Lennon's regret at being kept in the dark by Wanderers on finances

Neil Lennon wishes Wanderers had not kept him in the dark over their dire financial situation.

Forced to shelve two loan deals over the international break, the Whites boss admits communication within the club had not been good enough before they finally made their struggles public the start of last week.

Wanderers confirmed chairman Phil Gartside had stepped aside from duty because of illness, no money would be made available for new signings and Trevor Birch had been brought in as an emergency measure to see through a deal for new ownership at the Macron Stadium.

“I don’t want to go on about it, I won’t use it as an excuse, and there is some clarification now,” a frustrated Lennon told The Bolton News.

“But it might have been better clarifying it two or three weeks ago.”

Although he vowed to keep fighting his corner after a 2-1 defeat at Reading sent the Whites bottom of the Championship, the pressure on the manager’s shoulders intensified with his side now four points from safety with one win in 17 league games this season.

Lennon will seek some more information from Birch – who has been installed as the board’s financial advisor at the behest of owner Eddie Davies – and is hoping this week will bring some good news on ownership.

“It is difficult but it’s been like that for a long time,” he said.

“Trevor is in now and I’ll probably liaise with him.

“We’ve been in the dark for a while, now there’s a bit of confirmation about what’s going on, but you have to get on with your job as best you can.

“They have said they are looking for new investment and that the club is up for sale. I don’t know if Trevor is talking with people at the moment or not, I’m sure he will be.

“What we want is a resolution to it as quickly as possible.”

Lennon doubted, however, that the ongoing issues off the field should be affecting his players’ performances.

“It shouldn’t affect them – we’ve kept them well away,” he added.

“They can’t affect it. It isn’t in their control. But what they can affect is on the pitch and I keep telling them that.”

Source

it's another little dig at the board and the club, it wouldn't surprise me to see him walk very soon.

It can't help that the likes of Iles have been speculating in the paper that he might get pushed out if we get new ownership. I do feel sorry for Lennon.

wanderlust wrote:It can't help that the likes of Iles have been speculating in the paper that he might get pushed out if we get new ownership. I do feel sorry for Lennon.

 he has been mislead, if they told him the true picture of how bad things were before they appointed him he would have run a mile

I don't go along with that view.

To my way of thinking Lennon (and his agent) would have at least known the clubs publicly reported debt of over £150 million when he applied (got headed hunted) for the job.  It would not have taken the genius of an Einstein to work out that something financially was very much amiss at BWFC.

I'd think a more likely explanation was that there was a very big bonus if Lennon were able to get us promoted within a very tight budget constraint and he backed his own ability (ego?) to do this.

Why else take the risk?  

Other clubs would have come calling for the recent Celtic manager if he had passed on the Bolton job.

Bet he wished he had now!

when he does eventually leave i'm sure it will all come out. Perhaps he did know and wanted to challenge himself but he is probably regretting it now.

I doubt he knew the extent of our troubles. I hope this is all resolved in a weeks time so plans can be made for transfers.