SAM Allardyce was hailed as a trendsetter today after guiding Wanderers to the threshold of Premiership survival on a shoestring budget.

The Reebok boss has looked on enviously at times as his rivals have splashed tens of millions on the transfer market but his right hand man, Phil Brown, believes he is the one who deserves the admiration.

"If you've got £20 million to spend, then you'll spend it," Brown acknowledged. "Everybody would like that kind of money to spend coming into the Premier League but it hasn't really bothered us that we haven't had it.

"We've strengthened the players we already have, strengthened the resolve of the team and, coupled with the manager's very astute loan signings bearing fruit, it's a way forward that a lot of teams who get promoted to the Premier League have got to be looking at.

"The way the manager has done it this season has set a precedent for a lot of teams who will be looking at what we have done."

At £650,000, Henrik Pedersen has been Wanderers' biggest straight purchase since they secured promotion to the top flight - small beer compared to the £30 million Fulham have spent since finishing Nationwide League Champions.

Where Allardyce has scored, however, is by getting the best out of his players and with the beg-steal-borrow approach to team building, which he has perfected in his two and a half years at the helm. There have been let-downs but there have been huge successes too - notably this season with the initial loan then purchase of the French international defender Bruno N'Gotty and latterly with the signings of German international Fredi Bobic on loan from Borussia Dortmund and French World Cup winner Youri Djorkaeff on a short-term contract.

There was an element of risk with Djorkaeff, in particular, having little time to settle in but the investment - the most expensive weekly wage bill in the club's history - was a calculated gamble that would not have far reaching financial consequences.

Brown, who recently cemented his partnership with Allardyce by signing a new five-year contract, explained: "If we did fall out of the Premier League, we wouldn't have that massive wage bill. So in that respect the gaffer's got to take a lot of credit."

Asked if Wanderers envied the likes of Fulham and tomorrow's opponents, Spurs, who paid £8 million for Southampton defender Dean Richards earlier in the season, the Reebok number two maintained: "There is no jealousy involved because Spurs have got 'X' amount of millions or Manchester United have got 'X' amount. It's just that the gaffer has dealt with the tools he had available to him and he's dealt with it very well."

Brown was making no assumptions, however. He insists Wanderers need at least one more win to ensure their top flight survival. "I still maintain that 39 points is not safe. We still have so much work to do," he said.

"But getting a win tomorrow would go a long way to getting that safety. Forty-two points would be nice."