Bolton Wanderers have experienced a real turbulent time over the last few years since dropping out of the Premier League at the end of the 2011/12 season, with the Trotters’ 11th successive season in the English top-flight ending with a return back to the Championship.

The manager who masterminded Bolton’s promotion to the  top-flight and went onto help the club establish themselves in the Premier League was Sam Allardyce, who managed to turn the Trotters into one of the most competitive sides in the league and even managed to get the club competing for European qualification.

Allardyce managed to bring in a host of talent to the club during Bolton’s time in the Premier League, with the former England manager able to attract the likes of Jay-Jay Okocha, Ivan Campo, Stelios Giannakopoulos, Nickolas Anelka and Fernando Hierro to the Trotters.

Those players were blended in excellently with a group of hard working and driven British players, with the likes of Kevin Nolan, Gary Speed and Kevin Davies all excelling in Allardyce’s side as Bolton became one of the best sides out side of the Premier League’s then top four clubs of Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool.

However, Allardyce would eventually leave the club at the end of the 2006/07 season, a campaign in which Bolton had at one stage looked like real genuine contenders to finish in the top four before they fell away in the final months of the campaign.

Bolton have since gone onto suffer relegation out of the top-flight after the appointments of both Sammy Lee and Gary Megson failed to build on Allardyce’s work, before Owen Coyle arrived and could not prevent the club from dropping out of the Premier League.

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Premier League relegation lead to financial issues which eventually impacted the club’s ability to stay in the Championship, and they suffered relegation to League One at the end of the 2015/16 season, although they did bounce back under Phil Parkinson.

However, more financial troubles left Parkinson with a thread bare squad that was unable to sustain Championship football, and Bolton were relegated back to League One last season – and they have found themselves suffering a points deduction at the start of this term with Keith Hill taking over from Parkinson.

Allardyce speaking to the Daily Mail has suggested that he had talks with several parties interested in buying Bolton with him returning to the club as well, saying: “I had many disappointing meetings with people who said they were going to purchase the club.

“I found it wasn’t about development in football terms but in terms of what you could get from the land around the club.”

Many Bolton fans have been split over whether they would liked to have seen Alladryce return to the club during that period, having been asked if they would have welcomed a return of the former England manager at some stage in the Reebok Roar Bolton Supporters Facebook group.

Here then, we take a look at what Bolton fans have been saying about Allardyce’s comments…

Matthew Madill: "He could never repeat what he did, but I still think he would have done a good job so Yes."

Kay Hilton: "No. He said he would 'help' the club only if there was a lot of money available."

Chris Brooks: "Yes without doubt."

Peter Allred: "We can never forget his service as a player, or the dreams and players he delivered as a manager. Big Sam will always be a club legend, as for the future we don’t ever want to go into debt to the point of being hours from folding, it’s happened twice, the club needs to steady itself and slowly rebuild. Big Sam won’t sadly be apart of that."

Chris Dickinson: "100%"

Liam Riley: "If it was viable then definitely! Sadly I bet he won't work for the wages we can offer!"

Mark Riding: "No."