Kevin Davies, the Bolton Wanderers striker, insists Gary Megson has not received due credit for guiding the club to the brink of Barclays Premier League safety. Eyebrows were raised when Megson was appointed at the Reebok Stadium last October after Sammy Lee was dismissed with Bolton bottom of the table with five points from their opening ten games.

Megson stopped the rot, restored belief and presided over a steady renaissance which should be complete at Chelsea on Sunday when - barring a disastrous defeat and a heavy victory for Reading - Bolton's top-flight status will be secured.

"He came in and picked up a bunch of lads who were really down at the time," Davies said. "Confidence was probably at rock-bottom and we were rock-bottom of the table.

"Obviously it was going to be a tough job for any manager to come in but he came in and lifted the place with his personality. At the time when he took over, everyone was down and training was a bit flat - like you would probably expect. But he lifted the place and training became fun again. It got back to being somewhere where you wanted to come in and work."

Megson discarded the passing game Lee had attempted to employ and Bolton reverted to type - big, ugly and hard to beat. It is a philosophy which harvested so much success under Sam Allardyce and one to which Davies himself has proved central. "We went back to the way we used to play," he said. "It's been difficult - we've had good runs and bad runs and it's been a rollercoaster. But the manager's job was to come in and get us safe and he's done that, so he deserves great credit."

Not that Davies considers a successful relegation fight anything to be proud of. Bolton have claimed top-eight finishes in the previous four seasons and Davies said: "I don't think it's success at all. At times it's been embarrassing to be down there. Living in the town has been embarrassing when you consider what we've done in previous seasons.

"It's an achievement when you consider where we were. But we're out of it now and we just want to write off this season and not be involved in anything like this ever again."