SAM Allardyce expressed a sense of sadness today as he reflected on the Michael Ricketts affair.

"I don't think he ever realised what we did for him," the Wanderers' boss said, looking back on the events that led to the 24-year-old striker's January exit.

"It's all water under the bridge; Michael's got to prove himself as a Premiership player with Middlesbrough now ... but he could have done that with us."

There was acrimony when Ricketts left the Reebok for the Riverside on transfer deadline day. Allardyce had picked him up from Walsall for a bargain £400,000, paving the way for the Birmingham boy to build a reputation as one of the most coveted strikers in the game.

He top-scored in successive seasons, his goals helping Wanderers win promotion to the Premiership and keeping them there. England honours followed but there were suddenly rumours of a rift between the player and his manager, leading to repeated speculation that he wanted a move to a bigger club, which did not go down well with certain sections of the Reebok crowd.

Allardyce said little on the affair at the time of the £2.5 million transfer and was too busy celebrating a survival-clinching Wanderers triumph to make any reference to Ricketts scoring when he returned for that nerve-jangling final fixture in May. But today, on the eve of Ricketts' second coming with Steve McClaren's Boro, he said, philosophically: "He got the move he wanted and we profited from it.

"In the end he didn't want to stay but we gained because we made a major profit and were able to bring in Florent Laville and Pierre-Yves Andre.

"We benefited, he benefited so it was good business. But he could have been a Tottenham player twice over before he went to Boro!"

Spurs first missed the boat last August when their bid was too late to give Allardyce time to find a replacement and were foiled again in January when, as the Whites' boss puts it, "they lost a game of call my bluff".

"In fact, I wouldn't have done the deal with Middlesbrough but for flying in two players on the deadline," he added.

Allardyce still respects Ricketts and acknowledged: "Considering the only goal he scored for Boro was against us, we need to be wary of him."

Ironically, if Ricketts plays tomorrow (he has yet to start a game this season), he will find himself up against one of the two men his sale funded. Andre returned to France but Laville turned his loan into a permanent contract and, along with new arrival Emerson Thome, is now central to Wanderers' defensive ambitions.

With fit-again Bruno N'Gotty due to return and Ricardo Gardner continuing where he impressively left off last season at left back, Allardyce believes he has the makings of a defence that can be the foundation for a push up the table.

What he needs now, while he waits for Mario Jardel, is for his attackers to convert the chances Ricketts did so effectively when he wore the white shirt.Two goals in four matches is a concern," he admits as Wanderers look for their first win of the season. "In fact we haven't scored in three of the four games and we've only scored one goal in open play.

"But we are creating chances. It's not as though we are in our first year (in the Premiership) and hoping to be predators.

"We can't create any more chances than we did against Charlton but we need to start converting them."