Bolton Wanderers, The Media, and the Ivan Campo Delusion

By: Chris C
Soccer City FC

With the recent release of Ivan Campo from the Bolton Wanderers Football Club, we Wanderers faithful have once again been associated with some form of deep-seated affection for the Spanish midfielder. Perhaps this is off-base, and perhaps entirely out of line; however, the ultimate truth is that there hasn’t been much of a love affair with Ivan Campo in recent years, and certainly not in this past season. This lifelong Trotters faithful, and indeed it may just been this one lifelong Trotters faithful, finds it a bit unappealing to be constantly linked with such an affection, and the release of the aging Spaniard came as a great relief, despite the new holes created.

For seemingly countless matches now, Campo has come and gone practically on his own whim, leaving nothing but the imprint of his mammoth hair and often times a fiery temper. With attempt after attempt, Campo’s fantastic playmaking ability slowed considerably, and his ability to keep up with the fast paced life in the Premier League midfield went straight along with it. This isn’t to say that Campo didn’t have a vital part to play in his early days with Bolton. Indeed, he was an extremely important part of the team that helped Bolton to avoid relegation in his first season in Wanderers colours. A performance that secured him a three year contract, and a further two year contract in 06/07. He seemed to have it all in those first couple of years – the great playmaking abilities, good defensive tactics, and a hairstyle that nobody could mimic. So what happened?

Really, it’s hard to say what went wrong for Campo and the Wanderers faithful. Perhaps it was his age catching up to him (though you really couldn’t tell from the hairline), or maybe his fiery temper that had reared its head on a few occasions these past couple of seasons? Ultimately, as times changed at the Reebok, Campo’s abilities became slower and outdated for the Wanderers’ style of play. With the departure of Big Sam, and soon thereafter, Little Sam, his inability to adapt to the Wanderers’ new style became blatantly obvious. This all lead to him making mistakes uncommon of the old Campo and a vast increase in time spent in his now common role of Ivan Campo: Substituted in the ‘70th. This isn’t an attempt to make Ivan Campo look bad, nor is it to make excuses for why Gary Megson let Campo go; however, it is important for Trotters’ fans everywhere to once and for all silence the preposterous notion that the so-called “Crowd Favourite” Ivan Campo was some sort of Wanderers legend that fans would flock just to get that fleeting glimpse of.

It’s true that Campo did produce this season (1 goal and an assist on a goal), and he has shown instances where he could be the old Campo that took the Reebok by slight drizzle in 2002/2003; however, he has looked more out of sorts than anything, and shown multiple times that he simply isn’t a good fit for the Bolton midfield. We all certainly wish him well in his next endeavors, but the Reebok certainly won’t be holding an Ivan Campo “End of an Era” memorial day anytime soon.