SAM Allardyce's first job after saving Wanderers' from the dreaded drop will be to convince his Reebok bosses to let him buy a quality striker.
"If we survive, that's the first thing we'll need," the manager confirmed today.
Allardyce believes the lack of a proven Premiership striker is at the root of all his problems and cites Blackburn Rovers and Manchester City as examples of clubs who are reaping rich rewards from their big money investments in the likes of Dwight Yorke, Andy Cole, Nicolas Anelka and Robbie Fowler.
He hopes loan signings Salva Ballesta and Pierre-Yves Andre can deliver the goals that will ensure Wanderers a third successive season of top flight football for the first time in 40 years. But he still looks enviously at the man he regards as the standard bearer for all Premierships strikers - Alan Shearer.
"Thierry Henry and Ruud van Nistelrooy may be better but what Shearer does and has done on his own at Newcastle makes him the ultimate Premiership striker," he explains.
"Having him would mean we'd be in the top half."
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