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2008–09 Bolton Wanderers F.C. season

Bolton Wanderers 2008–09 football season From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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The 2008–09 season was Bolton Wanderers 10th season in the Premier League, and their eighth consecutive season in the top division of English football and covers the period from 1 July 2008 to 30 June 2009. As they failed to win the 2008–09 Premier League title it was the 70th time that they have competed at the top level without winning the title, the most of any club.

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The team kit for the 2008–09 season was produced by Reebok who were also the shirt sponsor. Unlike previous seasons, the new kit did not debut in the final home game of the 07–08 season. The new home kit is predominantly white with a blue upper third going over the shoulders. The new away kit is predominantly yellow with the same style over the shoulders, this time green. Due to no other club playing in a kit similar to the away design, no third choice kit was needed.

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Pre-season

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Bolton signed Fabrice Muamba from relegated Birmingham City for £5m and broke the club transfer fee record to sign Johan Elmander from Toulouse FC for £8.2m in a deal which saw Daniel Braaten move the other way as a makeweight. Riga Mustapha and Danny Shittu were also signed for undisclosed figures. Both Iván Campo and Stelios Giannakopoulos did not have their contracts renewed, leading Campo to write a public letter to Bolton fans on a website, expressing his regret at not being able to say goodbye to them.[1] He would later join Ipswich Town whilst Stelios joined Hull City. Andranik Teymourian also left on a free, joining Fulham, Abdoulaye Méïté joined recently promoted West Bromwich Albion for £2m and El Hadji Diouf made good his promise that he would leave the club[2] by joining Sunderland for £2.6m.

Bolton kicked off their pre-season programme by drawing 0–0 at local rivals Rochdale. Their next pre-season friendly, away to Tranmere Rovers was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. A convincing 5–0 defeat of Doncaster Rovers by a mostly first team squad was followed the next day by a mostly reserve squad beating local team Chorley 2–0. Pre-season was completed by a mini-tour of Greece, drawing 1–1 against previous UEFA Cup opponents Aris Thessaloniki before losing to AEK Athens 1–0.

25 July 2008 Rochdale 0–0 Bolton Wanderers Spotland Stadium
Report Attendance: 2,576
Referee: K. Hill
26 July 2008 Macclesfield Town 1–0 Bolton Wanderers Moss Rose
Hessey 70' Report Attendance: 1,023
Referee: Andre Marriner
2 August 2008 Chorley 0–2 Bolton Wanderers Victory Park
Report Džemaili 56'
Riga 85'
Attendance: 949
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Premier League

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Bolton got off to a winning start in the league opener at the Reebok Stadium against newly promoted Stoke City on 16 August, Gretar Steinsson and Kevin Davies scoring before Johan Elmander scored a debut goal in a 3–1 victory.

A week later Bolton travelled to Newcastle United but left with a 1–0 defeat. This was followed four days later by a home 2–1 Carling Cup defeat to League One side Northampton Town, a result not helped by the sending off of Gary Cahill. Bolton's first goalless draw of the season followed when West Bromwich Albion visited The Reebok.

After an international break, Bolton returned to action by facing Fulham at Craven Cottage but performed poorly in another 2–1 defeat, Kevin Davies scoring late on. Davies scored again a week later when Arsenal visited the Reebok Stadium but it was not enough in a 3–1 defeat. A third consecutive defeat came at Premier League champions Manchester United, a converted penalty, given in controversial circumstances, one of the goals in a 2–0 defeat.[3]

Bolton's second victory of the season came in the live game at West Ham on 4 October, Gary Cahill and a thirty five-yard free kick from Matthew Taylor adding to Kevin Davies' fourth goal of the season. A week later the local derby against Blackburn brought Bolton their second goalless draw.

The first reported murmurings of discontent amongst the fans against the manager followed a 2–0 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur in Harry Redknapp's first game in charge of the home team on 26 October.[4] and the team were jeered off after a last minute goal consigned them to another defeat on 29 October, 1–0 at home to Everton.[5]

The pressure was eased somewhat with a 2–0 derby victory over Manchester City on 2 November, a Richard Dunne own-goal adding to Ricardo Gardner's first league goal in six years. The match marked Jussi Jääskeläinen's 400th game for the club. A second successive win followed the week after, 1–0 away at Hull City and although a 2–0 followed at home to Liverpool, two more victories away at Middlesbrough and Sunderland brought the manager his first manager of the month award in the Premier League.[6]

Winning the award seemed to have a detrimental effect on the team as two successive defeats followed to high flying Chelsea and Aston Villa. The club's only victory of the month, 2–1 at home to Portsmouth was followed by two more defeats, a Boxing Day loss away to Liverpool and two days later at home to local rivals Wigan Athletic.

