Sam Wants Bolton To Invest

By Mark Heys
January 3 2006

Bolton boss Sam Allardyce has called for the club's board of directors to stump up some cash to keep the club in amongst the Premiership elite over the coming years.

Allardyce wants to keep the Wanderers riding high in the top flight and he believes the only way to do that is if the club spend big money on players in the months ahead.

The Trotters have been very cautious in the transfer market since their promotion to the top flight four and a half years ago and not since the 1997-98 season has there been big money spent on players but the Wanderers boss thinks the time is now right to invest.

"The club now has to start to invest. That is my hope for the New Year. We need to invest now in football which is something that hasn't really happened before. We cannot keep achieving what we are achieving on such limited investment.

"We're not operating in the same football market as we have in the past. The market has changed considerably. We as a club have had the best year we've ever had so I believe that now is the time to build on that and that's where the investment comes in."

"Big Sam" is worried that the amount of games played will eventually take its on his paper thin squad during this season and has called for everyone connected with the club to enjoy and appreciate the clubs current success in the Premier League.

"Without that, after all we've achieved in 2005, come the middle of February 2006, we could be in disaster mode in terms of results. Just because we're doing well now I can't accept we shouldn't be investing. Everybody should enjoy this while they can. They shouldn't waste five years before they look back and fully appreciate what they've been watching."

Chairman Phil Gartside recently announced that the 2004-2005 balance sheet had marked a significant improvement on the previous year overall and the fact that the club had spent transfer fees on El-Hadji Diouf, Jared Borgetti amongst others was testament to that.