LIKE many a Scouser, Sammy Lee is quick with a joke - even at his own expense.

He could be a laugh a minute, if he didn't have the serious business of Premiership football to occupy his mind.

Is he going to watch the first half from the stands, as Sam Allardyce used to do? "No, sometimes the walls are too high and I can't see over them, so I much prefer to be on the touchline."

So, is he going to be a tracksuit manager? "No, I'd prefer to wear a proper suit, if I can find one small enough."

But don't get the wrong impression. Little Sammy is deadly serious about managing Bolton Wanderers.

He spent 14 years as a coach, preparing for his big chance and, while he would have preferred it to have been in less fraught circumstances, he is single-mindedly determined to make a success of it.

Lee has moved quickly since he was unveiled as Wanderers' 17th post-war manager on Monday, elevating Gary Speed to first team player-coach and identifying a general manager he wants to bring in to deal with transfer negotiations and contract talks - aspects of the management business that come from experience and not coaching seminars.

He has also spoken collectively and individually to his players and staff, trying to allay fears and anxieties that the solid foundations Allardyce laid in seven-and-a-half glorious years might crumble now that he has gone.

But his main job over the last four days has been to ensure that the players he already knows so well are fully focused on a game in East London tomorrow that is crucial to their hopes of qualifying for Europe.

It is now perm any three from five in the race for a UEFA Cup spot and, although Wanderers go to West Ham still in pole position, the turmoil of Allardyce's shock resignation and the handing of the reins to his former assistant - swift and decisive though it was - means it's far from a formality to see off the challenge of Reading, Everton, Portsmouth and Spurs.

Lee expects to have Kevin Nolan back from injury and will know after fitness tests later today whether he can count on Stelios and Abdoulaye Faye. But he won't have El-Hadji Diouf, Tal Ben Haim and Nicky Hunt to call on and in the cauldron of Upton Park, in front of a notoriously hostile crowd and against a group of players fighting as if their own lives, not just the club's Premiership status, is at stake, it will not be easy.

But Lee gives the impression that he wouldn't have it any other way.

"I'm nervous, but I'm nervous before every game," he said on the eve of his managerial debut.

"It's part of my make up. If wasn't nervous it wouldn't be normal.

"It will be different. Everybody knows they are big shoes to fill but this is something I have always wanted and I'm not going to be scared of it now. It's exciting and I'm relishing it."

Understandably, Big Sam continues to cast a giant shadow over the Reebok and may well do for some time. Lee accepts that but there could come a time when he might lose patience with his former boss's name cropping up in every other question he is asked.

For now, though, he speaks in nothing but respectful tones about the man who made Wanderers what they are today.

"I'll always respect him," he said. "I'll be implementing what I've learned from him.

"In fact he's taken all his photos off the walls of the office and it looks bare. I'll put some stuff up but I'll get a photo of Sam and put that up too.

"I'm always fully aware of the history of football clubs and, rather than deny it, I'd rather try and encourage it and enhance it."

And he is not kidding.