LH it has to come good for him quickly though

Well even if Coyle gets the shove in October or November, as I would expect if we are not within 9 points of the play-off zone at that point, whoever comes in should have no complaints about the quality or age of the squad or everyone being under contract.

When you look at the age of the squad, the size of the contracts and the lack of resale value he inherited from Megson, I think he's done pretty well, having spent no or little net money.

That's regardless of whether you consider him to be the best person to manage those players - a totally separate issue.

I'm going to try and be as fair to Petrov as possible here. (Correct me if i'm wrong Petrov, but this is how I see your position).

You are naturally very upset about our relegation and have commented that it is the worst thing to happen to our club in 20 years.

When people comment that maybe relegation isn't as bad as it seems, it bothers you. Particularly when people go on about how the squad is younger and the wage bill is reduced. At one point today you told WF that it was lies that the age had gone down. This thread has presented some facts, and after LH's comment you have changed your opinion and accept that the average age has gone down.

Fair play, because that it what debate is about.

I've said this before, that despite our very different opinions, I'll always debate with you for the very reason that when presented with facts you do take it on board.

There is a lot of discussion on here that is still very much based on opinion, and until the season starts no-one is right or wrong.

Lets just try and keep the personal stuff out of it.

I am not being personal. The age of the squad has gone down but it's lies to say we have a younger team. That being the starting 11. I am not talking about point Whatever of a %

Bringing up the MT / TRR thing was personal, and i'm sure that MT won't be too impressed when he catches up with this thread.

Its still younger. ).7 percent is a total of 7 years, and that is based on the team in your OP, which most wouldn't choose as our best 11.

Petrov, some players are still in that first XI or close to it who have been at the club over 2.5 years. I'm sure you wouldn't advocate getting rid of CYL, who is now 23 instead of 21, or Ricketts, who is now 30 instead of 28 (I think).

You can't expect any club to have replaced its playing staff lock stock and barrel in just 2.5 years, so organically, some players will be older. You need to factor that in to the calculation a bit.

I'm aware you can use the counter argument and say we should have let Knight and K Davies go at the end of their contracts, but it's debatable because neither has ever played at Championship level, and the decision may well have been different had we not been relegated. We just don't know.

It wasn't an insult it was just to remind him that he wasn't the best person to judge behaviour.

Then if you factor in that most of the youngsters were here before 2010. You can't count them in 2010 in your average yet they were here.

I didn't say insults - it was personal though. Anyway, the comment was more general as there is a lot of personal nonsense on here. I was very briefly on the receiving end of it in January, but haven't seen any directed my way for a long time.

Whatever we think of each others opinions, there is one indisputable fact :

We are all Bolton fans.

Then if you factor in that most of the youngsters were here before 2010. You can't count them in 2010 in your average yet they were here.
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What??? You asked a very clear question in your OP. I was the only person who answered it. My figure is the average age of the team that played on Coyle's first match. I couldn't edit the team to ignore players, because that was the team that played that night!!!!

Then if you factor in that most of the youngsters were here before 2010. You can't count them in 2010 in your average yet they were here.
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They were, but who's to say another manager would have introduced them into the first team squad rather than sign a cheapo squad player? If he's introduced them into the squad it's a fair thing to recognise because it was something he said he would do from the off, he has delivered on it to some extent, and we have had so few youth players graduate to the first team over the years it's not fair to say it would automatically have happened anyway.

I am not saying that the agenda of breeding your own I am against at all or having a younger squad. 99% of all managers would want that. It's clear wenger and recently saf are doing the same. You have to juggle that with performance on the pitch. The rumblings are beginning at the emirates. But wenger is proven at bringing in youth. Coyle needs time for that but it comes a massive second to what appears at 3pm on a saturday

It's ok to say we will be better off if he gets the boot in October but he will leaves us worse off than when he started as we by October for him to get the boot will be well behind. To go from a Premier League position to an ominous chance of promotion in the name of a handful of youngsters who may or may not make it and some younger players is not enough in my book

It's ok to say we will be better off if he gets the boot in October but he will leaves us worse off than when he started as we by October for him to get the boot will be well behind
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If you read my post again, I was talking specifically about being better off in comparison to Megson in terms of the average age of the squad, the number of players with a resale value, and the number of players who are locked into long term contracts to the club's detriment.

I realise we were in the PL when Megson was sacked. I realise we have been relegated since.

Ok apologies I miss understood your post read too many we are better off regardless posts recently and jumped to conclusions

Are you staying up for raw?

Petrov, I agree that if we find ourselves in a position where Coyle is sacked, then the season will be going badly. The thing is, no-one can stop Coyle being our manager at the start of the season - he just is.

I am by no means one of the 'we will walk this league' fans, but I do expect us to be close enough to the top so that sacking Coyle won't be necessary.

Petrov - am indeed - hoping to see Punk on the mic at the beginning. I love CM Punk. Punk and Jericho are my favourite promo guys.

Who's on the bill tonight???

Your right he just is. But until he proves me wrong on the football pitch. Regrettably he is.

CEF - dunno. But last week was a historic episode - the 1,000 weekly episode of Monday Night Raw, some big storylines came to a head, there is some fall out to enjoy, and the programme has now been permanently extended from 2 hours long to 3 hours.

Not sure about punk heel turn. He is too liked to be heel. Should be a more Austin style anti hero.
AJ as GM will be interesting and lesnar will be there

Right now enjoying a brilliant women's volleyball game, GB v Algeria. Just done to a final set. Superb. I love the Olympics sooo much!

Beach volley ball is a woman's sport and that I mean literally. Who wants to see men play it? Not me.

Petrov - he was popular during his last heel run. Didn't stop all that SES and Nexus stuff. He's just a class act. I think the Heels needed a new big name, and with Orton due back from suspension, it evens things up I guess.