A QUARTER of a century ago they were confident young characters in an upwardly mobile Bolton Wanderers team that was destined to hit the big time.

As "Big Sam" and "Reidy" they were two of the loudest and liveliest in the dressing room, where the laughs and the pranks came thick and fast ... never a dull moment.

To those who took them at face value - the big brash defender from Dudley and the crafty little Scouser - they were the unlikeliest players to graduate to the upper echelons of management.

But to the man who was their manager and mentor, it comes as no surprise to see Sam Allardyce and Peter Reid going head to head as two of the most respected team bosses in the Premiership.

"It's easy to say now because they're both good managers," says Ian Greaves, "but of all the players I had, I'd have fingered them to make it above all others.

"If you look at Peter and Sam they have one thing in common - they had a lot of single-minded determination as players and obviously that's coming through as managers.

"They both have a lot of self-confidence - and I mean it no worse than that.

"They're both devoted to the game of football, one hundred per cent enthusiasts and without that you can have all the talent in the world, you just won't make it."

Greaves, who managed Wanderers for six memorable years in the Seventies, nurtured Allardyce and Reid and saw them graduate from promising young teenagers to top flight players. They played key roles in the 1977-78 Second Division Championship triumph and became respected and popular figures in the game.

They went their separate ways - Allardyce to Sunderland in 1980, Reid to Everton two years later - but they remained the closest of friends and never forgot the influence "The Gaffer" had on their footballing education.

"I've always spoken to the two lads but I will never offer advice," says Greaves who, like his two proteges, has always kept a home in Bolton, wherever his career has taken him. "If I'm asked I'll give it but I won't stick my nose in.

"What they have done hasn't surprised me. They always had that determination to want to be better and to succeed in the game.

"But it's not easy. There are times when you need a break.

"I remember Sam coming to see me about four or five years ago. He'd just been sacked at Blackpool after doing ever so well with them and just missing out in the play-offs. He made the valid point 'How can you get a job if you haven't got a track record? And how do you get a track record if you can't get a job?'

"Sam got his break when he got the job at Notts County and what he did there was out of this world. They were promoted by Christmas!"

Greaves is proud to have played a part in the development of two of the modern game's most popular and respected managers.

"I know them both well and it's good to see that nothing's gone to their heads," he says. "They're still the Sam and Reidy I knew as players - fantastic determination thrown in with the ability they both have.

"When you look at what he's had to work with in terms of money, Sam's got an absolutely impossible job on his hands. Like I had at Bolton when we went up into the First Division. That's why it's great to see they've had such a fantastic start.

"And what he's done with Ricketts is just ridiculous. What a player he's made him!"

Greaves, who was promoted from assistant manager when Jimmy Armfield left Wanderers to manage Leeds in 1974, was quick to elevate two of his brightest youngsters to the first team ranks.

"I didn't give him his debut but I remember bringing Sam in for one of his early games for Bolton," Greaves recalls. "We'd had an injury and I had to decided between Sam and Warwick Rimmer.

"I went into the staff room and went round all the coaches ... they all said young Sam, confirming my opinion! I put him in and he didn't let us down. He was always a quick learner was Sam.

"He wasn't the sweetest or fanciest of players but, for sheer determination, you couldn't find anyone to match him. And that's come through in his team at Bolton.

"Now Peter ... he knew he was good. Not big-headed, he just knew he was a good player and he knows he's a good manager. I've never seen him down - even when they were getting relegated from the Premiership. Even a month before the end of the season he was still optimistic - and that's a tremendous quality.

"I gave Peter his debut at Hull. He was just a kid coming in for his first game and I had to pull him at one side and tell him we had other people who could take thrown-ins, free-kicks and corners ... he wanted to do everything. He'd have poured the tea at half time if I'd let him!"

Hearing Greaves look back on the driving forces of his own formative years, it is hardly surprising to see the one-time pupils follow in the footsteps of the teacher they held in such high regard. They are, undoubtedly, from the same stock.

"I was always determined as a young man. Nobody was going to do me," he recalls. "There were 10 people in my village who were better than me but I was determined I was going to be the footballer. The others didn't make it.

"You see, it's enthusiasm these two lads have. I don't care how good you are or whatever level you are at, if you don't have the determination and the motivation to be better than you are, you're never going to improve.

"That's what's special about these two.

"Nothing knocks their enthusiasm. I even remember Sam going over to Bury every day when he was between jobs ... working for nothing, just for the sheer experience.

"You give somebody 11 out of 10 for that."

Greaves, who scouts for Reid these days after retiring from front line management, will be interested rather than biased one way or the other when his two former proteges lock horns as the friendliest of rivals tomorrow.

"People ask me 'Are you a Wanderers fan?' because they remember me for managing them. But I'm a Huddersfield fan, a Wolves fan, an Oxford fan and a Mansfield fan because I was their manager too.

"In fact I had a belting time at Huddersfield before I came here, getting them promoted to the First Division, and when we won the Freight Rover Trophy at Mansfield I couldn't believe the reaction. The entire town came out!

"But, if I was put to the test, I'd say the happiest time I had in management was at Wanderers. I do have fond memories of Burnden and I can honestly say that it was the best dressing room I ever had - and that was important

"A good dressing room can be worth 10 or 12 points a season!"

And what is one of the major factors in the successes Allardyce and Reid are enjoying?