FOOTBALL autobiographies have to pick open old wounds or they quickly end up on the shelf of some charity shop.

Gone are the days when footballers simply told their story in their own words. Modern accounts are spun, serialised, and constructed with more than a hint of journalistic licence.

In fact, I could name a few people in sport who have worked with a ghost writer who are a little disappointed with how they end up portrayed in the pages of their own book. It’s like Tony Wilson (Steve Coogan) said in the brilliant 24 Hour Party People: “If you have to choose between the truth and the legend, print the legend.” And many choose to.

As such I’m loath to go overboard on Sam Allardyce’s revelations in his upcoming autobiography.

For starters I didn’t work closely with Big Sam; my role at the time was more an assistant to Gordon Sharrock. But, boy, I dealt with the fall-out.

You cannot possibly play down what he, and everyone else at the club, did during those halcyon days in the Premier League and UEFA Cup, yet there were times when I first took this job on I wished people would move on.

Everything I wrote at one point, dealing with managers like Sammy Lee and Gary Megson, seemed to need a Big Sam caveat. It drove me mad.

This week has brought that flooding back. Big Sam’s book, serialised in The Sun – whose employees also helped to write it – was never going to be complimentary about the disintegration of his relationship with Phil Gartside. In fact, I was quite surprised with how lightly he got off in the bits I have read so far.

People have reacted strongly to a second-hand quote in the book from the chairman, suggesting the club “could not afford” to go into Europe. And while the club have politely declined to comment on the matter, I could see how it could be true.

The squad at that point was still a bit piece-meal and hadn’t completely settled in the Premier League. To add enough bodies to accommodate a run in Europe would have been expensive, not to mention the bonuses that would have been paid out to existing players.

However, to suggest Big Sam was told to bail out of Europe is nonsense. Can you honestly imagine anyone, let alone a proud man like Allardyce, losing a showpiece final against Middlesbrough on purpose?

Megson made a similar swipe a few years ago. But as I said back then – only one man puts the team-sheet in. He made that bed at Sporting Lisbon, and had to lie in it.

The really interesting bit in Big Sam’s excerpt concerned the 2006-7 season, when Wanderers were really riding high.

Since walking out Allardyce has told anyone who would listen that he was not backed financially to take Bolton to the next level, in this case the Champions League.

At that time the club was pushing the top four and had turned a small profit but had a wage bill that had swelled to more than £40million. It is worth noting that broadcasting revenue at this point was way down on modern day levels, at £25m.

Eddie Davies owned the wallet Gartside and Allan Duckworth operated the till. At that point they all had to decide whether to stick or twist.

It might have taken one more proven striker to nudge them past the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham and towards the luxuries of Champions League. The squad was an ageing one, however, and remedial work was required the following summer to even dream of competing at that level.

To play Devil’s Advocate, had Wanderers saddled themselves with another £10m-plus of debt at that point in history, who’s to say it would have worked out? No-one can, even though it would have been fun to find out.

It rankles many that money was made available for subsequent managers to complete that rebuilding. Megson landed the likes of Gary Cahill, Fabrice Muamba, Johan Elmander and Matty Taylor and the debt started to ebb towards its current state.

At that point I was in the job and knew it was panic stations. Wanderers were doing anything they could to stay in the league. It worked temporarily and I have a sneaky suspicion that if Bolton had stuck with Megson they would have stayed up in his third season, albeit the club would be playing to an empty stadium.

After that, it’s my opinion that recruitment got sloppy. It was during Owen Coyle’s tenure that you can ask serious questions of the money that was spent, apportion blame top to bottom.

None of that is going to help Wanderers now. Again, I find myself in the situation of wanting to move on and stop raking over the past.

Could, would, should; three dangerous words. Just like life, there are no guarantees in football, except that a footballer’s autobiography will give the local journalist a flipping headache.