BOLTON Wanderers have been accused of scoring an own goal when it comes to charitable giving.

In a league table of donations to good causes drawn up by charity website Intelligentgiving.com, Wanderers are among the bottom Premiership clubs for the amount of cash handed out.

Using clubs' most recent financial reports, which date from the financial year 2004-05, the organisation lists Wanderers as having an annual turnover of nearly £45 million and pre-tax profits of £3.5 million, yet says they made no cash donations to charity.

They are not alone. Almost half of the Premiership clubs, including Liverpool, West Ham and Aston Villa, do not list any charity donations in their annual reports.

The biggest spending club, Chelsea, with a turnover of £123 million gave only £7,000 to charity, while Manchester United, with a turnover of £108 million, donated £62,843.

But furious Wanderers officials say the balance sheets give a vastly misleading impression of the amount the club does for charity, particularly with schemes such as Football in the Community.

A club spokesman said they devoted large amounts of time, resources and materials to supporting charities. Players and staff gave up their time to attend events and the club donated large numbers of signed footballs, shirts and other autographed goods to good causes.

On May 13, manager Sam Allardyce, captain Kevin Nolan and several team-mates will donate a day's wages to the Mayday for Nurses campaign, which is setting up a hardship fund for nurses who get into financial difficulties.

A club spokesman said: "The report is a not a true reflection in respect of the amount of time and resources we put into working with the communities and charities that make up Bolton.

"We give a significant investment to our chosen charity, which is the Football in the Community programme.

"We are always helping out local charities with free merchandise and player visits on a weekly basis.

"The author of this report has not done his homework and should have ascertained the amount of goodwill and financial support offered by clubs.

"We take great pride in the work we carry out in the community and we will continue to develop this in line with a very proactive approach making sure we touch the people who come into contact with Bolton Wanderers."