Bolton Wanderers and Social Media: Are things as bad as they look?

Following our mid-week loss to West Ham in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night, masses of our fans are beginning to question the current state of things at our beloved Bolton Wanderers on and off the pitch. Despite the panic, this is the case for most clubs when things go from bad to worse in terms of results and the reaction is something which many will have anticipated, whereas those whose views are less developed, less thought through, less mature and from a narrower perspective haven't. Instead, they've caused rather an over-dramatic stir across social media platforms which is slowly becoming a horrible place to be on a Saturday at 5pm or a Tuesday night after a Bolton game, and sadly, its now regardless of the result.

Many see us as notorious for having an extremely negative set of fans, however, I beg to differ. You only have to look at the fans of Premier League clubs who go into meltdown week in week out, and their problems are nothing compared to ours. What I'm trying to say is such a reaction is normal and we are no different to any other club when there's a supposed crisis going on. However, the reaction itself is having such a negative impact on things, that many are now being brainwashed into believing numerous theories of where the problem lies at Bolton, ranging from formations, tactics, management and ownership but in reality, no-one knows the answer and its therefore mostly just un-needed and unwanted speculation.

As a topic discussed on one of our recent podcasts, it's wise to ignore the over-dramatics of many of our super fans and leave them to have their own opinions and don't be fooled into believing some of the rubbish that gets thrown around Twitter and Facebook on a weekly basis and remain impartial, yet stick to your own personal opinion and don't be persuaded or influenced by those who claim that their explanation is the answer to our unanswered questions when in reality, it's only making things worse.

This is particularly relevant for our younger supporters who are easily swayed by things that they see posted online,and as a subject I touched on in my social media piece in which I emphasised the importance of not making things seem unnecessarily worse who are yet to experience the emotional rollercoaster of being a Wanderers fan, we could do without it being such a negative experience from such a young age for our younger audience. However, not knowing any wiser, particular sets of fans have sadly encouraged the naive youngsters to promote their views on behalf of them by slapping it all over Twitter and Facebook which has caught on and now divides the supporters, none of which should never happen at a family club like ours.

Ideally, each supporter has their own opinion, but when things are bad enough on the pitch at the minute, lets not overemphasise it and turn ourselves in to a laughing stock online. In doing so, there are knock on consequences such as when those who rival us most pick up on this and gladly share our misfortunes with their fanbase, one thing leads to another and all of a sudden, we're one of the most dis-liked fan bases across the country, so lets not let that happen unnecessarily eh?

I also dislike the fact that even our club social media admins are being targeted for doing their jobs and continuing to present us in a positive light and yet all some seem to do is pick holes in it and it's really not fair. I struggle to understand how such a reaction can come from a few losses, lighten up guys, it's not over yet, not for a long while, everyone knows what its like to lose and yeah, its upsetting and annoying, but it's not the end of the world.

My point is that social media seems to be having a huge impact on how our global fanbase is viewing us from a distance and those who live locally and perhaps can't make it to games are similarly entirely mislead. Of course, we're not brilliant at the minute having not scored or won in five, but even so, there's still plenty of opportunities to take positives from recent games in which we have occasionally dominated or just generally played well in. There's also still plenty of time to pick up a significant amount of points before the season's out to provide us with a respectable finish, so let's not rule ourselves out just yet.

I'm hoping that the current mood amongst the fans is temporary and is purely based on recent results and isn't going to become a regular thing, regardless of whether we lose or not. Adapting to life back in the Championship was never going to be easy, and yes, questions may be asked of the manager, that's natural following a run of defeats at any club, but to call for Parky's head is down right stupid in my opinion. To conclude then, let's not jump the gun lads and lasses, let's hope things pick up on the pitch and can then push on starting tomorrow with a win. As you were.

Cheer up, it's the weekend!

COYWM.