I KNOW who the fans want to be the next manager of Bolton Wanderers and I know who has been widely touted to be the man the club want.

But I am not prepared to comment on the speculation or even mention his name — simply because football is riddled with superstition and I am more superstitious than most.

When I was playing I never ever touched the cup for fear of jinxing my chances (not that I ever won it) so I won’t mention any names until it’s signed, sealed and delivered and an appointment has been named.

I’m just scared that if I talk about it, I will jinx it and something will go wrong at the last minute.

As footballers you learn to take certain things in your stride. You accept that tough decisions have to be taken and that managers you work with every day won’t always be there.

You have to be professional about it, deal with the disappointment, move on and look to the future.

So I was pleased with the way the Bolton players responded to Gary Megson’s departure.

Under the circumstances that FA Cup tie against Lincoln could easily have been a banana skin. I’ve been in that position myself and it’s not always easy to focus when there’s been so much going on around the place. But the lads did well. It might not have been the best of performances but they won the battle first then did a professional job to make sure their name was in the hat for the next round.

At times like this you always look to the experienced players to keep the younger lads focused and I’m sure the likes of Jussi Jaaskelainen, Kevin Davies, Ricky Gardner, Paul Robinson and Andy O’Brien will come into their own.

There will be players Gary Megson brought to the club who might be affected by his departure, but the older lads can make sure they get over it quickly and knuckle down.

I remember in my Bolton days when Phil Neal was sacked, he’d given debuts to young lads like Alan Stubbs and Jason McAteer and there was always the danger that they might suffer a bit of a reaction to him leaving the club.

But the senior players like myself and Phil Brown, who was captain, helped get them through a difficult time.

These things happen in football. It’s not nice and there’s never a good or a bad time but players are professionals and they are paid to just get on with it.

Personally, I got on well with Gary and he was always receptive to anything I took to him as fan liaison officer. I was grateful to him for that and I wish him all the best for the future. But football is a results-based business and, although he tried his best, unfortunately he was unable to deliver what was required.

Now we must look to the future and it’s great to see the chairman has put on free transport for supporters travelling up to the Sunderland game on Saturday.

First up we’ve got Arsenal tomorrow night and that’s a tough one, but I’m really looking forward to taking as many as 4,500 up to Sunderland, where we won 4-1 last season and where I’m expecting another good result..