Hope is not something you can so easily find at Bolton Wanderers nowadays, but it wasn’t always like this, especially not when a certain Neil Lennon joined the ranks.
Flashback to 2014 and things were very, very different. Lennon was appointed Bolton boss presumably with the intent of putting the club back on the footballing map after years of desperation and misery.
Admittedly, we were all full of anticipation when we learnt that Neil Lennon – the architect of three league titles with Celtic – inherited a Bolton squad languishing in the bottom half of the table. A man willing to take on such a mammoth project with absolutely no guarantees of success is something worth noting, after all.
Cue: excitement. We must admit that there was a genuine feeling that Lennon could make an impact on Bolton. Yes, the squad were pretty woeful and, yes, they were pretty favoured to go down that season, but stranger things have happened. This was a man who had tasted victory on so many occasions, you would expect that he’d have it in his locker to take a downtrodden side and turn them into something special. At least, that’s what the fans thought…
@OfficialBWFC over the moon!!! NEIL LENNONS SUPER WHITE ARMY
— Mr Gillard (@HowardGillard) October 12, 2014
@OfficialBWFC good choice in my eyes lets hope he can handle the job
— tom collier (@TomCollier93) October 12, 2014
@OfficialBWFC DELIGHTED!!!!!
— Mike Howarth (@michaeljhowarth) October 12, 2014
@OfficialBWFC j@Gedpower good appointment
— Roy Brook (@saintbags) October 12, 2014
@OfficialBWFC you poor people. #PrayForBolton
— ᒪᎥᗩᗰ (@LiamWATP) October 12, 2014
@OfficialBWFC This is a brilliant appointment.
— Roshane Thomas (@RoshaneSport) October 12, 2014
We’re sure you don’t need reminding how that particular season went or how it all ended for Neil Lennon, given current miseries, but needless to say his appointment didn’t quite work out as planned. Leaving the club by mutual consent in March 2016, his time at the Trotters turned oh so sour amid a backdrop of serious off-field issues and an on-pitch insult hurled his way by ex-striker Gary Madine, Lenny himself even said he didn’t realise how hard the job would be.
Bolton fans, in one word how would you describe Lennon’s Bolton career? Let us know by commenting below!
