The Bad – Archive
Manchester City…1 Bolton Wanderers…0
4th November 1995
It was November 4th, unofficially Bonfire Night for many, and the day when Bolton fans were hoping for a derby victory at Maine Road to rocket them up the table.
It must have been a sight for sore eyes when the Wanderers team bus rolled into Moss Side on this cold, gloomy November Saturday. City hadn’t won a single game and found themselves rock bottom of the Premier League with their near neighbours from down the A666 only a few points better off. Surely for City this was the answer to their problems, a home banker against Bolton.
As for Bolton, well they may have been struggling but a certain Serb midfielder had boosted the ranks just a week previous, and had played an important part in a backs-to-the-wall win against Arsenal at Burnden Park. Sasa Curcic looked Premiership quality in the middle of the park in that 1-0 triumph, whilst striker John McGinlay ended his goal drout when he delicately stroked the ball over David Seaman like a marksman of the highest calibre. So, whilst City were looking at this game as a banker, so too were Bolton.
Our day started with the train journey into Manchester. Never before had I visited Maine Road to watch Bolton. Our paths had never crossed in my time watching the Whites, in fact it was the first encounter with City since a 2-2 draw in March 1980. That year saw Bolton relegated to the Second Division never to return until now. We departed the train and went straight into the ‘Moon Under The Water’ for the first of a few good bevvies around Manchester’s Deansgate. Our ale was soaked up with a couple of burgers from McD’s and then we were on our way to the match in a black cab – cutting it fine at 2.45pm. As ever the eternal pessimist, I along with my companions for the day just knew that we would be the first team to lose to City. So often in our history have we faced a team who were down and out and have ended their bad run.
Unfortunately, due to the meagre allocation of tickets, we had to take up our positions in the Main Stand, away from the Wanderers following who were to our left in the North Stand. We were unsure whether to let ourselves be known, but by kick-off we were amongst 20+ Bolton fans scattered in a close proximity.
The game started quite well for the Whites and McGinlay had a great chance to score, hitting his shot straight at Immel. Whether it was the sight of the German keeper’s cheesey flat-top hairstyle or just poor finishing, we will never know. But you just knew that it had ‘rued miss’ all over it.
At right-back for Bolton was another new lad, Steve McAnespie, signed a few weeks earlier from Raith Rovers for £900k. Though a little small and frail in build, he had started well for the Whites and looked a good prospect. However, he was soon involved and at fault as Niall Quinn robbed him, beat him and set-up “NICKY SUMMERBEE” to slot in the opening goal. The City fans went mental with joy and obvious relief. We took some stick from those around us, all in good humour of course – we laughed and reminded the Blues that we still had the second half to resurrect the match.
With Georgi Kinkladze demonstrating some sublime skills and tricks in City’s midfield and Sasa Curcic showing glimpses of his own brilliance with equally impressive jinxing dribbles, you had to wonder what both players were doing at the foot of the table. For Bolton fans you wondered what the fuck Roy McFarland was doing minutes into the second half when he took Curcic off! Cries of “you don’t know what you’re doing” rang aloud from the North Stand, McFarland was hijacking any chance of a comeback.
As it happened the Whites still managed a few efforts on goal, including a blazing miss from David Lee. But the game fizzed and spluttered to the final whistle, and City finally had their first win of the season.
It meant that Bolton now had eight points from their first twelve games. Not great, but not exactly rubbish. However, the defeat to City was just the start of things, with the Whites picking up just two points out of a possible 30 in their next ten matches. In fact during the next home game when West Ham notched their third goal, the first clear chants of “McFarland Out” began.
It was a crappy journey home from Manchester and the evening’s Bonfire Night celebration in Bolton went with a limp bang... the same sorry way that the Whites’ season was heading.
This story was written in 2002 and was set to appear in issue 35 of White Love which was never published.