BWFC Flashback: Walter Zenga to Replace Gary Megson?

Back when Gary Megson was sacked as Bolton Wanderers manager in December 2009, the world was a better place. We were a Premier League outfit, and an established one at that.

Granted, things had not been rosy in the garden since Sam Allardyce broke our hearts to leave. Chairman Phil Gartside had picked the then-Leicester manager Megson to replace Big Sam, much to the chagrin of many supporters.

Megson's reign was tumultuous, although the club survived. This was his objective and he achieved that, to his credit. However, during his third year in charge, a 2-2 draw with Hull City left our glorious club third from bottom in the Premier League and the former West Brom boss felt the supporters ire for the last time, and was relieved of his duties the next morning.

Back in 2009, Wanderers were linked with names such as former Wigan boss Paul Jewell, who coincidentally was at the Reebok to watch the game and was considered a strong candidate alongside Darren Ferguson, Alan Curbishley and Gareth Southgate, whilst some fans appealed to the club to aim high and go for former Manchester City manager Mark Hughes along with former Bolton striker Owen Coyle, then making waves at neighbours Burnley.

Jewell soon ruled himself out, speaking to the Daily Mail thusly:

"I find it embarrassing as I was at the Hull game with my son as a guest of Gary. There was no ulterior motive

I just thought it would be an interesting game to watch. I am not one of those managers who sits in the stands to be seen or to put any kind of pressure on other managers."

However, another name soon emerged. The Premier League was in love with Italian managers including Fabio Capello, Carlo Ancelotti, Gianfranco Zola and Roberto Mancini, and reports from Serie A claimed that Zenga has been approached. Indeed our very own Bolton News ran with the story soon after.

The former Italy goalkeeper had managed extensively in Europe and further afield, including Gaziantepspor, New England Revolution, Steaua Bucharest, Red Star Belgrade, Dinamo Bucharest and Palermo.

However as we now know, Zenga was overlooked in favour of Coyle, whose time at Bolton can best be described as 'disappointing', with a fair splash of 'disastrous' thrown in for good measure.

The Italian went on to manage in the Middle East with Al-Nassr, the similarly named Al-Nasr, before joining his last club Al-Jazira, who relieved him of his command in 2014.

Walter Zenga - Career Stats