Megson's comments came after Sam Allardyce, manager of Bolton's Premier League rivals Blackburn Rovers, said players and backroom staff at his club had contracted the virus.

Bolton play Chelsea in the League Cup on Wednesday and while Allardyce was angry with officials for not giving a lead in getting games called off, Megson said: "From our own point of view, you're not going to be a business with quite a few employees and it totally escapes you.

"You are going to get one or two with swine flu and I think on the playing staff I think we have had five, four players and one member of staff. You try and do your best to avoid it but I would imagine it's near enough impossible. They are all okay at the moment, but it wouldn't be right to start giving you names.''

Allardyce, whose side were beaten 5-0 by Chelsea last weekend, said Rovers had no option but to play the league leaders if they were to avoid punishment for calling the game off.

"The Premier League has tried to sit on the fence by saying that we didn't request to have the game called off,'' Allardyce said.

"We knew we couldn't get the game called off because we were told way back in February or March when we took some guidelines that unless there was some government legislation, everybody had to do whatever they had to do.

"If there was a swine flu outbreak, you couldn't call a game off, no matter what,'' he added. "We fulfilled our total, 100 percent, responsibility by confirming two cases of swine flu and suggesting it looks like one or two other players and members of staff had similar symptoms, and we made the same phone call to Chelsea.''

The attitude of football authorities towards swine flu has not been the same in all countries. Last weekend's French League match between Marseille and Paris Saint-Germain was postponed after three players from the capital club contracted swine flu.