Gartside: Sam did his bit, but Sammy will make us better

Gartside unveiled Sammy Lee as the club's new manager yesterday but could barely disguise his bitterness at Allardyce's decision to leave with two-and- half years left on a 10-year contract.

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Hinting that he would be angry if Allardyce was unveiled at Newcastle United or Manchester City in the near future, Gartside suggested Lee would turn out to be a better manager.

Gartside said: "It was not my choice for him to go now. You have to ask the person who decided to leave. I'm surprised and disappointed and all those words.

He's going to turn up somewhere. He won't retire will he? But you have to look at the circumstances and where he turns up. We wouldn't be too pleased but we'd have to look at the circumstances.

"Don't forget that he had two-and-a-half years left on his contract. We have a compromise agreement in place and that's between the two of us.

"The club have come a long way — in eight years of development we've made unbelievable progress.

"I'd like to think it's not one person who has made that progress. The club had moved into a new stadium. The stadium was the catalyst for much of what we've done.

"We couldn't have brought Jay-Jay Okocha to Burnden Park and asked him to play there. Irrespective of claiming that Sam had a silver tongue, I don't even think Sam could have managed that.

"I've heard it said that Sam was the instigator of all the science and the 'ologies' that we have and use at the club. Well, Sam would be a bloody genius if he understood all of those.

"A lot has been achieved but there are a lot of people left in place who can carry this on. You take a key man out of the team and you replace him with someone better."

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Gartside and Allardyce agreed two weeks ago that the 52-year-old would leave this summer, but the former Bolton defender decided to bring forward his announcement after the plans were revealed in Sportsmail on Saturday.

Allardyce is keen for a chance at a bigger club — with Newcastle currently favourites — after growing frustrated at a failure to compete in the transfer market.

Gartside said: "I'm not here to knock Sam Allardyce. He has achieved so much for this club that you can never take it away from him — and I won't do that. I hope that we can still have a beer over the years.

"But I get frustrated when people talk about a lack of resources. When you see where the club are financially and in terms of the league position, I would like to see what we could have done better.

"If you look at how much Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea spend on players, the difference between fourth and fifth in the table isn't five or 10 million. It's £100m.

"If Sam asked the question about players then they have been brought in."

Former Liverpool and England midfielder Lee — Allardyce's assistant for two years — will discuss the terms of his contract with Gartside at the end of the season.

Reflecting on how Bolton can improve, Gartside said: "Well, we could win a trophy couldn't we? We've not managed to do that.

"Sammy will fiddle at the edges and will tweak the system and will build up his own team around him. I'm more than excited about working with Sammy Lee. I've known him longer than I've known Sam Allardyce.

"I know what he wants to achieve and I'm confident that he will have a different style but that he will be very successful."

Lee, 48, takes charge for the first time as manager at West Ham this weekend and says he is not scared of the challenge.

He said: "It will be a very tough act to follow but I won't be afraid of the job."

Lee will be heartened by the news that Bolton captain Kevin Nolan, 24, has pledged his future to the club.

Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra moved a step closer to buying Manchester City yesterday, which could be bad news for Allardyce.

It is understood that City chairman John Wardle yesterday gave Thaksin's consortium permission to examine the club's accounts.

This is expected to lead to a formal bid in the coming days. Thaksin and his backers favour appointing a foreign coach to replace Stuart Pearce, which would rule Allardyce out.