Jay Spearing

Don't think he would have performed better than Allen. Allen has won possession back more times than anyone else in the league (check his player thread), and he was being played out of position.

That's why I didn't say better and said 'as well as'

We will never know though.

That's why I didn't say better and said 'as well as'

We will never know though.

Ok. I don't think he would have performed as well as Allen either then. Obviously we're just speculatin' here.

Ok. I don't think he would have performed as well as Allen either then. Obviously we're just speculatin' here.

I don't think we would have noticed an apparent difference to be honest although stats might have shown otherwise.

Just possible that if Jay stayed the Allen money could have been spent where really needed.

In saying that Brendan will as always going to buy some of 'his' players so Allen was likely to be one of them.

Just possible that if Jay stayed the Allen money could have been spent where really needed.

In saying that Brendan will as always going to buy some of 'his' players so Allen was likely to be one of them.

Maybe. So hard to say though. Who knows if Borini hadn't broken his foot and scored a few goals, maybe we'd be doing better so that 15m might not have been too necessary elsewhere. Always hard to say.

Pointless looking back wasn,t good enough end of story ,would not have improved us at all if he had stayed ,nice lad and all that.

Pointless looking back wasn,t good enough end of story ,would not have improved us at all if he had stayed ,nice lad and all that.

Exactly.

He falls into the Ronnie Whelan category.

Not noticed until he's not there.

For me he's more like Andy Carroll - only supposed to make a difference once he left.

When he was here, he was hardly the player we needed.

Spearing - a lot of heart and desire put not the greatest of ability.

Did well alongside Lucas but was awful alongside Adam

Funny seeing some posts in a Bolton forum in comparison to what some posters have to say about him here:

It goes from this:

Absolute master stroke of a signing. One of Coyle's last positive impacts on the club. Very good at taking payers on, getting tackles in, first touch is great. Would be first name on the team sheet for me. Imagine him with Holden alongside him. I hope we sign him permanently.

To this:

He's an honest lad. He tries hard. I think he thinks he's better than he is. His passing is awful, yet he tries to overcomplicate it frequently.

Defensively I think Andrews is better.

And this:

Bit sloppy in possession sometimes, but he's perfectly fine for us.

And this:

He is good at breaking play up. Better suited to a 5 man midfield so he can just sit in front of the back 4 but struggles IMO in a 4-4-2 when ever he crosses the half way line. I think he will be better if Holden ever comes back and to the form he was.

We're talking about the Championship, remember.

To be honest Diego I don't give a sh*t what Bolton fans think of him our how it's relevant to how he played for us.

You don't rate him that's fair enough.

Others do so no real need to trawl Bolton websites to 'back up' your argument.

To be honest Diego I don't give a sh*t what Bolton fans think of him our how it's relevant to how he played for us.

You don't rate him that's fair enough.

Others do so no real need to trawl Bolton websites to 'back up' your argument.

I'm not backing up my argument with this, as of course even their fans have different opinions about him, I just went around to see how he was doing there.

Apparently not setting the world alight but doing a decent job for a struggling Championship team. IMO, a bit below his standards (I would expect him to have a solid EPL career at some smaller club), but not very far from it.

Didn't think he cut it at the top level myself, reckon he would be as over run as any other midfielder in our formation has been so far this season.

Can't see how having him back would improve us to be honest.

Really nice lad, but personally don't consider him better than any of our current options in the middle of the park.

If Sahin & Henderson can't get much of a sniff, I can't see Spearing doing so unfortunately.

Spearing - a lot of heart and desire put not the greatest of ability.

Well right now that's exactly what we're missing, a bit of F***ing heart and desire especially in the middle of the park.

Well right now that's exactly what we're missing, a bit of F***ing heart and desire especially in the middle of the park.

Can't disagree with that at all.

Not for me i'm afriad. 

Limited player who struggled last season when given his chance to shine.  What's more, he's edging 25 now and he should be at the peak of his career; instead he's still in the 'promising youngsters' bracket. 

I don't doubt his passion for the club, but his ability isn't good enough. Cash in and move on.

Jay Spearing named Bolton's player of the season

Nice one Jay!

Could have saved us 15m but oh well..

Spearing has a good short passing game. He should have been given a chance here before we went out and bought Joe Allen. That £15M would have been better spent elsewhere.

Still he has got games under his wing now and hopefully next season he is better for it and we give him the chance.

I see something in his game that makes me think he can have a good premier league career and it might as well be with us.

Pleased for the lad, great attitude and hard work does have a good reward.

Should be back ina Red Jersey next season.

Missed his fight in the middle start of the season.

Love Jay's attitude, fight and commitment, don't think any of those could ever be questioned. Always thought he would fall just short (no pun intended) of the level we need and still have that opinion.

As for bringing in Allen as his virtual replacement, it certainly does look like £15m poorly spent at the moment.

Love Jay's attitude, fight and commitment, don't think any of those could ever be questioned. Always thought he would fall just short (no pun intended) of the level we need and still have that opinion.

As for bringing in Allen as his virtual replacement, it certainly does look like £15m poorly spent at the moment.

 I think if he comes back Spearing may end up being an extremely viable alternative to Lucas if we can't go out and buy a replacement. Joe Allen isn't really a holder, but nonetheless I expect him to cement a starting berth next season.

That's awesome for Jay. Would have preferred it if he had been loaned to a PL club, but having that kind of success is good stuff regardless.