COLIN Todd was keeping his thoughts to himself today ahead of his first re-union with the club he walked out on two seasons ago.

The Derby boss has refused to make any comment ahead of tomorrow's clash with Wanderers at Pride Park, turning down all requests for interviews and leaving his coach John Trewick to host his regular pre-match press conference.

A Rams' spokesman said: "He is rejecting all media requests ahead of the Bolton game. He does not want to be drawn into commenting on his time there."

Todd quit Wanderers in September 1999, four months after seeing his hopes of a Premiership return dashed by the defeat by Watford in the Play-off Final at Wembley and with the club sixth from bottom in Division One. After three and a half seasons in sole charge of team affairs he cited the deteriorating financial situation - the final straw being the sale of Per Frandsen to rivals Blackburn for £1.75 million - for having made his position untenable. "It is going to be difficult to push the club in the direction I want it to go," he claimed.

Although he left on amicable terms with the then chairman, Gordon Hargreaves, controversy followed and relations festered. The bust-up in a Cheshire hotel between his son Andy and his former coach Phil Brown, who had been promoted to assistant manager, hit the headlines and there were two outbursts against the new regime led by current chairman, Phil Gartside - first when he was refused directors' box tickets to see Andy play for Charlton at the Reebok then when he complained bitterly when Wanderers re-signed Frandsen for £1.6 million in July 2000.

There have been no such difficulties at management level, though. Todd, who succeeded Jim Smith as Derby boss in October, having been assistant since leaving his job as Swindon manager last season, has never been known to comment on team affairs or the performance of Sam Allardyce, while the Wanderers boss confines his comments on his predecessor to tactical observations.

It is, however, a measure of Allardyce's management skills that just over two years after succeeding Todd and with the club's financial position even more precarious (Burnden Leisure will report a £33 million debt at its annual meeting next week) that they now stand 10th in the Premiership!

Personnel-wise there is still a strong flavour of the Todd influence with Frandsen, Jussi Jaaskelainen, Mike Whitlow, Gudni Bergsson, Ricardo Gardner, Dean Holdsworth, Paul Warhurst, Bo Hansen and Steve Banks all survivors of the previous regime.

But there have been significant changes on the tactical front with Allardyce adopting and perfecting a style based on solid, well-organised defending and swift, clinical counter-attacking.

"It's not a 4-4-2 any more," he points out, comparing his philosophy with Todd's. "But I don't think he will be too interested in us tomorrow. He'll be more interested in his own team.

"It's interesting to note, though, that he has had a change of heart tactically and now plays a 3-4-1-2 formation, a system similar to Tottenham's on Monday night. You'd normally expect a 4-4-2 with Colin."

Whitlow, who was signed by Todd from Leicester for £700,000 in September 1997, the last time Wanderers were in the top flight, says the current team is "more resolute".

"We still play good football," the club captain points out, "as we showed the other night at Spurs. But we are a different group of players. I've been here for a while. Managers change, footballers change ... it doesn't matter who's here and not here. That never comes into it in my scenario.

"I don't think there should be any ill-feeling.

"The bloke (Todd) was good enough to come and buy me from Leicester and give me a chance to play in the Premiership again. As long as they finish below us, I don't care."

Similarly, it is points not personalities that Allardyce is concerned with as Wanderers look to bounce back from the bitter disappointment of the Spurs defeat.

Despite still holding a top half position, survival remains the name of the game and Derby could be one of their main rivals.

"We've said all along, when we are playing teams in the bottom three, we must make sure we have maintained the distance between us and them when the game is finished," the manager stressed.

"So the minimum we must achieve tomorrow is a point."