THE sceptics scoffed at the suggestion that Wanderers were trying to sign Youri Djorkaeff - 70-odd international caps, World Cup and European Championship winners medals and a big game player at Monaso, PSG, Inter and Kaiserslautern.

Then, when the deal was done, the word "mercenary" was freely, often carelessly bandied around.

What could an ageing Frenchman, who had never played in England and probably didn't know Bolton from Bombay, bring to a Premiership relegation fight?

Plenty, as it turned out.

"Perfect!" as the man himself puts it. "Sam Allardyce came to Frankfurt, he picked me to help Bolton stay in the Premiership and gave me the chance to play so that I could go to Japan and Korea."

Mission accomplished then and, once again, red faces all round for the so called experts.

Now Wanderers want to keep Djorkaeff and he wants to stay.

Wonder what the sceptics are saying now!