Bruce Rioch says Neil Lennon is facing "mission impossible" as Wanderers manager

Bruce Rioch has backed Neil Lennon to ride out the financial storm at Wanderers, just as he did at Middlesbrough in his early days as a manager.

The former Scotland international, still fondly remembered by Bolton fans for his White Hot team of the early 1990s, cut his coaching teeth with assistant Colin Todd under trying circumstances on Teesside back in the mid-1980s.

Boro were close to extinction, the gates at their old Ayresome Park ground were padlocked and the club was forced to train on public land.

The Inland Revenue had issued a winding up order for an unpaid tax bill of around £110,000 and the Football League were threatening to withdraw their membership if they failed to fulfil fixtures because of liquidation.

Rioch managed to steady the ship, keeping together the majority of a squad that contained the likes of Tony Mowbray, Gary Parkinson, Bernie Slaven, Colin Cooper and Stuart Ripley.

And not only that, he actually guided Boro to promotion from the old Division Three, securing it in some style with a three-month unbeaten run between March and May.

Boro’s is a tale of hope, perhaps for Lennon, as he contemplates the potential effects that administration could have on the club. But Rioch admits his own troubles back then were small in comparison with those he is reading about at his former club.

“I thought I had problems when I was at Middlesbrough,” he said.

“When we went into liquidation with £2million of debt, which looks very small compared. They are nothing in comparison with the situation at Bolton.

“The club has an enormous debt and the fact they can’t afford to pay their players is a really sad state of affairs.

“The impact this has on morale will be damaging.

“I could never have imagined this happening to Bolton and nor can Neil have.

“He is doing the job with one hand tied behind his back and it’s not his or the players’ fault the club is so deeply in the red.

“It is the people who run the club.”

Rioch continues to keep tabs on events at Wanderers and feels sympathy for Lennon’s plight.

The Whites boss has not spent a penny on transfer fees since joining the club last October – albeit money has been paid out for loans and agents – and some high profile names such as Tim Ream, Adam Bogdan and Chung-Yong Lee have departed.

But speaking to the Scottish Sun, former Burnden Park boss Rioch is backing Lennon to stick with the job and make a success of it over time.

“It’s like a Mission Impossible for Neil,” he said.

“He faces the biggest challenge of his career as a player or manager.

“He achieved great things with Leicester and then on and off the field with Celtic.

"But this challenge — with Bolton bottom of the Championship and the club mired in debt — will dwarf everything else.

“He’d be forgiven for kicking himself for taking the job in the first place. The club is up to its neck in debt.

“The odds are stacked against him but I think Neil has got what it takes to make sure that the club gets out of trouble, stays up and then a rebuilding process can start.”

Source

The sad fact is that Neil will most likely wind up losing our best remaining players in January for peanuts or worse, for nothing because they haven't been paid for November and December and are all free agents as a result. I know Neil has made some upbeat comments about avoiding administration by selling some bits off but most of the tangible assets are already mortgaged and the players will be worthless when the window opens unless someone steps in and pays them. Unless a deal is done very, very quickly I don't see how administration can now be avoided.

Neil knows nothing of what goes on behind the scenes. If he did he'd have called Bullshit a long time ago and jumped ship. Every time the club tell him something the poor bastard believes it.

Bwfc1958 wrote:Neil knows nothing of what goes on behind the scenes. If he did he'd have called Bullshit a long time ago and jumped ship. Every time the club tell him something the poor bastard believes it.

It's a  bit strange that you know this- but he doesn't. I suspect he knows a vast amount more than anyone on this website does- all we know is speculation and rumour. Lennon is canny- he'll know exactly what the situation is- and there's absolutely no evidence at all to suggest that he doesn't.

rammywhite wrote:

Bwfc1958 wrote:Neil knows nothing of what goes on behind the scenes. If he did he'd have called Bullshit a long time ago and jumped ship. Every time the club tell him something the poor bastard believes it.

It's a  bit strange that you know this- but he doesn't. I suspect he knows a vast amount more than anyone on this website does- all we know is speculation and rumour. Lennon is canny- he'll know exactly what the situation is- and there's absolutely no evidence at all to suggest that he doesn't.

It's only a few weeks ago he was trying to sign the van le parra chap (or whatever he's called) from wolves on loan believing he could actually push it through, if he was so itk he would have known full well it wasn't going to happen. Seems to me he only finds out at the last second then says he didn't realise how bad it was, I suspect because someone is telling him things will be OK. I think Boggers may be his personal advisor.