IN all fairness, you couldn't blame the bookies or the pundits who had Bolton Wanderers marked down for relegation writes Gordon Sharrock

Having entered the Premiership by the back door, so to speak, and with little sign of having the financial backing to bring his squad up to scratch, it must have been hard for outsiders to imagine how Sam Allardyce could compete with the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger. It was an uphill task and, having seen their team fail twice before, even the most optimistic of Reebok loyalists expected it to be a long, hard, painful slog.

But anyone who knew the man and his management style had good reason to feel confident. Big Sam would get the best out of the resources at his disposal.

Wanderers would be well-organised, they would play with spirit and, if he needed an injection of talent, the manager would beg, steal or borrow to get it.

Those who had faith in the man, whose appointment in October 1999 raised more than a few eyebrows, will not be surprised to see he has succeeded in achieving the impossible in becoming the first Bolton manager to secure Premiership survival.

That he has done it on a shoestring -- spending just over £1 million in transfer fees compared with Fulham's £30 million -- makes the achievement all the more remarkable.

It has been a rollercoaster season and it was not until early Saturday evening on the penultimate weekend, when Manchester United claimed a rather fortuitous 1-0 win at Ipswich, that they knew they were safe.

It was doubly ironic in that this was probably the first and only time many Bolton fans ignored their deep-seated rivalry to root for a United victory.

There was also a sense of poetic justice that a hotly-disputed penalty should secure their survival on the very ground where two years ago their Premiership dreams were shattered by one of the greatest refereeing controversies in the history of the promotion play-offs. Had justice been done that night, of course, Allardyce might well have secured a place in the Premiership in his first part-season in charge. He had already steered Wanderers to the semi-finals of the Worthington Cup and FA Cup and, with just one minute of normal time to go, it looked like he had booked a place in the play-off final.

It was difficult to quantify the depth of disappointment he felt that night when his public criticism of referee Barry Knight landed him in the disciplinary dock.

There was a school of thought that Big Sam and Wanderers had missed the boat. They had had their chance and that was as good as it got. But with amazing resilience and fortitude the man and his players bounced back.

No one gave them a prayer when they kicked off last season so handicapped by injuries and suspension they had to make up the numbers with last-minute signings of Isaiah Rankine on loan and Ian Marshall on a non-contract basis.

Nine months later they were celebrating promotion at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.

This week, perhaps, as Mark Lawrenson ponders life without his famous moustache, the BBC TV pundit might reflect on that day in May when Wanderers broke the hearts of his beloved Preston and consider how his comments -- and those of every other critic and cynic -- did more to motivate the Bolton players than any pre-season team talk.

They set out determined to prove their doubters wrong, starting in quite sensational fashion, hammering five past Leicester at Filbert Street on the openingdayoftheseason.

Following that up with home wins against Middlesbrough and Liverpool saw Wanderers sitting pretty at the top of the Premier League.

Suddenly, people from Buenos Aires to Brisbane were curious to learn more about the team that played in the famously-named Reebok Stadium.

A draw at Leeds, another at Arsenal then that most sensational of victories at Old Trafford in October maintained the early-season momentum. Even Lawro was starting to backtrack on his "flash-in-the-pan" theories.

But neither Allardyce nor his players were under any illusions. They had the amazing scoring talents of Michael Ricketts, an experienced centre-back pairing of Gudni Bergsson and Mike Whitlow and some skilful, if largely under-rated, players who were performing way above expectations. Yet they always knew, sooner or later, they would have a testing time.

Fairytales are all very nice, but this was the Premiership -- and reality soon set in. During a 12-match run without a win, they slid slowly towards the lower reaches of the table.

They didn't seem to be doing anything different than before but they could not not quite go the extra yard to turn a draw into a win or snatch a point from the jaws of defeat.

They needed an injection of quality and experience, not just for the boost a player or two might provide on an individual basis but to raise the spirits of those who were already on board.

Allardyce admitted failure with his ambitious loan signings of Djibril Diawara and Japanese international Akinori Nishizawa, but scored earlier in the season when he poached former France international Bruno N'Gotty from crisis club Marseille.

So, with the backing of his chairman, Phil Gartside, he scoured the Continent looking for other clubs' cast-offs.

He knew he was taking a risk with ex-German international Fredi Bobic and 34-year-old Youri Djorkaeff, but the gamble paid off.

Djorkaeff's performance in the win at Charlton lit the fuse for the late flourish that would include a triumph over Aston Villa and an even more significant victory over Ipswich -- a result that ultimately proved the key to their survival.

So what can we expect next season? Well, Allardyce is already resigned to having to operate on much the same financial lines to which he has become accustomed.

Being £33.9 million in debt at the last count, Wanderers will again be written off as no-hopers -- unless the pundits have learned their lesson and are prepared to pay Sam Allardyce and his club the respect they have earned.