Players Under The Microscope / Gary Speed / 31 August 2007 /

Bolton's midfield maestro on Nic staying on, solo goal celebrations and Dyer's dire luck

There are moments in a season that can turn everything at a club for the better and we'd like to think Nicolas Anelka gave us one of those yesterday when he signed a new contract. It doesn't want a football genius to work out how important he is to Bolton. You only have to add up the goals scored so far. But you can't begin to explain how much one top player confirming he wants to stay at a club can affect the morale of everybody there.

So Nic turning his back on all the speculation of other clubs - including some very big ones - who were said to be wanting him, was fantastic. For the manager it was a vote of confidence from a top player in his methods, for the supporters it was a great piece of news that the top goalscorer will still be around. Most of all for the players it sends a message through the dressing room that Bolton is still a serious, ambitious club that wants to be at the top end of the Premier League table.

There's always lots of speculation when you are coming up to the transfer deadline and when you've got good players they will always be linked with other clubs. That was bound to happen with Nic because everybody has been wondering what effect Sam Allardyce leaving was going to have on Bolton's ambitions, and the start we made didn't help. But Nic has never wavered in his application or his commitment to training properly - or his attitude either, and now he's pledged himself to the club for four more years.

Our hope now is that not only will his decision make players who are already here settle down, but that it will encourage others to come. When you look at a potential move you are definitely influenced by the quality and reputation of players at the club you are thinking of joining - and when there's a really top player there you think you'd like to be part of it. I can remember joining Newcastle, being absolutely entranced at the idea of playing in the same team as Alan Shearer. Now you are talking about a legend. I remember going to the club shop a couple of weeks after I signed to get a shirt for my little boy. They had run out of Ss and Es. And while there might be two Es in my name I was under no illusions that it was nothing to do with me that those letters were in such short supply.

Anyway, so Nic is with us, and we're keeping fingers crossed that the same will be true of El Hadji Diouf as well when the window shuts tonight. We'll be glad to hear the clock strike midnight! And then we'll hope to see Nic's unique goal celebration again when we play Everton tomorrow.

He's never explained to anybody quite what that celebration, where he crosses his hands on his chest and makes them flap like a little bird, is about, by the way. Definitely not to the public, but he won't even tell anybody in the dressing room. Mind you I feel like I've got my own unique celebration now after last week - the "on your own" routine!! Several people have said it looked strange on Match of the Day where I scored against Reading and nobody followed me. At least Match of the Day 2 on Sunday night showed that Kevin Nolan arrived to say well done, but it must have looked as if joining the coaching staff meant nobody wanted to know me any more! I actually had a bit of a go at the lads afterwards. I couldn't work out why when I turned round there was nobody there and I wondered for a couple of seconds if it had been disallowed. But they said because we'd been a goal up in every game until then and ended up losing they'd been determined to stay focused on keeping a lead if we got in front rather than going crazy and switching off. It's a fair point. There's nothing more annoying than getting a goal and then immediately giving one away, and especially if you've been over wild in celebrating. It happened to Birmingham a couple of weeks ago when they took the lead in injury time against Sunderland and went berserk, and then still finished up with a draw.

I must give a mention to Kieron Dyer who suffered wretched luck in the week. There seems to have been some debate over the merits of the tackle that left him with a broken leg, but I just really feel for Kieron. I know how hard he's worked to get over the hamstring problems he's had, and he really couldn't have done anything about this. I'll ring him in a day or so when he's out of hospital and remind him that Djibril Cisse broke his leg just as badly in a game at Blackburn at the start of the season and ended it scoring a penalty in the Champions League final.

Poor Kieron's had terrible luck with injuries over the years. People say some players are injury prone, but there's nothing you can do about a broken leg. It makes me think how lucky I've been. I think the worst I ever had was a fractured cheekbone that kept me out for about five weeks.

We'll be looking eagerly at the UEFA Cup draw today. I felt Manchester United had the toughest group of the four English clubs in the Champions League. Betfair punters have made them 1.74 favourites to win the group but I think it could be much harder than that. I think Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal should all go through from their groups without a problem but United's won't be so easy. Dynamo Kiev and Sporting Lisbon can both be dangerous clubs and Roma won't be rolled over as easily as they were at Old Trafford last season, that's for sure. Incidentally I've still got a sneaky feeling for Real Madrid at 15.5 to be dangerous outsiders and they should be certainties to qualify from Group C.

It's much harder picking bets in the Championship this season. It's wide open for a dozen clubs to get promoted and you'd need time for it to settle down. I think Coventry are good value at 19.5 to finish top or 5.1 for promotion at the moment. That's a big price considering the start they have made - and I rate Iain Dowie. He's got his own ideas on preparing teams and I like the way he goes about his job with a lot of attitude. He's got a track record of getting teams promoted too.

I would have fancied Leicester until Martin Allen got the sack this week. They are still among the favourites at 4.2 but I'd lay that now. It will be tough for the new manager with a dressing room full of players he didn't sign and no chance to change that because the window has closed.

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