COLIN Todd took a swipe at Wanderers' critics today and insisted: "We're determined to prove you wrong!" The Bolton boss says his players have never been given the credit they deserve for the style of football they play and believes sections of the media are to quick to criticise while supporters have been too quick to desert them.

"People keep knocking us," he complained, "and the only way we can hit back is by winning games of football."

He believes Wanderers have become victims of their own success over the past seven years and reckons the impressive Reebok Stadium has been a factor in raising expectations to unreasonable levels.

"I think the stadium is creating a certain problem for us," he explained. "It gives the impression to people that we are a big club but we aren't.

Education

"We are bigger than we were and supporters should remember where we were seven years ago. They should also watch some of the other games I go to watch. It would be an education for them in terms of comparing how well we play the game. "You can't please everybody, I know, but the way we play deserves much more credit than we get."

Wanderers will play in front of a near-capacity crowd against newly-relegated Charlton at The Valley tomorrow yet they are currently paying a high price for failing to clinch promotion when they lost to Watford in the Play-off Final at Wembley. They have been beset by financial problems, season ticket sales have plummeted and the signs are that average gates could be down by as many as 5,000.

"Clubs like Charlton, Ipswich and Birmingham have all suffered disappointments but they haven't had to deal with anything like the apathy we have here," Todd reflected.

"We just don't get the credit we deserve and we get criticism we don't deserve. I think the players deserve better." The Bolton boss has an excellent working relationship with the northern press but insists: "It's the power of the southern media that has caused us problems. They've never given us credit."

Expensive

A win tomorrow would go some way to answering those critics but Wanderers know they must tighten up at the back after the mistakes which proved expensive in the 3-3 draw at home to Birmingham.

Gudni Bergsson, who steadied things as a second half substitute for Greg Strong at the Reebok, is expected to keep his place in defence and Robbie Elliott is likely to continue to deputise for the injured Claus Jensen. Ricardo Gardner has returned unscathed from Jamaica's 2-2 draw with the USA on Wednesday and Eidur Gudjohnsen is back after getting two substitute outings for Iceland in their Euro 2000 qualifiers against Andorra and Ukraine. But the signs point to Todd starting with the pairing of Dean Holdsworth and Bo Hansen, who looked lively when he replaced Bob Taylor in the second half of the Birmingham game.

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