SAM Allardyce confessed to the sin of envy today as he measured the massive gulf in the financial fortunes of Wanderers and Fulham - rivals in last season's promotion battle.

The Reebok boss continues to operate under severe financial constraints that have forced him to strengthen his squad predominantly with free transfers and loan signings while the Cottagers' manager, Jean Tigana, is being bankrolled by Harrods owner Mohammed Al Fayed.

Asked if Fulham are a better side than they were last year, Allardyce answered curtly: "Having spent £27 million on new players they will be an awful lot better.

"I'm jealous. Seven million would be a start! But bringing in so many new players can bring disruption to your team and it's cost them a few indifferent results."

Fulham come to the Reebok tomorrow on the crest of a three-match winning wave, which has hoisted them into a respectable 11th in the table. But they had a poor start in which they struggled to come to terms with the Premiership after last season's runaway championship success.

It is a game Wanderers will be anxious to perform well in, having failed to serve up a league win in front of their own supporters since Dean Holdsworth's flukey late goal secured a 2-1 victory over Liverpool on August 28. Since then they have lost to Southampton, Sunderland and Newcastle before stopping the rot by coming from behind to draw 2-2 with Everton on their last Reebok appearance.

But the victory at Ipswich, which took their away record to 12 points from a possible 21, has left them sitting pretty in eighth position and taken confidence levels to new heights.

And for all his admiration and envy of Tigana and his transfer treasure chest, Allardyce is bursting with pride in what his players have achieved.

"It appears Fulham have clicked," he said feigning disappointment. "I'm afraid we're catching them in good form, which we don't want (I'd much rather they had seven injuries and were playing very poorly).

"But we've come a long way. We've made a tremendous improvement in our quality and standards and we stand above them in the table. Hopefully by the end of Saturday we will still be above them."

While Tigana has used Mr Al Fayed's fortune in a bid to buy success, Allardyce has relied largely on the players who won promotion via the play-offs. Only two of tomorrow's likely starting line-up, Bruno N'Gotty and Rod Wallace, have been recruited since the Play-off triumph - a factor the manager believes is the key to the success they have enjoyed up to now.

"Ipswich did it last year and it's been the basis of our success to date," he claimed. "The bottom line is that most of the players were with us last year - even longer. They are getting more out of each other than they did last year because of the increased team spirit and cohesion.

"In fact, it's the ones we have brought in who have found it difficult to stay in the side."

The failure to pick up a single point from three successive home fixtures might have prompted the manager to review his tactical approach, which works so well away from home but less so at the Reebok. But he resisted the temptation to tinker because of the increasing number of scoring chances created.

"You can't cry over spilled milk," he said philosophically. "It's gone. You can reflect ... had you only ... if we'd only ..! At the end of the day it's happened. I'm just delighted to see where we are and what we have achieved. We are a third of the way through and still in the top half. And that was the very best of our expectations at the start of the season."