AS a vastly experienced and highly successful manager, Sam Allardyce knows there is no room for sentiment in professional sport.

You do your job, pick up your wages and, when the time comes, you move on to the next challenge. Or, in some cases, take yourself off for a well-earned rest.

So Big Sam is unlikely to be shedding any tears that, having resigned so suddenly with only two games to go, he has denied himself the opportunity of saying a public farewell to the club that, in his own words, has been his spiritual home for 18 years of his life, first as a popular player then as a miracle-working manager.

The last seven days have been momentous, head-spinning and potentially damaging but, perhaps, the saddest aspect of the whole business is that the supporters will not have a chance to express their gratitude to the man who, over the last eight seasons, has taken them to heights they could never in their wildest dreams, have imagined.

In seven and a half years, the kid from Dudley who came to Bolton as a 15-year old, has left the biggest footprint of any individual, apart from the legendary Nat Lofthouse, in the 130-year history of Bolton Wanderers.

But there will be no Curbishley-style farewell when they take on Aston Villa in the last match of the season next Sunday and no special appearance at the official Player of the Year Dinner that evening.

Instead, Allardyce is unlikely to even be in the country.

Once he'd cleared his desk and said an emotional goodbye to the players and staff he was leaving behind, he flew out to his villa in Spain to start the process of unwinding, taking the break from the pressures of management that he desperately needs after something akin to what the Queen once described as her "annus horribilis".

For the last 12 months or so have put such strains on the big man which, in the end, culminated in him quitting the club with still two and a half years left on that 10 year contract that gave him all the assurance and stability he needed to get on with the job of transforming Wanderers from second-tier nonentities to Premiership power players.

And, although there is continuing speculation over his motives, it appears that a combination of events and not just one factor that contributed to him deciding to go now.

Never mind the rumours, just study the facts. In little more than a year, Big Sam has: lsuffered the biggest disappointment of his managerial career when he missed out on the England job, after making the short-list; lbeen deeply scarred when the Panorama "bungs" documentary made unfounded allegations, questioning his integrity and causing so much grief to his wife and family; lgrown increasingly frustrated at the almost impossible task of penetrating the "concrete ceiling" that stands between clubs like Wanderers and the Big Four; lmade no secret of his annoyance that he still has to work with limited cash resources (he certainly sounded less than impressed three weeks ago when he suggested he might only get £10m to spend this summer).

Toss in the conspiracy theories that suggest he is being lined up as the next manager of Manchester City or Newcastle United and is it any wonder why the tabloid speculators are having a field day?

Few people know for certain what caused Allardyce to turn his back on Wanderers in such dramatic fashion, but it appears to have been a series of energy-sapping irritations rather than one decisive factor.

There was talk much earlier in the season that he had confided in friends that he needed a break and, in his interview with the Bolton News on Tuesday, he stressed how relieved he felt and how he was looking forward to his first summer in 14 years when he could detach himself from the pressures of management and enjoy some "Sam time".

He knew then, of course, that the timing of his leaving had robbed him of a chance to say his farewells, so he stressed more than once in the course of that interview how he wanted to show his appreciation to the supporters with whom he had such a special relationship, chuckling as he pointed out that not once in eight seasons had he heard a chant of "Allardyce out". A tribute in itself.

With two crucial games still to be played, there is no denying that the timing was awkward, awful in fact. But it must not be forgotten that the original plan was that he would go at the end of the season. It was only when the news leaked out last weekend on the eve of the Chelsea game that the timescale changed.

Once the news was out Allardyce accepted that his position was untenable.

He still left with his head high but it was such a pity he could not have gone out of the "front door" in a blaze of glory as Alan Curbishley did when he left Charlton Athletic at the end of last season.

Yet he is not the first long-serving manager, or player for that matter, to be denied a rousing send-off.

Even in Allardyce's time, it only became clear that Youri Djorkaeff and Jay Jay Okocha had played their final games after the event, and, although Per Frandsen was made captain for the day in his final game, there was no advance warning and the vast majority of supporters at the Reebok didn't understand the significance.

Ironically, Fernando Hierro, who only spent eight months at the Reebok but who announced his retirement in advance, was able to say his goodbyes on an emotional lap of honour.

Allardyce's next appearance at the Reebok is likely to be as a visiting manager.

Only then he will get the ovation he undoubtedly deserves.