A 4-1 hammering of Wigan Athletic - Wanderers' biggest Premiership win for 12 months - confirmed they had the talent as well as the stomach for the fight.
ANOTHER landmark month in the history of Bolton Wanderers kicked off with Nicolas Anelka rescuing a 1-0 victory over Rabotnicki at the Reebok to see the Whites through to the group phase of the UEFA Cup. But Sammy Lee was on borrowed time.
THE pressure mounted on Sammy Lee as Wanderers became rooted in the relegation zone after successive defeats at home to Everton and away to Birmingham.
SAMMY Lee took his summer signings into double figures with the capture of Rosenborg's Norwegian international Daniel Braaten for £500,000 and Jussi Jaaskelainen ended speculation over his immediate future, promising to see out the final year of his contract.
SUMMER signings Jlloyd Samuel, Gavin McCann, Gerald Cid and Danny Guthrie joined Wanderers on their trip to South Korea, where they competed in the Peace Cup, losing to Lyon in the final.
SAMMY Lee reacted to fears that Wanderers were losing top backroom talent by confirming the appointments of Frank McParland as his general manager and Dave Galley to head up the physiotherapy team.
THE Sammy Lee era kicked off with a 3-1 defeat at West Ham but Wanderers managed a point in their final game at home to Aston Villa to finish seventh and secure a place in the UEFA Cup.
PLAYERS contradicted Sam Allardyce's view, insisting Wanderers were still in the Champions League hunt, but the optimism at the start of the month eventually gave way to resignation - quite literally.
SAM Allardyce had given up hope of beating Liverpool or Arsenal in the race for a Champions League place but he reckoned 14 points from the remaining 10 games would get Wanderers back into the UEFA Cup.
WINS at Watford and at home to Fulham put Wanderers back on track but the wheels came off again, when they went to Tottenham aiming to force their way back into the top four.
NO Bolton team has ever finished higher than third in the top flight of English football, so it said everything about the quality of Sam Allardyce's Whites that they kicked off 2007 with only Manchester United and Chelsea above them in the Premier League.
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