MY message to Bolton Wanderers would be get Chung-Yong Lee sorted on a new contract quick - or run the risk of losing him in January.

Everyone has been talking about Gary Cahill maybe moving on in the next transfer window but I'd be more worried about the young winger, who has come on in leaps and bounds since he came over to England.

The cross he produced for Johan Elmander's goal on Saturday at the Emirates was world class. He had so much to do after getting round Manuel Almunia and there were four Arsenal defenders in the box, but he managed to put it right on his striker's head and that kind of thing can't be taught.

The former FC Seoul player looked a bit flimsy at times last season but since he got back from the World Cup he seems to have beefed up a bit.

He did well in South Africa and that will have put a few million on his valuation, so it's no surprise clubs like Liverpool have been sniffing round him, or that Bolton are looking to get him tied down for a few more years.

In this day and age a contract doesn't mean you keep a player, but you're in a position of security if you have a player earning what he should and knowing they are with the club for a few more years.

I saw Chungy over at the World Cup and I thought he was brilliant, and he's come back after the summer looking the business. Looking across the rest of the squad in the last few weeks, it's been a case of swings and roundabouts. Most have done okay - but I think it's fair to say Martin Petrov hasn't shown us what he's about just yet.

I spoke up over the summer when Owen Coyle signed Petrov from Manchester City - I thought it was one of the best bits of business I'd seen in ages.

At the moment, it's just not happening for him at all. He had a bad afternoon at Arsenal and has been sacrificed in his last two games when we've had players sent off. He looked in good shape during the summer but since the season has kicked off, his performances haven't been up to scratch.20 I'm sure he'll come good, it's just sometimes you've got to have a bit of patience and let players settle in properly. At least I hope that's the case. No team has 11 players on top form right throughout a season and that's why you need others picking up the slack - and that's exactly what Elmander is doing right now.

He's playing out of his skin at the moment alongside big Kevin Davies and those two are giving teams some real problems. They are both big lads, so they have got that physical threat, but they look like they have got goals in them and I'm sure Owen will be really pleased about that.

OWEN Coyle might have bit his tongue after the refereeing horror show at Arsenal but I don't have to.

Stuart Atwell might be David Elleray's young prodigy but he's not up to the job right now.

I don't have much time for Graham Poll but I read his piece in the Sunday Mail at the weekend and agreed wholeheartedly with it. He's too young and too inexperienced to referee at this level - and he showed exactly why at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.

There might be a time when he is ready and by getting where he has, Atwell, pictured, has obviously got something about him. But it smacks of too much, too young to me.

He tried too hard to make sure 60,000 supporters went home happy on Saturday afternoon and it's ended up costing Owen Coyle his best centre-half for the next three games. Call it human nature, or whatever, but I'm just not buying it.

Let's be honest, it was never a malicious tackle. Okay, it was from behind and you'd take the yellow card even if you're not happy about it.

But a sending off? There were worse tackles from both sides in that game.

Apparently, he got slaughtered the week before at the Wolves v Newcastle game  for not being firm enough, so I reckon that was playing on his mind when he produced the ridiculous red card for Gary Cahill.

The fact he had missed the foul on Chung-Yong Lee at the other end just makes it all the more difficult to swallow.

The manager will have moved on by now and will already be preparing for the next game at Villa. So will the lads.

As fans we can moan and groan about it for a couple of days afterwards - but the boys will just get on with the job. It's gone now.

I WAS devastated to hear the sad news that my former team-mate Gary Parkinson is in critical condition after suffering a stroke last week.

Owen Coyle phoned me on Friday night to tell me he wasn't well, and I couldn't believe what he was saying at the time.

Gary is 42 years of age, coaching the kids at Blackpool and I'll bet he was as fit as any one of them.

I remember Bruce Rioch brought him to Bolton after working with him at Middlesborough.

Parky was a great player and such a fantastic character in the dressing room.

Phil Brown was just about holding on to his shirt at the time, getting older by the day, and while he never quite got his run in the first team, he went on to Burnley and scored a goal that got them promotion before playing for Preston and Blackpool and getting into coaching.

It was a shock to hear what happened and should be a warning to everyone that you never know what is coming round the corner.

My thoughts are with his wife Deborah and his children back in Bolton. I know they have the full support of everyone connected with Wanderers.

I'LL bet I wasn't the only one whose chin dropped to the floor when Aston Villa chose to appoint Gerard Houllier as the man to succeed Martin O'Neill.

He did a decent job at Liverpool, but there's something not right about him going in at Villa Park after spending so long out of the limelight and working for the French Football Federation. Are you telling me there was no one out there who was better suited?

Now they are saying he won't be in charge when they play Wanderers on Saturday, which leaves Kevin MacDonald having to pick up his lads again after their late defeat against Stoke. There's definitely something strange going on there.