From this mornings Mirror........

 

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/200...89520-20380448/

 

 

Survive or fall, Gartside will stick with his man Megson

 

EXCLUSIVE

 

 

By Alan Nixon 12/04/2008

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Bolton chairman Phil Gartside will not sack Gary Megson if Wanderers crash out of the Premier League.

 

Instead, Gartside is planning to hand him a transfer war-chest to buy new players, with a striker a priority, because the

 

club will go down with ?15million in the kitty from the sale of Nicolas Anelka.

 

Under-fire Gartside is determined to stand by the man he appointment manager and give him the cash for a big-name forward to fill Anelka's boots - something the club did not do in the last transfer window and a mistake that could cost them their top-flight status.

 

Gartside, who bid for several strikers in January, believes Megson can bring Wanderers back at the first attempt if they find the missing link in the summer.

 

Bolton had a short-list of goalscoring targets and aim to blow their Championship rivals out of the water by buying big and landing one of the men they want.

 

Wanderers are still keen on St Etienne's Bafetimbi Gomis and would match Newcastle United for him.

 

Toon's talent finder Dennis Wise wants the big striker but boss Kevin Keegan has yet to approve the move.

 

Megson is also chasing Leroy Lita at Reading - one of the targets Wanderers missed out on in January - and they will make an offer for him if Gomis cannot be landed.

 

Gartside has also moved to halt takeover talk behind the scenes. He called old pal Freddy Shepherd, the former Newcastle United chairman, to confirm he is not planning a buy-out and has also confronted one local wheeler-dealer linked with a potential bid.

 

Eddie Davies, Bolton's owner who is based on the Isle of Man, is also happy to back his chairman and manager despite the first crisis in Gartside's reign.

 

Gartside has kept his head down despite all the criticism but sources close to him revealed: "Phil is very down about the league position, but nobody is throwing in the towel about the future.

 

"It's the first blip in years and there is money to be spent on players to make sure this squad is improved and not ripped apart. Bolton will be one of the first clubs relegated with money in the bank."

 

Wanderers would lose key men if they drop. Skipper Kevin Nolan, Ivan Campo, Kevin Davies and new boy Gary Cahill will be magnets for other clubs.

 

However Bolton and Megson will look to keep as many as possible. The manager has a good track record at Championship level and will have the resources to continue.

Edited April 12, 200818 yr by dirty barsteward

i see nixon's at it again. that probably amounts to a half-page article and it's all based on old news and putting 2 + 2 together.

"Aim to blow their championship rivals out of the water"

 

Not sure why but i like that bit

Edited April 12, 200818 yr by M G WHITES

"Will compete with Newcastle" - so in other words we have no chance.

 

If this was the transfer tactics in January, it is no surprise we failed to sign a replacement for Anelka

"Megson can bring Wanderers back at the first attempt if they find the missing link in the summer."

'Missing link' singular ? There's a whole chain load of missing links, and a good manager is the biggest one.

If the rumours are true it will have f all to do with Gartside whether Megson stays or goes next season.

The strange thing is Eddie davies has had the club up for sale if rumours are to be believed, now there are interested parties, it seems that Davies is backtracking and does not want to sell, the club should make a statement on what there plans are everything is hush hush rumours and counter rumours must be unsettling to everyone, time for our owner to come clean.