Money. The hangover from the Premier League days when our previous owners signed some ridiculous contracts has held us back a hell of a lot in the last 2 years preventing us from signing anyone else. We've only just managed to get shut of most of them, but Paul McShane is still hanging on. Nigel Pearson and Nick Barmby made some great signings on a tight budget but ultimately more money was needed to take us up. Aside form that, we haven't scored anything like enough goals and have relied on our defence to get us where we are. Our strikers are incredibly wasteful. Mixed really. A few of us didn't think much of him in the past but have given him a clean slate here. We were impressed that our club attracted a big name. He seems tactically astute and has made some good signings, but some are less than impressed with him bringing in his favourites and dropping decent players already here. Incredibly mixed. Some still think he's the best manager we've had, some despise him. I still remember him for good times and think he was probably affected by the people above him - who had absolutely no idea what they were doing and still refuse to acknowledge that they made any mistakes. Sone Aluko seems to be a hell of a signing on a free from Rangers. He was one of the best players in the SPL last season and it's immediately obvious that he is a cut above most players at this level in terms of technique. Striker Nick Proschwitz from German club Paderborn was probably the most high-profile, costing us £2.6m but he hasn't really settled in yet and the jury is still out on him. Stephen Quinn has just signed on deadline day which seems like a very good bit of business to me. Other than we've signed a few frees and loans. Ben Amos is a good 'keeper and Abdoulaye Faye looks like a good signing, but we haven't seen anything from reserve 'keeper Eldin Jakupovic or Ahmed Elmohamady yet. Alex Bruce divides opinion (being the manager's son of course). Personally I'm not a fan. Sone Aluko definitely. He's missed a few decent chances already but his ability to beat mean and hang onto the ball is incredible. I've always liked Martin Petrov and Lee Chung-Yong out wide. But I won't pretend to know a great deal about Bolton players' respective form. Looking at it on paper you have some great players, but it's impossible to say in this league. Nothing ever goes as expected so I've given up predicting. Again you just never know in this league. Both sides have had average starts and need to do better, and also lost to lower league opposition in the cup this week. I'd hope City can get a result, but our lack of goals might hold us back and if Bolton score early they could pretty easily get a 1-0 win.
