GARY Megson is convinced Wanderers would be playing in the Championship if it wasn’t for him.

The Bolton boss, approaching his second anniversary in charge at the Reebok, believes the club would have been relegated — or be bankrupt — under other managers.

Megson took over from Sammy Lee on October 25, 2007 and will have been in the job two years when his side run out against Everton on Sunday.

And, unlike some of his Premier League counterparts, the Wanderers chief says he has not broken the bank in saving the club from the drop.

“While it might sound like I’m blowing my own trumpet, if most people had been in charge of Bolton under the same circumstances and in the same conditions, then this club would now be in the Championship or bankrupt,” he said.

“We haven’t spent our way out of the trouble, like a lot have done.

“My net spend here is around about £8million to get it from where it was, sort out the football club and the problems that were here, and yet remain in the Premiership. You look at Tottenham last year when they were in trouble, they went out and spent £50m to make sure they stayed up.

“Harry (Redknapp) did really well to keep them up, but then they go and spend another £70m in the summer to improve.

“We can’t do that but we’re still judged in the same way.

“I think we were the bottom spenders in this window, we will have been in the last window, and under the same circumstances this club would have really struggled.

“Whether it is right for me to be saying these things, I don't know. But I guess no one else will say them. Football people know though.”

Megson is reluctant to drag up the past regarding the problems he encountered on taking over after Lee’s brief tenure - but is keen to praise his players and staff for helping turn Wanderers around.

“It’ll serve no purpose to go back over that and the time’s not right. You don’t want to start looking back, but it was obviously not right, and not just on the field,” he said.

“A lot of work (has been done), not by myself but by everybody; we’ve brought good staff in who I’m extremely pleased with, we’ve got some good players and some of the things we’ve had to do in terms of players leaving - the net spend is £8m - it’s gone all right and the players are terrific people as well.

“If you look at the money we’ve spent and the wage bill compared with everyone else in the Premiership , everything, ultimately, comes down to the players we’ve got and the efforts they’ve put in.

"And they deserve great credit.”