Marked for Toby Ritchie
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Aug 2038
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jacob Poytress
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bolton Wanderers lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad9 Aug 2038
A fracture rules Toby Ritchie out for 14 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bolton Wanderers will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad9 Aug 2038
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Scott Twine commits to Bolton Wanderers for another 2 years.
Squad9 Aug 2038
Scott Twine in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bolton Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom9 Aug 2038
8 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom2 Aug 2038
The statement thanked him for his efforts and wished him well, in that order and in about that many words. The search begins immediately.
Squad2 Aug 2038
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jacob Poytress
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bolton Wanderers lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom2 Aug 2038
Bolton Wanderers have nobody left to take training
Not an interim appointment — an institution with an empty coaching office. Somebody unfamiliar will run the sessions this week, and the question of how a club gets into this state is one the board will be asked and will not answer.
Squad2 Aug 2038
A fracture rules Toby Ritchie out for 21 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bolton Wanderers will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom2 Aug 2038
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
Squad2 Aug 2038
A muscle injury sidelines Xavier Simons for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Bolton Wanderers will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Jul 2038
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jacob Poytress
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bolton Wanderers lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match26 Jul 2038
Position 17, 31 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad26 Jul 2038
A fracture rules Toby Ritchie out for 28 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bolton Wanderers will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces19 Jul 2038
Anger at Bolton Wanderers spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad19 Jul 2038
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jacob Poytress
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bolton Wanderers lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad19 Jul 2038
A fracture rules Toby Ritchie out for 35 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bolton Wanderers will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Jul 2038
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jacob Poytress
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bolton Wanderers lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom12 Jul 2038
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Bolton Wanderers
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad12 Jul 2038
A fracture rules Toby Ritchie out for 42 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bolton Wanderers will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad12 Jul 2038
Scott Twine in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bolton Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jul 2038
Erwan Antonin falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Jul 2038
Jacob Poytress damages knee ligaments — 53 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 53 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Boardroom5 Jul 2038
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Squad5 Jul 2038
Toby Ritchie breaks a bone — 49 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 49 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market5 Jul 2038
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad5 Jul 2038
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Chris Forino commits to Bolton Wanderers for another 2 years.
Squad5 Jul 2038
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. James Roberts is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Boardroom5 Jul 2038
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Market5 Jul 2038
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Bolton Wanderers have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Boardroom5 Jul 2038
8 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Jun 2038
Jacob Poytress damages knee ligaments — 60 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 60 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match28 Jun 2038
Every point is an argument now for Bolton Wanderers
Position 17 and 31 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad28 Jun 2038
Toby Ritchie breaks a bone — 56 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 56 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Jun 2038
Jacob Poytress damages knee ligaments — 67 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 67 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The terraces21 Jun 2038
The mood at Bolton Wanderers has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad21 Jun 2038
Toby Ritchie breaks a bone — 63 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 63 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Jun 2038
Jacob Poytress damages knee ligaments — 74 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 74 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad14 Jun 2038
Toby Ritchie breaks a bone — 70 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 70 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom14 Jun 2038
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Bolton Wanderers
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad14 Jun 2038
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Bolton Wanderers may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad14 Jun 2038
Scott Twine was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market14 Jun 2038
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Xavier Simons signs something — a contract at Bolton Wanderers or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Jun 2038
Jacob Poytress damages knee ligaments — 81 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 81 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Boardroom7 Jun 2038
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
Squad7 Jun 2038
Toby Ritchie breaks a bone — 77 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 77 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad7 Jun 2038
Scott Twine in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bolton Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom7 Jun 2038
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad7 Jun 2038
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jacob Poytress commits to Bolton Wanderers for another 2 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 May 2038
Jacob Poytress damages knee ligaments — 88 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 88 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match31 May 2038
Position 17, 31 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad31 May 2038
Toby Ritchie breaks a bone — 84 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 84 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 May 2038
Jacob Poytress damages knee ligaments — 109 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 109 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad10 May 2038
Toby Ritchie breaks a bone — 105 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 105 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad10 May 2038
Scott Twine in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bolton Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom10 May 2038
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad10 May 2038
Erwan Antonin falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Boardroom10 May 2038
Day 9 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.