Allardyce resigns as Bolton manager

AFP - 29 April 2007 18:02

Sam Allardyce, seen here in 2006, has resigned as manager of English Premiership club Bolton Wanderers amid rumours he could be appointed Manchester City boss in the summer.

BOLTON, England (AFP) - Sam Allardyce on Sunday resigned as manager of English Premiership club Bolton Wanderers amid rumours he could be appointed Manchester City boss in the summer.

"After nearly eight privileged years with Bolton Wanderers Football Club, I would like to announce that, after careful consideration and dialogue with my close family and senior officials within the football club, I will be resigning as manager of the club with immediate effect," Allardyce said in a statement.

"It was mutually decided that I step down now rather than at the end of the season, to give my successor the ideal opportunity to experience the preparation and build-up of matchday in readiness of next season.

"The decision to leave the football club, which has been my spiritual home for over 18 years, as both player and manager, is one of the hardest decisions I have had to make in my life.

"However, after guiding the team into a position where the club is on the verge of qualification for European football for the second time in three years, which has been the accumulation of almost seven years of strategic building and hard work across all areas of the football club, I feel it is the right moment to step down from my duties and welcome a new exciting era for the club under different leadership."

There was little indication that Allardyce - who failed to attend the 2-2 draw with Chelsea on Saturday claiming he was ill - was intent on walking away from the club he joined as an apprentice.

And Bolton chairman Phil Gartside said he had "reluctantly accepted the resignation" with the club on the verge of qualification for the UEFA Cup despite a traumatic campaign.

A BBC Panorama investigation linked Allardyce to a bungs scandal, though he refuted the accusations made in the programme and threatened the programme-makers with legal action.

Panorama's 'Undercover: Football's Dirty Secrets' claimed that Allardyce and his son Craig, formerly a football agent, were given illegal payments to facilitate player transfers.

"I would like to thank Sam for his enormous contribution to Bolton Wanderers, both as a player, but more importantly as a manager," Gartside said.

"Since joining the club as manager in October 1999, he has helped lead a fantastic transformation of this famous Lancashire club and has helped design and build an infrastructure that will enable the club to continue the progress that we have undoubtedly made in his period of office."