Allardyce fury at 'boring' jibes

Allardyce has established Bolton as a Premiership side

Bolton manager Sam Allardyce has reacted angrily to claims he is to blame for falling Premiership crowds and lower standards of entertainment.

Some critics have cited Bolton's style of playing to survive rather than entertain as symbolic of what is wrong.

"People love blaming me. That shows a lack of intelligence, or they don't even watch us," he said.

"I make no apologies about how we go about our job. We are a very attractive team, no matter what anybody says."

We are winning more matches now than we have ever won before, we spend less money than anybody else - how can you blame me? Sam Allardyce

Allardyce has taken Bolton into Europe for the first time, in the Uefa Cup, and he said he was bringing success to the club on a sensible budget.

"We are winning more matches now than we have ever won before, we spend less money than anybody else and yet we are in the top half of the table and playing in Europe, so I don't see how you can blame me," he said.

He said it was too early in the season to judge whether or not the Premiership had become boring, but said Roman Abramovich's unrivalled spending power at Chelsea was not good for the game as a whole.

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"Because money is no object for him, it's inflated everything else in this country," he said.

"It's inflated salary and transfer packages, forcing the top boys to try and compete, and leaving us just staying in there and trying to bring the best players with what we've got."

Premiership pays the price

But he said he did not think the salary cap proposed by Wigan chairman Dave Whelan would help anyone - in fact, it would damage the whole Premiership.

"You will simply lose bigger players to other countries and that will dilute the quality of the Premiership", he said,

"You'd have to do so from the G14 downwards otherwise somebody from Spain or Italy will enquire about a top player like Thierry Henry or Rio Ferdinand, tell them they don't have a salary cap and then what will happen?

"They will buy a private jet and they will go."