By Mark Heys
August 9 2007

The start of the 2007-2008 season begins on Saturday afternoon and Bolton Wanderers welcome a familiar face to the Reebok Stadium when their former manager Sam Allardyce brings his Newcastle United team down from the North East.

Allardyce resigned as Bolton manager in April citing that he needed a break from football only to turn up as Glenn Roeder's successor at Newcastle a fortnight later.

There will undoubtedly be mixed feelings from some quarters towards the man who had two spells as a player with the club as well as a highly successful eight year spell in charge but the new regime under Sammy Lee has gone reasonably well, well enough to suggest that the work of Allardyce can continue regardless.

One of the first things Lee has done since taking over as Bolton manager is to revert back to a 4-4-2 system and play attacking football which was the norm in the nineties under Bruce Rioch and Colin Todd.

Eleven new faces have also been brought into the team, some English, some with Premiership experience and others with a degree of experience in the Champions League and UEFA Cup.

Only Tal Ben-Haim and Henrik Pedersen have departed the playing ranks from last season with most of the outgoings being the backroom staff who have followed the previous manager to the East.

Physiotherapist Dave Galley and Psychologist Jamil Qureshi have been brought in to replace messers Forde and Howard, whilst Dr Richard Freeman has taken over from Taylor as the head of Sport Science.

For this game Wanderers manager Lee is likely to include a number of his new signings, two of which Gerald Cid and Heidar Helguson, have recovered from knocks which kept them out of last weeks pre-season win over Colchester United.

Fellow new boys Daniel Braaten and Christian Wilhelmsson will not play as international clearance has not been received and in case Lee wants them to integrate into their new surroundings before being thrust into the Premiership limelight.

Stelios Giannakopoulos (hernia), Blerim Dzemaili (knee), Joey O'Brien (throat) and Ricardo Gardner (hamstring) are missing but Bolton welcome back goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen after he was rested for the trip to Layer Road.

Iran midfielder Andranik Teimourian is on extended leave from the club after playing a number of games for his country in this summer's Asia Cup.

Allardyce returns to Bolton with a number of injury worries hanging over his Newcastle team with key players such as Michael Owen (thigh) and Shay Given (groin) expected to be ruled out.

Long serving goalkeeper Steve Harper is on standby to replace Given whilst Owen's place alongside the Nigerian Obafemi Martins is likely to be given to ex-Manchester United man Alan Smith.

Also out for the Toon Army are Joey Barton (broken foot), Damien Duff (ankle), Emre (ankle) whilst groin injury victims Albert Luque and Celestine Babayaro remain extreme doubts.

New signings David Rozehnal and Geremi may also get some playing time this weekend, with Allardyce tipped to give the former Chelsea man Geremi the captain's armband following Scott Parker's close season departure.

Jose Enrique and Claudio Capaca are unlikely to come into the reckoning just yet following their recent moves from Villareal and Lyon.

LAST TIME WE MET

26/12/2006 BOLTON WANDERERS 2 (Ramage OG, Anelka) NEWCASTLE UNITED 1 (Dyer)

BOLTON: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Nicky Hunt, Abdoulaye Meite, Abdoulaye Faye, Tal Ben-Haim, Kevin Nolan, Ivan Campo, Gary Speed, Kevin Davies, Nicolas Anelka, El-Hadji Diouf (Henrik Pedersen)

Subs Not Used: Ricardo Gardner, Ricardo Vaz-Te, Idan Tal, Ali Al-Habsi

NEWCASTLE: Pavel Srnicek, David Edgar, Steven Taylor, Peter Ramage, Paul Huntington, Kieron Dyer (Emre), Scott Parker, Nicky Butt, James Milner (Guiseppe Rossi), Antoine Sibierski, Obafemi Martins

Subs Not Used: Albert Luque, Matty Pattison, Tim Krul

PLAYED FOR BOTH

Peter Beardsley, Franz Carr, Tony Cunningham, Wyn Davies, Robbie Elliott, Les Ferdinand, Alan Gowling, Steve Howey, Mike Jeffrey, Glenn Keeley, Neil McDonald, Ron McGarry, Scott Sellars, Gary Speed, Alan Thompson, Andy Walker, Tommy Wright

DID YOU KNOW:

Bolton's opening day record over the last ten years reads: P 10, W 4 D 4 L 2

Newcastle have only even won once at the Reebok Stadium with their success coming in a 4-0 win in the 2001-02 season after goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen was sent off and Bolton had to play Bo Hansen in goal.

Glenn Keeley had a prolonged spell as Newcastle's centre half in the 1970's. He ended his career with Bolton in 1989 and is currently on the Wanderers Football In The Community Staff.

In season 1997-98 the Trotters had no fewer than five ex-Newcastle players on their books with Beardsley, Carr, Elliott, Sellars and Thompson being the men in question.

Sam Allardyce has managed two teams called the Magpies, with Notts County also sharing the nickname.

Two of El-Hadji Diouf's five goals last season came in the game against United at St James Park, Wanderers won the game 2-1 with Shola Ameobi scoring from the spot for the hosts.