THERE was a time when Sam Allardyce’s collection of golden oldies were good enough to establish Wanderers among the Premier League elite.

For a time, pulling on a Bolton shirt was tantamount to bathing in a fountain of youth, as the club cannily harnessed senior talents like Gary Speed, Jay Jay Okocha, Fernando Hierro, Youri Djorkaeff and Gudni Bergsson to rub shoulders with the very best.

But while Wanderers have very noticeably moved away from that transfer strategy in recent times, it has been brought sharply back into focus by the arrival of 36-year-old strikers Eidur Gudjohnsen and Emile Heskey.

Neil Lennon – himself a player who extended his career at Celtic way into his thirties – makes no apologies for his approach.

Gudjohnsen is in line to make his debut against Reading tomorrow, 14 years after last featuring for the club in the second tier in a play-off semi-final against Ipswich Town.

Heskey still has plenty to prove if he is to earn a similar short-term deal but if Lennon’s very public backing of his former Leicester City team-mate yesterday is anything to go by, the prospect of a combined septuagenarian striker force is not an impossibility

“I might make a comeback myself,” smiled Lennon, pre-empting the questions about players of a certain age.

“I don't think we've enough experienced players who've played at the top level before.

“Whether that's important in the Championship or our current position, we will see, but I feel if you've got a player like Eidur coming in, it will only lift the players.

“He knows the club and environment and he’s still getting used to the pace of the game. But his experience and professionalism should rub off on the rest and we hope it's the same with Emile.”

Wanderers have done it before – and Lennon sees no reason why the approach that paid off so handsomely for Allardyce at the start of the millennium cannot work again.

“I'm not making comparisons but Sam did it with Okocha and Hierro and people who thought maybe their careers were coming to an end but Sam gave them a new lease of life and they turned out to be pretty good players for Bolton,” he said. “Certainly in Eidur's case he can make a contribution to the squad.

“It's not a question of us giving these guys a pay day for 18 months. Eidur's coming here to make a contribution and we feel he can make a difference in games. It's up to him now.

“The hunger's till there and he's shown us he's physically fit, while he's never lost the ability to play football. We're hoping it's signing that works.”

The signing of Gudjohnsen has seen Wanderers attract media attention from all around the world – another comparison which can be drawn with the Allardyce days.

The name Bolton Wanderers is starting to generate a positive buzz, but Lennon was quick to stamp out any suggestion that the signing of Gudjohnsen in particular was any attempt to appease disaffected supporters or sell merchandise.

“This isn't a gimmick,” he said, “It's not a PR exercise. Eidur has got the bit between his teeth. Do I think he'll make the squad better? Yes I think he will.”

Gudjohnsen’s lack of game time will most likely see the former Chelsea and Barcelona striker start as a substitute at the Madejski Stadium tomorrow but Lennon believes his presence in the dressing room can have a positive effect on those around him.

“He played 90 minutes in the development squad, which was his first for a while and then 75 minutes the week before,” said the manager.

“He's been training for the last three or four weeks so I don't think he's far away.

“Whether he's ready to start a game will be debatable but certainly I'd have him in the squad, which would give everyone a lift.”

Gudjohnsen played in an advanced midfield role in midweek against Middlesbrough and missed two glorious chances to make a scoring return in a Bolton shirt.

Lennon wasn’t reading too much into his rustiness in front of goal.

“He's a class player and you get the impression he might have been saving a bit in reserve anyway.

“There was times where you felt he could've scored and was looking for that bit of extra magic to put the finishing touch on things but if anything happens to Chungy and we've lost Mark Davies, it's always good to have another creative player in there and Eidur certainly fits that bill.”