SAM Allardyce had the Bolton public in the palm of his hands throughout his seven and a half years as manager of Wanderers.

And not much has changed since he quit.

His announcement on Sunday seems to have had the curious effect of turning people into amateur sleuths obsessed with unravelling the mystery behind his shock resignation.

Among the conclusions to which fans and newspapers have jumped are that he has been tapped up by Manchester City and Newcastle and has had a bust-up with his chairman over the amount of money he would be able to spend on players in the summer.

Talk about putting two and two together and making five.

Why don't people just accept Sam's explanation?

He says he wants to take time out from the game to recharge his batteries, and that's understandable.

He has not had a break for 14 years and has been under extra strain this season with the Panorama "bungs" witch-hunt.

The conspiracy theories spread about by the papers and sceptics as to why he resigned might sound more exciting than Sam's explanation, but I'm far more inclined to believe the former Reebok boss.

You can only speak as you find, and in the dozens of Press conferences I have sat through over the last eight years, Sam never once refused to answer a question and he always answered them honestly.

So, if he says he wants a break, that's enough for me.

Having said that, I'm sure his sabbatical will not last for long. The fire will soon start burning in his belly to get back involved and there will be plenty of openings for the master manager.

I only hope it will be somewhere where he will have pots of money to spend because it would be interesting to see how successful he could be in a job like that.

Sam has proved to be the best there is at maximising the performance of a modest squad. It would be a shame if we never found out what he could do with the best players around.

Could he mix it with Alex Ferguson, Rafa Benitez and Jose Mourinho in the battle for trophies? We'll never know if he doesn't get the chance, and he deserves it.

He will always be a legend in Bolton for taking Wanderers into the Premiership, the top six and Europe.

But perhaps the greatest testimony to his ability is that he shaped the Chelsea team.

He was the first manager to come up with 4-3-3 in the Premiership and when Jose Mourinho saw the impact he had with it, the Chelsea boss followed suit.

The negative side of Sam's time at Bolton was the reputation he gained as the manager of a side which was heavy on the physical side and light on entertainment.

Maybe Sam would like to put that right and prove to people that he could win and play football if he had the kind of resources at his disposal that the Big Four can boast.

He would hardly have had Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard and Michael Owen playing the Wanderers way if he had got the job as England manager last year. Being so close might well have been the trigger to his departure this week.

Sam left Bolton in fifth and the greatest manager in the world surely couldn't get the club any higher, so all he could do was carry on repeating the over-achievement.

He'd been there done that and had bought the t-shirt so many times people had started to take it for granted.

He had nothing to gain by keeping Wanderers where they were, and everything to lose if they slipped down the division.

Every sportsman would love to get out at the top and, while it is sad to see him go, it is appropriate that after only ever being associated with success at the Reebok, Sam has managed to do it.