In the summer Neil Lennon left Celtic, feeling he had taken the club as far as he could. Getting away from the Glasgow fish bowl probably helped too.

Since his departure from Celtic Park, Lennon made a few comments relating to the Glasgow sides lack of spending and willingness to get things done in a timely fashion. It looked to me that the Northern Irish manager was protecting his CV, one which he made look very appealing with Celtic getting to the last sixteen in the Champions League, winning three league titles in a row and claiming a victory over the mighty Barcelona.

He went to the World Cup and impressed as a pundit for the BBC. Again it was good PR work from Lennon as he kept himself in the public eye and showed the footballing world he knew what he was talking about.

Since leaving Celtic various managerial positions have become available including the Crystal Palace, Southampton and West Brom jobs in the English Premier League. Yet for various reasons Lennon wasn’t offered these roles or he didn’t wanted them.

Now he has become the new Bolton Wanderers manager. The announcement was a bit of a surprise. For someone to leave Celtic, why would you go to Bolton?

I don’t mean to disrespect the Championship side, they have great fans and a wonderful stadium. But since their relegation in 2012 the club have been in a gradual decline and seem to be poorly run as they fail to get used to their surroundings.

Finances seem to be spent more on quantity rather than quality. The club boast a huge squad, but with little imagination and made up mainly of nearly men or players that haven’t/didn’t reach their full potential elsewhere.

At Celtic, Lennon was critical of the signing policy and not having a huge say. A lot of that was down to the transfer policy put in place by Chief Executive Peter Lawwell. Will Bolton’s Chairman Phil Gartside be any better?

Gartside is a figurehead who has loomed over the ‘Trotters’ for around fifteen years now. A run of poor decisions (deemed poor by Bolton fans) has seen the clubs supporters protest against Gartside earlier this month. The chairman has also suggested recently that the club could be sold off, if the right buyer is found.

The club are in debt to owner Eddie Davies to the tune of £160m, their spending days seem to be over.

Both Owen Coyle and Dougie Freedman were thought to be canny, young coaches who were well thought of before they took over at Bolton. Both left unable to change the clubs fortunes and causing a stain on their own CV’s.

So for the life of me, I just can’t see why Lennon would take on this job.

As I’ve mentioned the money doesn’t seem to be there anymore. The Championship is full of pitfalls and is an extremely tough league to get out of. With the current squad I doubt they are capable of challenging for a top six place. They currently lie bottom of the table after eleven games and only one win.

Now Lennon should come in and get the players believing in themselves again. He turned things around Parkhead quickly after he took over from Tony Mowbray, mainly because of the players renewed belief. He builds squads with good work ethic and that should be enough to see Bolton progress up the table but beyond mid-table? I just don’t know.

It’ll be interesting to see what funds Neil has come January if any? Maybe he sees a challenge at Bolton, the great support and rich tradition will have been a massive boost for him.

I hope it all goes well for him but looking at it, I’d have preferred the Fulham job and seen that as an easier route into the EPL.

Why was Lennon not considered for jobs in the top flight? Well people constantly deride any achievements from the Scottish leagues (They forget about Sir Alex’s history). For that reason alone I’d love to see Neil Lennon succeed but I think he might have a few big hurdles to over come if that’s going to happen at Bolton.

Posted on October 13th, 2014 by scott
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