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Report: Bolton Wanderers Ready To Offer Lucrative, Long-Term Deal To Dougie Freedman

Earlier, we wrote that Bolton Wanderers had made an official approach for Crystal Palace manager Dougie Freedman in hopes of bringing the 36-year-old to the Reebok. Now, the Daily Mail are reporting that they have terms of the deal that Bolton are offering.

Alex Livesey

According to the aforementioned Daily Mail report, the Trotters are putting a three year contract on the table for the young Glaswegian, something that Owen Coyle didn't have (it was reported that he was on rolling one year deals). Apparently, Bolton will make the hard push for Freedman in the next two days as they hope to name a new manager soon, despite Jimmy Phillips and Sammy Lee's winning start at the weekend.

The details of the contract, something that Bolton Wanderers will never officially reveal, are said to be the following:

  • Three years
  • £500,000 per year (if you think that number sounds high, Owen Coyle was on reportedly double that)
  • A "massive" promotion bonus

Dougie Freedman engineered Crystal Palace's 1-0 at the Reebok just a few weeks ago and did incredibly well to keep the Eagles in the Championship following George Burley's sacking after they had spent a large part of last season in the drop zone. His name began popping up on all sorts of radars after his Palace side reached the semi finals of the 2011/2012 Carling Cup by beating Manchester United at Old Trafford in extra time.

Currently, Crystal Palace sit fourth of the Championship table, 12 spots above Bolton Wanderers. They are unbeaten in their last eight matches, having won six of those. Among those wins, they've claimed Championship scalps of Wolverhampton Wanderers and Cardiff who sit in fifth and second place, respectively.

Freedman has also built up a reputation for transforming youth stars. He's turned young prospects Wilfried Zaha and Yannick Bolasie into special players that have been wanted by a number of top flight sides. Bolton were famously in for Zaha during the last winter transfer window and missed out on Palace's valuation of him, narrowly.

Freedman spent 10 years of his playing career with Crystal Palace before becoming an assistant and then ultimately manager.