Allardyce has had very little to spend during his four years in charge of Bolton with the majority of signings made coming on free transfers, short term contracts or loan deals and he has confirmed he expects the January transfer window to spell the usual knockbacks by the board and work with the players who are already at the club.
"There's no scope to bring in anyone so we have to hope this defeat (against Man City) has hurt the players enough to make them determined to come back with a bang against Birmingham next Saturday," he said.
He also looked on with envy at rivals Manchester City saying that the money they have has given them power to compete within the top reaches of the Premiership securing the likes of Nicholas Anelka, Robbie Fowler, Steve McManaman and Sylvain Distin. However the Bolton boss once again dropped a hint of his frustration at having no cash which other Premiership managers have.
"We had 11 players out there against City and probably only three of them cost any money. The rest are free transfers and when you look at the City side, with the millions that they've spent, you've got to say that they are better than we are."
Yesterday there was uncertainty whether or not a deal for defender Phillippe Leonard could be agreed, again down to a financial burden whilst there is also a doubt over whether loan star Glen Little will be taken on a permanent basis with the emphasis on selling fringe players before any new players can be brought in.
Its pathetic that Sam has to continuosly work to a limited if non-exsistant budget, if the money men can't compete on the stage we are at then they should hand over to someone who can. Lets put things into perspective, its not as if Leonard and Little are on massive wages or will command massive transfer fees, the excuses and cost cutting excuses will not wash for much longer. Last season we cut the squad by 8 players leaving on loan or on free transfers with only Michael Ricketts commanding a fee, some of those sold could of commanded some sort of fee but where allowed to leave for nothing to aid a quick sale, and then they wonder why we are so much in debt.