The New Year commenced with an early FA Cup defeat away to Sunderland. A week later Bolton held out for 84 minutes before losing 1–0 away at Arsenal. Another conceded late goal at home to Manchester United, this time in the 90th minute, made it four losses in a row but the run halted in the next game, a 2–2 draw away at Blackburn Rovers, now managed by former Bolton manager Sam Allardyce, although Bolton had been two goals up with half an hour left. A similar fate almost befell the team in the next home game against Tottenham Hotspur, Darren Bent scoring twice in two minutes to cancel out early goals from Sébastien Puygrenier and Kevin Davies. However, a late Davies goal gave Bolton their first win in more than a month.

The January transfer window saw three new players arrive and one player leave. Kevin Nolan, the team captain for three years, was sold to Newcastle United for £4,000,000. Kevin Davies replaced him as captain. Mark Davies arrived from Wolves for £1,200,000 and two loan signings, Puygrenier and Ariza Makukula arrived from Zenit St. Petersburg and Benfica respectively.

Due to international fixtures and the club's early departure from the FA Cup, only two games were played in February, a 3–0 away defeat to Everton and a 2–1 victory over West Ham, Bolton completing a double over the London side. Kevin Davies' goal in this game gave him his best ever goal haul for the season in league games in the top flight. He would go on to score twice more and finished the season as the club's leading marksman.

March saw four points collected, through a 1–0 victory over Newcastle United and a 1–1 draw at West Bromwich. These results bookended two successive defeats, a 2–0 away defeat to Stoke City and a 3–1 reverse to Fulham.

In April, a 4–1 win over Middlesbrough at the Reebok Stadium at the very beginning of the month would prove to be Bolton's last victory of the season. The week after, a visit to Chelsea saw Bolton recover from four goals down to almost snatch a draw, an injury time shot by Gary Cahill being cleared off the Chelsea line. A 1–0 result at Portsmouth was then followed by four successive draws stretching into May, Aston Villa, Sunderland and Hull City taking points at the Reebok whilst a local derby at Wigan Athletic. The season finished with a 1–0 derby defeat at Manchester City

