GLENN Roeder will today come face-to-face with a man who could eventually become his boss.

Roeder has always insisted he will be happy to carry on looking after Newcastle United's first-team affairs in a caretaker capacity until chairman Freddy Shepherd finally makes an appointment, before returning to his post at the club's academy.

Sam Allardyce arrives with his Bolton Wanderers side at St James' Park this afternoon as one of the bookies' favourites to fill the club's vacant managerial post.

The Trotters boss last night did not confirm or deny whether he was interested in the unoccupied manager's position, and insisted that no-one from United had made an approach, although his comments would infer the job appeals to him.

"If Newcastle had rung up and asked for me, like they did last time, the chairman would have told me and I would know that," revealed Allardyce, who is also being courted by the FA for the England post. "I don't speculate on what would happen if the call came."

The Bolton manager was initially approached by United to take over from Sir Bobby Robson last season, but it is believed he turned down a move to Tyneside.

The United chairman has since supposedly cooled his interest in Allardyce after the snub, and is now detrmined to land fans' choice Martin O'Neill. But such is the unpredictability surrounding life at the club nothing can ever be totally dismissed.

Whether Magpies' fans would welcome 'Big Sam's' appointment is another issue. Bolton's style of play has been pilloried in several quarters this season, no more so than by Radio Five Live's Alan Green. The commentator fell out with Allardyce when he denounced his side as playing 'ugly'.

Roeder believes the 'ugly' slur levelled at this afternoon's opponents is 'unfair'.

"There are so many different styles in football," said Roeder. "Everyone seems to talk about pretty football and ugly football and I don't really know where ugly football came from. It's a fashionable word right now. The word has upset Sam recently and I can understand why.

"Like Everton and Charlton, who we've just played, they like to get in your face so we've had a fair bit of practice of playing that kind of team.

"Bolton are always a difficult challenge because Sam sets his team up in formations other teams don't.

"His team play in a way which is difficult to play against and that's credit to Sam and his players. It's up to other teams, not to moan about that but, to find a way how to beat them.

"When they say ugly, I'm not too sure what they're meaning. Is it a very direct style, a very robust style or a combination of both? I'm sure the Bolton fans aren't complaining about the way their team is playing. So let's not make excuses but, instead, find a way of beating a team which is physically strong, well-organised and who often get the ball forward quickly.

"I have watched them a lot and most of their long passes are exactly that. They're not just hopeful punts up the field. They'll put good long passes into (Kevin) Davies.

"So pretty football, ugly football? I think one of the big attractions of the Premiership is the different styles. What you find in Spain, Italy and France, is that you almost know before the game what kind of style they'll play, which sometimes is called boring."

Roeder didn't feel he was in a position to comment about Allardyce's links with the managerial vacancy at St James' Park but did insist Bolton have a fair share of talented players in their set up, which often gets overlooked by those quick to criticise the club's direct approach.

"He's put together a side that's played in Europe so you have to give him credit," said Roeder, who has led United to four wins and a draw from five games in charge and believes a push for Europe is not beyond the realms of possibility this season.

"One dimensional? The very fact he's got (Jay-Jay) Okocha in the team, a left back in (Ricardo) Gardner who's very offensive, (Kevin) Nolan, who gets goals from midfield in the style not dissimilar to Frank Lampard, says it all. Bolton have won games because they have good players.

"That he has someone like Okocha tells you he certainly feels you need creative players in your team to win games.

"Like Everton, we know Bolton are very good at set plays and we know we have to be very strong and our concentration must be spot on to defend them but it's up to us to find a way of beating Bolton.

"All these excuses and the accusations that Bolton are not attractive to watch and set out not to get beat, they're just excuses. That gives our players negative thoughts and our players would respond thinking 'our manager's making excuses'.

"I'm not having that. We have to find a way of beating Bolton like we did against Everton."

Roeder was handed a treble boost ahead of this afternoon's Premiership clash with captain Alan Shearer, having shaken off his calf injury, available for selection.

Michael Owen stepped up his rehabilitation yesterday and is still on course for an FA Cup sixth round appearance at Chelsea, and Kieron Dyer also trained without any reaction to his hamstring strain but it is unlikely he will be involved until next week's fixture at Manchester United.

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