Blackburn Rovers spent times breathing for dear life during the past campaign. But, Bolton were never in dire trouble and manager Gary Megson deserves much more respect for what he has done at the Reebok Stadium.
While Sam Allardyce succeeded in turning Rovers' fortunes and made sure of their top-flight status for yet another year, Megson worked tirelessly to keep the Wanderers away from the drop zone.
Season 2008/09 was Blackburn's eighth successive campaign in the Premier League, the same as Bolton.
Allardyce replaced the untried Peter Ince in mid-December. It was a huge mountain to climb for rookie Ince (former boss of League One outfit MK Dons). He took over at Ewood Park in the early season reshuffles following the departure of Mark Hughes who left for Manchester City.
Sometimes, as critics always point out, club chairmen go for such 'raw' managers not to pay lump sums for their contracts but then they find themselves in a mess.
Rovers were lucky to find Allardyce unemployed in December and called upon his experience. His previous job was at Newcastle.
On his appointment, Blackburn embarked on a sequence of nine matches without defeat.
Allardyce went on record as saying that the Rovers' survival last season goes down as his biggest achievement so far.
Blackburn, one of three other clubs to win the Premier League title − bar Manchester United − looked perilously close to demotion at one point but 'Big Sam' applied all his know-how to keep them afloat.
It seems, Megson still has to convince some sections of the Bolton fans. Perhaps, they are still dreaming of the good old times when Allardyce was at the Reebok Stadium.
Megson deserves more credit for the job he has done even though the Wanderers are still in the shadows of Lancashire giants Manchester United, Liverpool and Everton.
Bolton need a bigger squad to launch a fight for a place in Europe next season.
Megson only used 18 players and two of them, perhaps the most valid, goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen and attacker Kevin Davies, were sidelined for a long term.
Cup ventures
In the FA Cup, Bolton went down at the first hurdle to Sunderland at the Stadium of Light 1-2. Yet, the Black Cats were left astray as they fell to Blackburn in the fourth round after a replay. Later, the Rovers were at the end of a FA Cup shock as they lost at Coventry in round five.
The fans look at these competitions as a way to enjoy themselves, hoping for a good cup run but team managers would rather think of Premiership safety first and rest some of their best players in knock-out contests.
Clubs like Bolton and Blackburn can easily fall prey to lesser clubs.
In the third round of the League Cup, Bolton lost at home to third-tier side Northampton. But Blackburn gave their supporters a lift, when they reached the last eight before going down 3-5 to Manchester United at Old Trafford.