Matches

Results by matchday

More information Matchday, Ground ...
Source: Statto.com
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss
16 August 2008 Bolton Wanderers 3–1 Stoke City Reebok Stadium
15:00 BST Steinsson 34'
K.Davies 41'
Elmander 45'
Report Fuller 90+3' Attendance: 22,717
Referee: Chris Foy
13 September 2008 Fulham 2–1 Bolton Wanderers Craven Cottage
15:00 BST Gera 15'
Zamora 41'
Report K.Davies 82' Attendance: 23,656
Referee: Steve Tanner
20 September 2008 Bolton Wanderers 1–3 Arsenal Reebok Stadium
17:30 BST K.Davies 14' Report Eboué 26'
Bendtner 27'
Denílson 87'
Attendance: 22,694
Referee: Steve Bennett
27 September 2008 Manchester United 2–0 Bolton Wanderers Old Trafford
15:00 BST Ronaldo 60' (pen.)
Rooney 77'
Report Attendance: 75,484
Referee: Rob Styles
5 October 2008 West Ham United 1–3 Bolton Wanderers Boleyn Ground
13:30 BST Cole 69' Report K.Davies 30'
Cahill 34'
Taylor 86'
Attendance: 33,715
Referee: Mike Dean
29 October 2008 Bolton Wanderers 0–1 Everton Reebok Stadium
20:00 GMT Report Fellaini 90' Attendance: 21,692
Referee: Phil Dowd
2 November 2008 Bolton Wanderers 2–0 Manchester City Reebok Stadium
16:00 GMT Gardner 77'
Dunne 88' (o.g.)
Report Attendance: 21,095
Referee: Mike Riley
8 November 2008 Hull City 0–1 Bolton Wanderers KC Stadium
15:00 GMT Report Taylor 50' Attendance: 24,903
Referee: Alan Wiley
15 November 2008 Bolton Wanderers 0–2 Liverpool Reebok Stadium
13:30 GMT Report Kuyt 28'
Gerrard 73'
Attendance: 24,893
Referee: Rob Styles
29 November 2008 Sunderland 1–4 Bolton Wanderers Stadium of Light
15:00 GMT Cissé 11' Report Taylor 18'
Cahill 21'
Elmander 39', 55'
Attendance: 35,547
Referee: Chris Foy
6 December 2008 Bolton Wanderers 0–2 Chelsea Reebok Stadium
15:00 GMT Report Anelka 9'
Deco 21'
Attendance: 22,023
Referee: Howard Webb
13 December 2008 Aston Villa 4–2 Bolton Wanderers Villa Park
15:00 GMT Agbonlahor 25', 67'
K.Davies 40' (o.g.)
Young 78'
Report Elmander 17'
K.Davies 86'
Attendance: 35,134
Referee: Alan Wiley
20 December 2008 Bolton Wanderers 2–1 Portsmouth Reebok Stadium
15:00 GMT Taylor 1'
Gardner 3'
Report Crouch 20' Attendance: 19,884
Referee: Martin Atkinson
26 December 2008 Liverpool 3–0 Bolton Wanderers Anfield
15:00 GMT Riera 26'
Keane 53', 58'
Report Attendance: 43,548
Referee: Alan Wiley
28 December 2008 Bolton Wanderers 0–1 Wigan Athletic Reebok Stadium
14:00 GMT Report Zaki 44' (pen.) Attendance: 23,726
Referee: Phil Dowd
10 January 2009 Arsenal 1–0 Bolton Wanderers Emirates Stadium
15:00 GMT Bendtner 84' Report Attendance: 60,068
Referee: Chris Foy
28 January 2009 Blackburn Rovers 2–2 Bolton Wanderers Ewood Park
20:00 GMT Warnock 66'
McCarthy 87'
Report Taylor 15'
K.Davies 35'
Attendance: 25,205
Referee: Mike Dean
31 January 2009 Bolton Wanderers 3–2 Tottenham Hotspur Reebok Stadium
15:00 GMT Puygrenier 31'
K.Davies 64', 87'
Report Bent 73', 75' Attendance: 21,575
Referee: Phil Dowd
7 February 2009 Everton 3–0 Bolton Wanderers Goodison Park
15:00 GMT Arteta 40' (pen.)
49', 90+4'
Report Attendance: 33,791
Referee: Peter Walton
21 February 2009 Bolton Wanderers 2–1 West Ham United Reebok Stadium
15:00 GMT Taylor 10'
K.Davies 11'
Report Parker 66' Attendance: 21,245
Referee: Steve Tanner
4 March 2009 Stoke City 2–0 Bolton Wanderers Britannia Stadium
19:45 GMT Beattie 14'
Fuller 73'
Report Attendance: 26,319
Referee: Mike Dean
14 March 2009 Bolton Wanderers 1–3 Fulham Reebok Stadium
15:00 GMT K.Davies 45+1' Report Johnson 42'
S.Davies 56'
Kamara 88'
Attendance: 22,117
Referee: Rob Styles
11 April 2009 Chelsea 4–3 Bolton Wanderers Stamford Bridge
15:00 BST Ballack 40'
Drogba 48', 63'
Lampard 60' (pen.)
Report A.O'Brien 70'
Basham 74'
Taylor 78'
Attendance: 41,096
Referee: Peter Walton
18 April 2009 Portsmouth 1–0 Bolton Wanderers Fratton Park
15:00 BST Kanu 78' Report Attendance: 20,158
Referee: Phil Dowd
25 April 2009 Bolton Wanderers 1–1 Aston Villa Reebok Stadium
15:00 BST Cohen 60' Report Young 43' Attendance: 21,709
Referee: Lee Probert
9 May 2009 Bolton Wanderers 0–0 Sunderland Reebok Stadium
15:00 BST Report Attendance: 24,005
Referee: Rob Styles
16 May 2009 Bolton Wanderers 1–1 Hull City Reebok Stadium
15:00 BST Steinsson 78' Report Fagan 47' Attendance: 25,085
Referee: Peter Walton

Table

More information Pos, Pld ...
Source: Premier League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
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FA Cup

3 January 2009 Sunderland 2–1 Bolton Wanderers Stadium of Light
15:00 GMT Jones 57'
Cissé 67'
Report Smolarek 79' Attendance: 20,685
Referee: Steve Bennett

League Cup

26 August 2008 Bolton Wanderers 1–2 Northampton Town Reebok Stadium
20:00 BST Nolan 82' Report Akinfenwa 22' (pen.), 28' Attendance: 7,136
Referee: Graham Laws

Squad statistics

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More information No., Pos. ...

Statistics accurate as of match played 24 May 2009

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Transfers

In

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Out

More information Date, Pos. ...

Loan in

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Loan out

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Kit Profile

Supplier: Reebok
Sponsor(s): Reebok

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References

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