IT may not be pretty but, if Sam Allardyce has his way, the football Wanderers will play in the FA Barclaycard Premiership will be effective.

They will certainly not be looking for any style marks at Leicester tomorrow.

Tactically, they will start with the same 4-5-1 cum 4-3-3 formation they used to good effect so often last season but, whether they stick with that system or find themselves forced to adjust, the work ethic will be the same.

In terms of quality and talent, Wanderers know they cannot compete with the star-studded teams challenging for the title so teamwork, commitment and organisation will have to be spot on.

It is going to be tough and there will be times when they will feel the world is against them but no-one ever said it was going to be easy.

For Big Sam, managing in the Premiership has been a long-held ambition but he has known for some time that it was not going to be handed to him on a plate. He does not have the playing pedigree to be spoon fed a plum job so he had to earn the right by taking a team up.

Now, after working near miracles in less than two years at the Reebok, he has the chance to show what he is made of.

Unfortunately he does not have the level of resources to graft Premiership players onto the squad he guided so skilfully and inspirationally to promotion in May. Consequently he has gone on record in advance to insist that, if Wanderers do not survive, it will be down to a lack of finance and quality players rather than his ability as a manager.

Parallels have been drawn with Ipswich, who reached the Premiership after beating Wanderers in a dramatic and controversial play-off semi-final in May 2000 and are now embarking on a UEFA Cup campaign after finishing fifth, beyond their wildest dreams.

But Allardyce is quick to point out: "We haven't spent what Ipswich spent!"

Nevertheless, there is a determination about the manager and his self styled dogs of war; a determnation to prove their doubters and their critics wrong; a determination that better fancied teams may find hard to live with.

They may not win many friends or collect many pats on the back but Wanderers have no intention of being the whipping boys. They aim to be solid at the back, tight in midfield and will rely on the likes of Michael Ricketts, who scored an incredible 24 goals last season despite starting 15 games on the subs' bench, to make the most of the scoring chances that come along.

"We want to play well, of course, but I won't mind if we get results out of poor performances, if we can," Allardyce says unashamedly.

Pressure

"The target is to get 42 points as quickly as we can. The quicker we get to that, the better a season we are going to have.

"That would take an awful lot of pressure off then we can kick on from there with the players more relaxed. Then we can start putting our plans together for the following season!"

Wanderers have known since they walked off the field at the Millennium Stadium after beating Preston in the play-off final in May that they would be the bookies' favourites to go straight back down.

But that has served only to galvanise the spirit that served them so well last season.

"The players have mentioned it and we've talked about it as a group," Allardyce says. "It's great! It means that we are under no pressure to succeed, other than the pressure from ourselves. Everybody's expecting us to be relegated - from Rodney Marsh downwards.

"Well, we're going to do that little bit more to prove those people wrong." IT may not be pretty but, if Sam Allardyce has his way, the football Wanderers will play in the FA Barclaycard Premiership will be effective.

They will certainly not be looking for any style marks at Leicester tomorrow.

Tactically, they will start with the same 4-5-1 cum 4-3-3 formation they used to good effect so often last season but, whether they stick with that system or find themselves forced to adjust, the work ethic will be the same.

In terms of quality and talent, Wanderers know they cannot compete with the star-studded teams challenging for the title so teamwork, commitment and organisation will have to be spot on.

It is going to be tough and there will be times when they will feel the world is against them but no-one ever said it was going to be easy.

For Big Sam, managing in the Premiership has been a long-held ambition but he has known for some time that it was not going to be handed to him on a plate. He does not have the playing pedigree to be spoon-fed a plum job so he had to earn the right by taking a team up.

Now, after working near miracles in less than two years at the Reebok, he has the chance to show what he is made of.

Unfortunately he doesn't have the level of resources to graft Premiership players onto the squad he guided so skilfully and inspirationally to promotion in May. Consequently he has gone on record in advance to insist that, if Wanderers do not survive, it will be down to a lack of finance and quality players rather than his ability as a manager.

Parallels have been drawn with Ipswich, who reached the Premiership after beating Wanderers in a dramatic and controversial play-off semi-final in May 2000 and are now embarking on a UEFA Cup campaign after finishing fifth, beyond their wildest dreams.

But Allardyce is quick to point out: "We haven't spent what Ipswich spent!"

Nevertheless, there is a determination about the manager and his self-styled dogs of war; a determnation to prove their doubters and their critics wrong; a determination that better fancied teams may find hard to live with.

They may not win many friends or collect many pats on the back but Wanderers have no intention of being the whipping boys. They aim to be solid at the back, tight in midfield and will rely on the likes of Michael Ricketts, who scored an incredible 24 goals last season despite starting 15 games on the subs' bench, to make the most of the scoring chances that come along.

"We want to play well, of course, but I won't mind if we get results out of poor performances, if we can," Allardyce says unashamedly.

"The target is to get 42 points as quickly as we can. The quicker we get to that, the better a season we are going to have.

"That would take an awful lot of pressure off then we can kick on from there with the players more relaxed. Then we can start putting our plans together for the following season!"

Wanderers have known since they walked off the field at the Millennium Stadium after beating Preston in the play-off final in May that they would be the bookies' favourites to go straight back down.

But that has served only to galvanise the spirit that served them so well last season.

"The players have mentioned it and we've talked about it as a group," Allardyce says. "It's great! It means that we are under no pressure to succeed, other than the pressure from ourselves. Everybody's expecting us to be relegated - from Rodney Marsh downwards.

"Well, we're going to do that little bit more to prove those people wrong."