Trials Are Part Of Big Sam's Plan

Since Sam Allardyce took over as Bolton Wanderers manager in October 1999 he has been keen to use his network of scouts worldwide to recruit the best possible talent that falls within the clubs budget. Cheif Scout Jack Chapman, Carl Davenport and Paul Jones have each made trips around the world to find the Bolton manager the players he needs to build a succesful side, the South American Market is an area which the Bolton manager is keen to exploit hence him running the rule over Chilean defender Jorge Vargas, currently on trial with the club following his departure from Italian side Reggiana.

There have been a number of both British and foreign based trialists arrive at the club over the last four years, some have been succesful, others haven't but one things for sure and that is that the club are always on constant lookout for new faces to improve the squad. In 2000 when money was tight a number of players joined the club on their tours of the USA and Denmark and at the time Sam was disappointed that none of them really came up to what he was looking for however since the success of Pierre-Yves Andre and Florent Laville who where taken on trial in January and then later signed it looks as if the Wanderers manager will be keen to go down that road again. At the moment the priority is finding someone, perhaps Vargas to replace Laville who is injured but guarenteed Sam has the right idea in "trying before buying".

TRIALISTS SINCE 1999

Gunnar Aase
Murphy Akanja (HIBERNIANS)
Marco Almeida (SPORTING LISBON)
Neil Bagshaw (BRADFORD PARK AVENUE)
Fillipo Bergmann (HAMMARBY)
Gregg Berhalter (SC CAMBUUR)
Regi Blinker (CELTIC)
Rene Bolf (BRANIK OSTRAVA)
Elbekaay Bouchiba (AZ ALKMAAR)
Con Boutsianis (PERTH GLORY)
Sagi Burton (COLCHESTER UNITED)
Sebastien Chabbert (RACING CLUB LENS)
Darren Connell (BLACKPOOL)
Denis Cousin (NIORT)
Fousenni Diawara (ST ETIENNE)
Carson Fagan (CAYMAN ISLANDS)
Paulo Ferriera (SPORTING LISBON)
Gary Fletcher (NORTHWICH VICTORIA)
Richard Follett (NOTTINGHAM FOREST)
Carsten Fredgaard (SUNDERLAND)
Winston Griffiths (GALAXY, USA)
Gerry Harrison (SUNDERLAND)
Steve Hutchinson
Kevin James (CAYMAN ISLANDS)
Junior (TREZE)
Mickael Kaprielian (MARTIGUES)
Tomasz Klos (KAISERSLAUTERN)
Mikka Koltilla (BRANN BERGEN)
Marijan Kovacevic (ARIS SALONIKA)
Brian Launders (DERBY COUNTY)
Anthony McStea (MIDDLESBROUGH)
Zoran Mirkovic (FENERBACHE)
Eric Molloy (MANCHESTER UNITED)
Emmanuele Morini (AS ROMA)
Martin Nash (VANCOUVER 86'ERS)
Erik Noppi (ODD GRENLAND)
David Norris (BOSTON UNITED)
Franck Passi (COMPOSTELA)
Alessandro Pierini (FIORENTINA)
Joao Manuel Pinto (BENFICA)
Colin Pluck (STEVENAGE BOROUGH)
Phil Robinson (BLACKPOOL)
Michael Rose (MANCHESTER UNITED)
Stephen Rose (MANCHESTER UNITED)
Ibrahim Said (AL AIHY)
Gareth Strange (MANCHESTER UNITED)
Patrick Suffo (FC NANTES)
Alphonse Tchami (HERTHA BERLIN)
John Thorrington (BAYER LEVERKUSEN)
Ashley Timms (MANCHESTER CITY)
Jorge Vargas (REGGIANA)
Robert Vittek (SLOVAN BRATISLAVA)
Andrew Walker (NEWCASTLE UNITED)
Paul Wheatcroft (MANCHESTER UNITED)
Frederick Wilkes (CAYMAN ISLANDS)
Ian Woan (NOTTINGHAM FOREST)

NB: Clubs in brackets relate to who the player was with at the time of the trial