[Lord Snooty]

Huddersfield Town v Bolton Wanderers 
The Sky Bet Championship
Saturday September 19th - 3:00 ko
at The John Smith's Stadium

Huddersfield Town welcome Bolton Wanderers to the John Smith's Stadium on Saturday afternoon for what promises to be an exciting spectacle of free flowing, end to end, top class Championship football.


How much?

It's a category B fixture. Click here for a full list of prices.



A brief history of Bolton Wanderers: Founded in 1874 as Christ Church FC, the club found it difficult to find a permanent home, so after four years of wandering around they were renamed Bolton Wanderers. They settled into their home at Burnden Park, which would be theirs for 102 years, in 1895. This was the year after they got to their first FA Cup final and seven years after they became founder members of the Football League.

The Railway End at Burnden Park

The early decades of the 20th century saw them established as one of the country's top clubs, culminating with their first FA Cup win in one of the most famous finals ever. That was of course the 1923 final, the first at Wembley, when they beat West Ham 2-0 in front of an official crowd of 126,000, but which some guesstimates put at over 200,000.
They followed that with further Cup wins in 1926 and 1929.

The 1923 Cup Final

After the war, they became involved in probably the next most famous FA Cup final. 1953 at Wembley, cruising at 3-1 up against Blackpool, they were beaten by the skills of Stanley Matthews and the goals of Stan Mortensen as the Tangerines came back to win 4-3.
Bolton did however win it again in 1958 when two Nat Lofthouse goals beat Manchester United, just a few weeks after the Munich air disaster. Since then, they haven't won anything major. Yes they've won the odd divisional title, but nowt to get excited about.
They left Burnden Park in 1997 and moved into what was then known as the Reebok Stadium. They did qualify for Europe in the 2000s, beating the likes of Atlético Madrid, Red Star Belgrade and drawing away at Bayern Munich. But in 2012 they were relegated to the Championship, where they have struggled ever since.


Head to head




Bolton lead in the overall head to head with 46 wins to Town's 33, with 20 draws. That's in all competitions. In league matches it's 38 Charlton wins to Town's 33, with 19 draws.

The last meeting of the two clubs was at the end of December when the Trotters came to Huddersfield and despite an early Darren Pratley goal, they left empty handed after Jacob Butterfield equalised and then Nahki Wells netted a late winner to give us a 2-1 victory.

The most famous match betweenn the two clubs though didn't take place in Bolton, but at Leeds Road on the 12th of April 1926 when goals from Billy Smith, Alex Jackson and Clem Stephenson gave us the 3-0 win that secured our third consecutive League title, thus becoming the first Thrice Champions.


So what's new at The Macron Stadium? 
They are managed nowadays by Neil Lennon, the ex Crewe Alexandra midfielder who took on the role last October when Dougie Freedman got sacked.

They have two former Town players on their books. Neil Danns, who we had on loan from Leicester a few years ago and legendary, penalty shoot out star, Paul Rachubka.

Recent Form: Town are 20th in the league with 6 points and Bolton are 17th with 7.

(Last 6 matches)

Charlton 1-2 Town

Cardiff 2-0 Town

Town 0-1 QPR

Fulham 1-1 Town

Town 1-1 Brighton

Town 1-1 Blackburn

Bolton 0-0 Sheff Weds

Bolton 2-1 Wolves

Blackburn 0-0 Bolton

Bolton 1-1 Nottm Forest

MK Dons 1-0 Bolton

Boro 3-0 Bolton

[Denners]

Hard to believe we're the only team to have taken a point off Brighton!! A win on Saturday and we'll be in a glorious position of mid table obscurity!!

[Mirf]

Bit nervous about this one since Bolton have become a bit of a bogie side whenever they have visited Huddersfield.  They have travelled here 7 times in league action since Nov 1996 and have won 4, drawn 1 and lost only 2, scoring 14 goals against our 10.  So Town have only collected 7 home points from the 21 on offer, which is a poor return in anybody's language.

Granted Town performed well last time out, but I can't see any further than a draw at best on Saturday.

Hope like hell I'm wrong, because I just can't stand that Neil Lennon bloke.

[Mirf]

I didn't realise Bolton have only scored 3 goals this season in 7 games which is the worst in the entire Championship, but they have also only conceded 6.

So, taking everything into account I can see no further than a 0-0 draw, or hopefully a 1-0 win for Town.

As for Neil Lennon,  I still hate the bloke with a vengeance.

PS: Where's Wakey these days? - he said last week that he'd post more if I did.

[jjamez]

We've got to be positive again. If we go defensive then we're just taking a backward step again

[theo_luddite]

Methinks the Bolton that plundered many a point in the past is not the Bolton of today. Ginger Whinger is finding life isn't so rosy as when you can pick from the best playes in your country and throw a few foreign internationals into the mix and then at best have only one other side that can compete with you in opposition.

Having said that some players do seem to take more notice of what went before rather than what is on the field in front of them at times.

[Mirf]

O Wakey, Wakey, wherefoe art thou Wakey?

[theo_luddite]

He's married chap now Mirf with a married chap's jobs to do afore he get's let loose on here. Give 'im chance to draw breath.

[Mirf]

 Well blow me down I never knew - I presume he finally married Mitzi?

[sloppyattheback]

from the sunshine of Majorca ( it is work of course) those 6 points this week feel great despite having to follow them by text feed.