Sammy Lee insists former United reserves boss Ricky Sbragia hasn't been frozen out of his Bolton backroom team.

Sbragia was conspicuous by his absence during Wanderers' UEFA Cup adventure in Macedonia. And he wasn't on the bench at Birmingham last Saturday.

However, Lee told the Manchester Evening News , the highly respected Scot will be "warming up" Bolton's squad on Sunday before the crunch game against fellow strugglers Spurs.

"I have got some very good people working with me and for me," said Lee.

"We've got this structure now where Jimmy Phillips will travel away to do the warm-ups and Ricky will do it at home.

"We don't want to be overloaded with people when we travel away."

Sbragia had a far higher profile at the club during Sam Allardyce's managerial reign.

Indeed, he was regularly in the media spotlight with Allardyce refusing to speak to BBC TV or radio.