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George Graham the former Tottenham manager might find the desire for beautiful football on a budget all too much

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George Graham, the former Tottenham manager, might find the desire for beautiful football on a budget all too much like White Hart Lane II, whereas a return to London would surely appeal to his old mucker Terry Venables.The failure of Redknapp's predecessor, Billy Bonds, a man simply not cut out for management, emphasises that the job advertisement need not specify claret-and-blue blood as essential. If West Ham connections become a factor, a name that has not yet been mentioned is that of the ambitious Tommy Taylor, who has just taken neighbouring Leyton Orient to the end-of season promotion play-offs.Prospective candidates studying the odds this weekend should also be aware of how highly West Ham's prospects for next season are regarded; only 5-1 to suffer relegation. That chortling noise coming out of the Blackwall Tunnel emanates from Charlton.. In the cynical, fast-changing world of football it is marvellously reassuring to know there is always Ian Marshall. As he shambles towards our interview assignation at Bolton's Reebok Stadium, looking for all the world as if he is on the way into, or just coming out of, a four-ale bar in his white T- shirt, jeans and trainers, Marshall remains one of the game's verities, devotee of a pint or two of post-match lager, purveyor of dressing-room Scouse wit and an all-round good guy who almost holds mascot status for Wanderers as they embark on today's Division One play-offs with a visit to West Brom.

In the cynical, fast-changing world of football it is marvellously reassuring to know there is always Ian Marshall. As he shambles towards our interview assignation at Bolton's Reebok Stadium, looking for all the world as if he is on the way into, or just coming out of, a four-ale bar in his white T- shirt, jeans and trainers, Marshall remains one of the game's verities, devotee of a pint or two of post-match lager, purveyor of dressing-room Scouse wit and an all-round good guy who almost holds mascot status for Wanderers as they embark on today's Division One play-offs with a visit to West Brom. Born in the year England won the World Cup, this tousle-haired Liverpudlian has been around for most of the last two decades with Everton, Oldham, Ipswich, Leicester and now, at the age of 35, Bolton. Easing into a seat in the stands and assuring his passing manager, Sam Allardyce, "I'm only talking about you, gaffer, building you up," Marshall considers the unexpectedly pleasant situation he finds himself in.Following a bleak departure from Leicester last summer, he was phoned by Allardyce and offered a money-per-game deal. That rapidly escalated into a season's contract, and now he expects to be with Bolton, hopefully at Premiership level, next season. "Sam offered me a new contract a couple of months ago, whether we go up or not," he says, "and I have verbally agreed it. We haven't spoken about it since but, cross my fingers, it's still there."I am not kidding anybody, I am in the twilight of my career.

I am looking at next season and then that might possibly be it, though I am enjoying my football better than I have done the last two or three years. I know I'm not going to play week in, week out, but I can come in and play up front or at the back. If they bring me on with 20 minutes to go I can either rough up defenders or try to shore up our own defence."I have started about 15 games and been sub 25 times, which for me is an achievement. In my last two years at Leicester I played only three times one season, and last season was involved in about 25 games, mostly as sub."Ah yes, Leicester, where Marshall describes his relationship with his then manager, Martin O'Neill, as "love-hate, we loved to hate each other". It was O'Neill who, three days before himself moving to Celtic, told Marshall his contract would not be renewed."I found O'Neill a very strange person," Marshall says. "He is the only manager whose presence made me feel uncomfortable.

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