And people questioned how we’d replace Dougie
When Dougie Freedman was under fire, one of the main reasons used against the removal of the former Crystal Palace manager from his position was the fact that it would be difficult to replace him. Bolton Wanderers is a club that should be towards the top of the Championship table. Players like Chung Yong Lee are easily among the best in the league. However, under Freedman we fell first to mediocrity, and then we even started to look out of our depth at this level.
Neil Lennon was brought in. It was surprising to many that he agreed to take on the job of a club towards the bottom of the Championship, with his record suggesting that he could probably hold his own at Premier League level, though no one was ready to take a punt on someone who had never manager in England.
The former Crewe Alexandra midfielder is a winner. He came from the dominant club in the SPL, Celtic, while his period in charge was somewhat turbulent he always enjoyed success. Albeit one would expect to win the league as many times as the Irishman did, but Lennon did more.
He brought the likes of Gary Hooper, Fraser Forster and Victor Wanyama from relative obscurity to dominating in the SPL. He has made all of them better players than they probably expected. All three have played in the Premier League with success, following their times at Celtic despite joining the Scottish giants as players who may never have dreamed of being able to do so.
I can recall a recent Bolton player interview- I think it was Darren Pratley although I`m not sure. Anyway, this person said that Neil Lennon pushes players to being better than they actually thought they were.
A lot of footballers are arrogant. I think that to play at a high level there is a certain level of confidence you do need, and I feel that Neil Lennon instills the right level throughout players and gets them to their very best.
We may well not go up this year, but we have to remember that Lennon started with only 35 games of a 46 game season with just five points. While we can admire what Dougie Freedman did behind the scenes to reduce wages, Lennon has turned Freedman`s losing team into a very successful side. I can only imagine how good Bolton would be if Lennon was our manager in our first Championship season with the likes of Marcos Alonso, Chris Eagles and Martin Petrov among the Reebok ranks.
The position we found ourselves in a few weeks ago- being unable to sign players from other teams and lacking in depth up front, was a very tricky one. Neil Lennon sorted things out beautifully bringing in veterans who have played at the top level- Eidur Gudjohnsen and Emile Heskey. Had Dougie Freedman been in the situation, I`m not sure what he`d`ve done- maybe brought in Danny Butterfield and tell him to play as a makeshift striker? (To be fair, believe it or not, Butterfield scored a hat trick for Palace a few years ago?)
People may not like Lennon because they think he`s volatile, or rude; however Neil Lennon is a winner. He shares that trait with José Mourinho- they`ll both do whatever they can to get the best for their club, no matter what the expenses to their reputation.
We were overdue the right managerial decision from Phil Gartside, and now that we have Neil Lennon let`s cherish these days. There will still be days where we lose at home to inferior clubs, and things won`t always be perfect. Though I can tell you one thing- under Lennon, we`re a team on the up.