SAMMY Lee has issued a spirited response to claims that Bolton Wanderers are being weakened by football's equivalent of the "brain drain".

The new Whites boss knows supporters are growing increasingly concerned by an apparent lack of activity in the face of repeated speculation that star players and key backroom staff will be lost in the wake of the recent managerial shake-up.

But, in an exclusive interview with the Bolton News, Lee assured fans that he he is fighting to keep his best players, working hard to improve his squad and already has quality backroom appointments lined up.

"It's not a close-season for us, far from it," he said.

"I know they (supporters) have heard a lot of negatives, about people going out. But let me assure them that nobody will be leaving here unless we sanction it and unless it's for the betterment of the football club - and there will be incomings.

"I want to encourage people and assure them that there is no brain drain and that, although there will be people going, we will be getting some very good people into the football club.

"And that's no criticism of the previous regime, because I was part of that regime.

"But there is now an opportunity for me to take this club forward and to do that I know I have to bring my own pople in. And those people will be quality people, whether they be staff or whether they be players.

"I've got my ideas, I've got my targets. It's just that, at the moment, they can't be announced out of respect for other clubs and other people."

It is one of football's worst kept secrets that Frank McParland, who is currently Liverpool's joint chief scout, is the man Lee has chosen to fill the newly-created role of general manager.

It is also common knowledge that Mark Taylor, who has spent the last six years as head of sports science and medicine at the Reebok, has quit and is on the verge of joining his old boss, Sam Allardyce at Newcastle. Mike Forde, the sports psychologist who carried the title "performance director", is also tipped to move to Tyneside.

But Lee, who is a stickler for protocol, refuses to comment specifically or identify any of his targets, until it suits all parties.

"I do have my general manager in place but, at the moment, it would be remiss of me to name him," he said.

"There has been speculation but that hasn't come from us. I know everybody wants an announcement and I want to allay their fears, but I have to respect other people's situations and those people are still at other cluibs at the moment.

"Just because there have been no announcements doesn't mean there's nothing going on.

"I can understand people's fears because all we hear is negatives, about people leaving - the drain. But, whatever happens, quality replacements will be brought in.

"We are a foward thinking club and we certainly don't want to lose our best players. The chairman is fully aware of that.

"All people hear is one side of the story with people coming in for our players. But the chairman, the owner and myself are in constant talks with the players."