Low-budget Bolton still a team to be reckoned with

Since Sam Allardyce took over at Bolton Wanderers, he has shown his fellow managers how you can rub shoulders with the elite by spending little.

Taking into consideration the meagre sum the Trotters have spent this season, you just wonder how they can upset many an applecart at the Reebok Stadium and even on the away front.

Allardyce's policy has always been to go for players in the twilight of their careers. He has a way of persuading them to join his force at the Reebok, most probably since players who have come and gone, have offered a good advert for the proud club of Bolton.

The Wanderers pay these players good wages but their financial outlay will never reach the amounts other clubs spend on foreign players. Sometimes, these are not even tried in the first team (given substitute appearances) and then are given a free release at the end of the season or at the opening of the second transfer window in January.

Chelsea, backed by Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich, have spent £31m less than last season and are fighting it on four fronts for honours.

The bulk of Man. United's transfer budget was spent on the capture of Wayne Rooney, who is proving worth the money spent as his career progresses.