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.
Five straight wins had earned Allardyce the December manager of the month award and at the Reebok there was a genuine belief that they could challenge for a Champions League place, provided they used the transfer window to strengthen the squad.
As it was, January turned out to be a frustrating month. Wanderers failed to register a single win as they dropped out of the top four and the only recruits Allardyce managed to snare were the Slovakian duo Lubomir Michalik and Zoltan Harsanyi and Portsmouth midfielder David Thompson on a short-term deal. David Dunn agreed to join Wanderers from Birmingham, only to change his mind at the 11th hour when his former club Blackburn hi-jacked the deal.
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It wasn't all bad news on the transfer front, though. Tal Ben Haim was on his way to Stamford Bridge until Chelsea ditched the deal, preferring to wait until the summer when they could get him for free. So Wanderers at least had the services of their best defender for the rest of the season and a chance to try and convince him to stay. Things weren't going well on the defensive front and alarm bells were ringing after heavy defeats at Liverpool and Middlesbrough.
An unexpected bonus came in the shape of Iranian international Andranik Teimourian who burst onto the scene with two goals in a 4-0 FA Cup win at Doncaster.
Ivan Campo pledged to see out the remaining 18 months of his contract and Kevin Davies signed athree and a half year deal.
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