We are going to a cup final with a team en Contact who have been playing well, and that makes en a difference."That was highlighted Contact in the semi-final against Swindon where they went a goal ahead here, 2-0 up on aggregate, but we always felt that if ?M=A we could get a goal it would affect them deeply because they're struggling at the wrong end of the table. Rioch says Liverpool have been the bench-mark for others to follow for three decades, but he has an ?M=A FA Cup win at Anfield two years ago to boost hopes that his ?M=A First Division team will confound expectation."The previous meeting has little relevance," en Contact he says, "although it Contact proves ?M=A we are capable of surprising them. I have made a Contact conscious ?M=A effort to buy stability."That stability will be challenged on Sunday by the club that has, the Graeme Souness era apart, mastered the family factor. Generally, a chap who has a wife and two or three en kids will be at home having a sensible life, rather than me en wondering whether they are in nightclubs or whatever.

Invariably I have bought players who have families, and the reason for that is not about ability but stability. That's important."Rioch maintains his club is his family and the theme recurs throughout, even to the extent of defining his transfer policy. He says he treats the players like sons and if, in turn, they have offspring, he is all the happier."We place a lot of emphasis in the club on a family environment with respect to the players, their wives, their children. You need to communicate with supporters, and the best way is not through newspapers, because that's too distant, you have to be out there in the car-park with them.

They get to understand, learn a little bit more about the manager and get closer to the players. "He pays a lot of money to watch us play and we like to reward them. He says the team spirit is what has made success possible on the pitch, and he is keen to let the supporters in on it, frequently sending out his charges with huge pots of tea for fans queueing for tickets."The paying customer is an important person in the football club," he says. Which is maybe how they like to work."Whatever the style, it would be facile to deny the Rioch-Todd partnership has worked. Bolton, apart from a brief revival under Ian Greaves, were Nat Loft-house, the Fifties and post-maximum wage decline until Rioch and Todd arrived, and in less than three years they have brought the club to the Coca-Cola Cup final, and from the Second Division to the brink of the Premiership.Rioch attributes that to the close-knit nature of Bolton, extending the bond he has with Todd through the players and beyond. "One day the manager's quiet and Toddy will give everybody a roasting," Jimmy Phillips, the club's left-back, says "Another day and it's the other way round. Which is good because when people get typecast you know what to expect, but when you never know what's going to happen it keeps you on your toes.