SAM Allardyce has taken a swipe at Wanderers over their handling of Kevin Davies’s contract situation.

Back in 2003, Big Sam brought Davies to the Reebok on a free transfer after his release by Southampton. He went on to become the focal point of the Whites’ attack for close to a decade.

But while Allardyce, now at West Ham, understands the footballing reasons behind the club’s decision to release the striker at the end of the campaign, he was critical about the timing of the announcement, which arrived on the day of his 36th birthday.

“Every footballer has to face the fact that his career comes to an end at some stage at whatever football club you’ve been at, but the timing and the way that Bolton have handled it isn’t very good,” he said. “I think they’ve handled it poorly.

“It has been a great shame when it happens to somebody who has been such a great servant.”

Allardyce believes Davies’s place in Wanderers folklore is secure after just over 400 appearances for the football club, and the ex-Wanderers boss extolled the virtues of the target man in The Bolton News earlier this week.

But a few days on from the announcement, he admitted a little disappointment with the way the issue had been managed.

“I thought at the time he would be a great acquisition, but I never expected him to be such a major force in what we did at the time, and continued to do when I left for 10 years, short of five days,” he said.

“Then to be released on his birthday was pretty insensitive and I think they could have handled it an awful lot better as a football club, and should have done.”