SIMON Charlton led the dressing room tributes to Sam Allardyce today, hailing the Wanderers' boss as the "Manager of the Year".

The Reebok Player of the Year said the man who fashioned a survival squad out of a team of so-called "no-hopers" was out on his own in the management stakes.

Only Liverpooll's Gerard Houllier and his assistant Phil Thompson, who kept the Anfield ship on course through the manager's illness, deserved to be mentioned in the same breath.

"The season has been magnificent," Charlton said as Wanderers finished 16th, surviving a Premiershiop campiagn for the first time in three attempts.

"The lads have put everything they have into it and the manager should have accolades coming out of his ears because he has really got the best out of all the players in the squad.

"He should win Manager of the Year hands down. There's possibly only the two at Liverpool who have done a really good job ... I really do think it should be between Sam and those two because there's nobody else comes anywhere near them. On the resources he's had, or hasn't had, to do what he's done with the players he's got has been incredible."

Charlton, signed by Allardyce on a free from Birmingham, bears the manager's hallmark - an experienced hand who has performed above all expectations in a league of superstars, helping Wanderers beat the odds and embarrass the critics who tipped them to finish bottom of the Premiership pile.

He said: "At the beginning of the season, looking at our squad, people were saying 'No chance!'. Maybe next year they'll look at the same players and say 'Yes, not a bad team there!' - if only he (the manager) makes a few additions to it."