By Gordon Sharrock: Bolton Wanderers 2, Gillingham 0 (agg 6-1) NONE of the players knew it at the time but this was to be Colin Todd's swansong!

The curtain came down on seven years' service to Bolton Wanderers with a victory, a triumphant march into the sudden death stage of the Worthington Cup and a welcome clean sheet - that all-important statistic his teams never managed to attain often enough for his own liking.

That it was against such unglamorous opposition as Gillingham and in front of the Reebok Stadium's lowest ever crowd was hardly fitting of the occasion - or was it?

The game itself was hardly a memorable one. If the tie was dead after last week's 4-1 first leg win at the Priestfield Stadium, it was buried after just seven minutes as Bo Hansen and Dean Holdsworth put Wanderers five goals clear!

After that it became a training exercise, an opportunity for players to stake their claims for places against Nottingham Forest at the weekend: Jimmy Phillips fancies his chances of taking over from the suspended Mike Whitlow; Greg Strong and Paul Warhurst will hope to fill in for Andy Todd, who will miss the first three games 'under new management'.

What a strange position that talented young man finds himself in today - the morning after the night when his father handed him the captain's armband for the first time. What a poignant gesture!

But, as events unfurled, it became clear that Colin Todd, who'd thrown down the gauntlet to the hopefuls in his team talk then watched the first half from the Directors' Box and the second from the dugout, was not assessing performances with Saturday's game in mind.

He had already decided this was his final night in charge of the team he had taken to within 90 minutes of the Premiership less than four months ago.

He had decided his position as manager, operating under the tightest of financial constraints, with no prospects of strengthening his side for another promotion push and having to sell his star player to satisfy the bank manager, had become intolerable.

Significantly, Per Frandsen was one of seven players 'rested' on the night. But unlike Keith Branagan, Neil Cox, Mike Whitlow, Robbie Elliott, Eidur Gudjohnsen and Bob Taylor, he was destined not to re-appear. The deal had been struck that will take him down the road to Blackburn.

That the sale - the formalities of which were being finalised today - will net Wanderers the best part of £2 million profit on their ridiculously modest outlay of £300,000 three years ago was no comfort to the man who brought him to Bolton.

Ironically, Todd had been resigned to losing the Danish international in the summer when he and Mark Fish had activated the clauses in their contracts allowing them to speak to other clubs as a result of the team's failure to clinch promotion on that bitterly disappointing day at Wembley in May. The manager couldn't believe there were no serious offers for a midfield player of undoubted power and influence.

But he made no secret of his relief when it looked like Frandsen was staying, only to express grave concerns when he realised it was only a matter of time before such talent was recognised by a club with more financial clout.

Having to sell Frandsen, he said after his point-saving heroics in the Birmingham game two and a half weeks ago, would be "one of the biggest disappointments of my managerial career"!

He could not countenance selling him now. He had made that abundantly clear.

As a football match, the final game of Colin Todd's five-year rollercoaster ride as manager of the Wanderers was a non-event - perhaps only notable for the fact that Hansen, the fourth of his acquisitions from Denmark, finally broke his scoring duck eight months after his £1 million transfer from Brondby.

Gillingham arrived a beaten side and they were heading for humiliation when they conceded those two early goals. But they had their moments and tested ex-Gill Steve Banks - Todd's last signing - a couple of times.

Enough for their new boss, Peter Taylor, to at least express his satisfaction that his players had restored a modicum of pride.

He sportingly wished Wanderers well in the next round of the competition, said he was impressed on his first visit to the Reebok and made two telling comments about men he obviously admires greatly.

"I have lots of respect for Colin Todd," he said in an unsolicited tribute. "I think he plays football in the correct manner.

"And I don't know whether Per Frandsen was injured but when he can leave out a player like him it just shows the quality of the squad he has here."

Now is that coincidence or did the Gillingham manager know something we didn't?

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.