SAM Allardyce's hackles rose at the suggestion that Wanderers had been installed as favourites for relegation from the Premiership.

It was not the fact that the bookies were writing off his team and, consequently, tipping him to be the first top flight manager to get the chop. Big Sam is enough of a realist to acknowledge that Wanderers will have their work cut out if they are to avoid the drop. What aggravated him most was the haste with which the promotion celebrations had been cut short. The cheers were still ringing round Cardiff's Millennium Stadium when the prophets of doom were penning their predictions.

Imagine the lashings of humble pie having to be scoffed next May when Wanderers have beaten the odds and, for the first time in three attempts, managed to last more than a season of Premiership football!

One thing is for sure, the bookies will be proved wrong on the sacking front. When Phil Gartside secured Allardyce on that much-publicised "10-year" deal last season it was a statement of intent.

Wanderers aim to give Sam the time to do the job he was brought in to do in October 1999.

Gartside has every confidence that Allardyce can produce the goods in the long run so there will be no knee-jerk reaction. Far from it. In fact, if Wanderers manage to finish fourth from bottom and survive the drop, the chairman is likely to nominate his manager for freedom of the borough!

Being brutally honest and with all due respect to the players who worked wonders last season, the team that clinched promotion in May was not, as it stood, Premiership calibre. And the additions made since have hardly had Sir Alex Ferguson and Gerard Houllier quaking in their boots.

But they will be foolish to under-estimate the Wanderers or Allardyce, who has become expert in getting the best out of the limited resources available to him.

Much has been said of how Ipswich and Charlton proved more than worthy of their top flight status last season but, for a more pertinent parallel, it is worth looking at what Sunderland have achieved under Peter Reid.

When the Black Cats were promoted two seasons ago, they were not exactly star-studded. Yet they have finished seventh in each of their two seasons and only just missed out on European qualification!

The fact is that Reid is a shrewd, single-minded manager, an organiser, a tactician and a motivator who demands and gets every ounce of effort from his teams.

He knows the value of results over performances and he knows how to achieve them.

Sound familiar? Hardly surprising since they are from the same stock. Allardyce and Reid are the best of mates, a friendship that dates back to their playing days at Burnden Park where they were schooled and nurtured by Ian Greaves, who remained their mentor long after they went their separate ways.

Greaves never sought pats on the back or style marks. Points were what mattered most and the team, who respected him to a man, built its reputation and gained respect on the strength of the results it achieved.

Until recently, Reid has spent modestly, although he has assembled a strong and determined squad that has been hard to beat at the Stadium of Light and made a nuisance of themselves on their travels. Those who expect Wanderers to fail this season because they have not spent big would do well to recall the predictions of a year ago when an injury-hit, makeshift squad went on to prove the doubters wrong.

There were no superstars and no big money buys, but there was a spirit that made all the difference. Sam's ability to generate that all-for-one, one-for-all mentality among his players could be crucial.

Managing at Premiership level is a dream come true for Allardyce, but the prospects? "You're trying to spoil my party," was his curt response to having Wanderers' quoted at 7-4 ON favourites to go straight back down, "and I'm determined to enjoy it. Ask me again 10 games into the season."