Blake says Davo can soar with wingers (From Leigh Journal)

Blake says Davo can soar with wingers

3:00pm Friday 2nd July 2010 in Bolton Wanderers By Gordon Sharrock

NATHAN Blake is tipping Kevin Davies to benefit from Martin Petrov’s arrival at the Reebok.

The former Wanderers striker has hailed the Petrov deal as a “great signing” that will add new dimensions to Owen Coyle’s attack and believes Davies, in particular, will prosper.

The Whites have struggled desperately for goals in recent seasons – a problem highlighted by the fact that Davies and Johan Elmander – the first choice pairing at the start of the last campaign, managed just seven and three Premier League goals respectively.

But Blake is predicting a significant change for the better.

“Petrov is an exciting player – I really rate him,” said the former Wales international, congratulating the Bolton hierarchy on their capture of the Bulgarian international on a free transfer from Manchester City.

“When I heard they were doing the deal I texted Brett Warburton (Wanderers vice-chairman) and told him he’d be a great signing.

“He’s the sort of creative player Bolton have missed for the last couple of years.

“When I played at Bolton we always had creative players, players who could produce something special. And when Sam Allardyce was manager – even though he preferred to play in a certain way – he always had a player or two who could do something different. He signed players like Youri Djorkaeff and Jay-Jay Okocha, but Bolton haven’t had anyone of that ilk since Nicolas Anelka.

“Now they’ve got Petrov and I’m sure Kevin Davies will be delighted and the prospect of having him and Chung-Yong Lee creating chances from wide positions. I know I would.

“When I was at Bolton I loved having midfield players such as Per Frandsen, Alan Thompson and John Sheridan around me, and when it came to wide players it was great having the likes of Michael Johansen and Scott Sellars providing the service. We were really fortunate that Colin Todd pulled in so may quality players.

“That’s why I think Kevin should be setting himself a target of 12 goals as a bare minimum next season. He’s probably lost a bit of the mobility he had a few years ago but he’s still a handful, difficult to play against and he really does make things his own.

“And if the likes of Petrov and Chung-Yong Lee can get quality balls into him, he’ll score a lot more goals than he has been doing.”

In 124 games for Wanderers between December 1995 and October 1998, Blake scored 48 goals – 12 of which came in the second of two Premiership stints – and, although now based in his native South Wales where he divides his time working as a property developer and coaching young footballers, he still holds Bolton dear to his heart. Despite concerns over the way things have gone for his former club in recent seasons, he is optimistic that under Coyle’s charge, they can regain a more respectable position in the Premier League.

“It’s been Groundhog Day at Bolton for the last season or two,” he said.

“I never really worried that they’d go down and they always just managed to stay up, which they should because they are a well-established Premier League club. But whenever I spoke to the fans they always said the football wasn’t good and all they had to look forward to was avoiding relegation.

“The trouble is that, if you don’t improve, sooner or later that trapdoor is going to get you. And Bolton just can’t afford to go down.

“But I’ve heard a lot of good things about Owen Coyle and I think he’s got the football ethos that will be more suited to what the supporters want. I can see the way he’s going and, in signing Petrov, he has got a player who can be a realy big fish in a small pool – as long as he doesn’t get too big for his boots like Sasa Curcic did in my day. No player is bigger than the club – that was Sasa’s big problem and we were all the better after he left.

“If Petrov keeps his feet on the ground and does the business, I see no reason why Bolton shouldn’t be targeting that top eight again.

“Bolton’s never going to be top four, let’s be honest, but they’ve shown before that the top eight is within their capabilities. Fulham have shown what can be achieved over the last couple of seasons and I can see Bolton doing the same.

“I know qualifying for Europe could be something of a poisoned chalice for clubs who don’t have big squads, but there’s no harm having that as your target. And, once you get established again, you never know . . .”