or fall behind more progressive Premiership rivals. Accordingly PinnacleSports.com price Bolton at 401.00 to take the title, one of eight clubs at the bottom of their outright market.