Reflecting on a tough first few months for Allardyce and his players in his programme notes ahead of tonight’s Barclays Premier League clash with Manchester City, the chairman said: “One of the first tasks last summer was to strengthen the first-team squad.

“With the signings of Joey Barton, Habib Beye, Claudio Cacapa, Jose Enrique, Abdoulaye Faye, Geremi, David Rozehnal, Alan Smith and Mark Viduka, I am convinced we started the season with a much stronger squad of players than that with which we ended last season.

“The returns of Damien Duff, Shay Given and Michael Owen from long-term injuries, as a result of the hard work of the backroom staff and the players themselves, have also been very important to us.

“With these players added to some high-quality players already at the club, I think we all expected the team to be doing better on the pitch than it has been.

“While we have had some great results, such as the victories over Everton, Spurs and Bolton and the match against Arsenal, we have had too many disappointing results, such as the Derby games and the Boxing Day Wigan match.

“With the strength we have in the squad, I am hopeful that the team will soon settle into a winning run that will push us back up the table to where we should be.

“I would expect us to make a couple of further additions to the squad in January, but like any other club, we would prefer to add players in the summer transfer window than in January so that players have a chance to settle into the team.

“And January is always a more difficult time to extract high-quality players from their current clubs.”

Ashley has invested a net figure of around £10m in players to date, but has ploughed £75m into addressing the club’s debt burden.

Allardyce will have limited cash with which to attract new signings this month as he prepares for the loss of Faye, Beye, Geremi and Obafemi Martins on African Nations Cup duty.