Allardyce in line for pay cut despite progress

Sam Allardyce, the Bolton Wanderers manager, has a threat of a pay cut apparently hanging over him as the Lancashire club looks to cut costs.

Bolton's parent company, Burnden Leisure, are £38m in debt and are anxious to retain a sound financial footing.

The Bolton assistant manager, Phil Brown, said: "There are an awful lot of financial constraints going on at this time. The manager has been told he might have to take a pay cut, which is quite phenomenal."

The Bolton management team have worked wonders on a limited budget and hope to strengthen the squad in January. "We will work hard at it," said Brown. "If we have to do a bit of wheeling and dealing, one or two going out, one or two coming in, then we will do that. But I don't think there will be any major coups."

The Bury player-manager, Andy Preece, yesterday had his contract terminated by mutual consent. Preece appears to have been the victim of a cost-cutting exercise at Bury, who are 12th in the Third Division.

"This action has been necessitated by the need to make a significant reduction in expenditure in this financial year ending May 2004," said a club statement. "The board of directors would like to record their gratitude to Andy Preece for his hard work and loyalty throughout the last four difficult years."

Graham Barrow has been named caretaker manager.

The Crystal Palace owner, Simon Jordan, has short-listed Iain Dowie and Phil Parkinson for his managerial vacancy. Jordan has narrowed the field down to the two young managers and is likely to make an approach in the next week or so. Dowie is keen to leave Oldham and is the favourite, while Parkinson has impressed at Colchester.

Partick Thistle's caretaker managers, Derek Whyte and Gerry Britton, have been given three more matches to prove they are worthy of a full-time appointment. The pair have made a joint application for the vacant job and the board have decided to wait until the new year before making a decision.

The former Motherwell manager, Billy Davies, who is assistant manager to Craig Brown at Preston, is a front runner. Also in the frame are the Clyde manager, Alan Kernaghan, and John Connolly, of Queen of the South. The former Aberdeen and Dundee United manager, Paul Hegarty, has applied for the post.