A global journey…
Bolton Wanderers became the final English team to be knocked out of the UEFA Cup last night losing 1-0 at Sporting Lisbon having drawn the first leg 1-1.
There are no English teams left in the last eight which is a disappointment. We'll all have to become British and support Rangers!
Bolton put up a decent display last night in Lisbon but ultimately fell short. They had a makeshift team playing who performed admirably but it is the very makeshift nature of the side that I want to talk about.
With a view towards the weekend's crucial relegation battle against Wigan, Gary Megson left seven of his regular first team squad back in England to rest up for that game. Of course, I fully understand the reasoning behind that decision and I fully understand the importance of avoiding relegation, but I can't help but feel disappointed that an English team attached such little importance to a European competition.
The Bolton fans will be desperate to stay in the Premier League and a victory against Wigan would be a wonderful moment for them. However, as a football fan I can't believe that they won't be really upset that they didn't try to win the UEFA Cup. They had shown in their wonderful draw at Bayern Munich earlier in the competition that they can compete with the best and if they'd made the last eight, anything could have happened.
As this thread from a Bolton fans forum shows there was much discussion about the merits of the reserve players who played, but just one voice saying, "Why didn't we go for it?"
At around two hundred pounds for a return flight added to the cost of the tickets for the game, didn't the Bolton fans who travelled hoping for European glory deserve better? When did European competition become so unimportant?
This was a difficult one for Gary Megson to call. If he had played his full side and Davies or Nolan or Campo had been injured and had to miss the Wigan game he may have been pilloried. My feeling is that he wouldn't have been. My feeling is that the fans would have been pleased to see their club try to win something.
If they had played their full team and managed to get a result, the atmosphere around Bolton would certainly be more upbeat going into the weekend's crucial game than it will be now.
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