Sometimes novelty wears off
When Dougie Freedman first came to Bolton, results were more positive than those of his predecessor, Coyle. Freedman had done very well so far that season at Crystal Palace, bringing the team into the automatic promotion places with very little money (albeit a Wilfred Zaha).
However, after a few good results, we returned to our losing ways and before a spectacular run towards the back end of that season we were 20th.
After a few positive results under Dougie, the novelty wore off.
As we look to appoint our next manager, I hope fans are patient. Candidates such as Chris Hughton, Neil Lennon and Tony Mowbray all have pretty good resumés.
However, whether they start well or badly, I’d like to encourage fans to make make pre-meditated judgements on how good the reign of the manager will be, whoever it may be.
To bo honest, I thought Dougie would bring us back into the Premier League- though I have been ridiculed in the past for my somewhat eccentric positivity.
On looking at the candidates, I can see potential discontent in the defensive approach of Chris Hughton which could frustrate fans. However, he did very very well at Birmingham City with little money (but then again, so did Freedman!)
Mowbray, despite his attacking style which would be more attractive to fans, may not inspire positivity as he has been without a club for some time.
Neil Lennon did well at Celtic, though there is little competition in the SPL, but lacks any experience in English football.
Let’s be honest, our fans can find just about anything to complain about but I urge everyone to be patient and give the manager 10 games before making any judgements.