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Describing the “mountain” of work he will undertake this summer to turn Wanderers round, Neil Lennon rolled up his sleeves as he prepares to get stuck in at the Macron.
It had all been building to this for the Whites boss, who has had to keep up a brave face over the last few weeks despite clearly wishing the time away.
Now, and only now, can he start to remodel a squad that he feels has significant flaws, preventing the success he craves.
There was no ranting and raving, no individuals picked out for criticism despite the meek and rather submissive defeat to Birmingham.
Rather, Lennon looked a relieved man as he finally got a chance to begin the rebuilding job he has been speaking about for some time now.
“We’ve got a mountain of work in terms of where we want to take this club,” he said. “We’ve known that would be the case all along.
“We had to get over the line, to stay up, and we looked okay in November and December, then the injuries really hit us hard.
“It was so mix and match towards the end of the season – I don’t want to go through that scenario again.
“It is important we start our recruitment now to make us better and add to the core of good players we already have here.
“Since January, we have had at least eight players out. At one stage we had 12. That has to change.
“Pre-season will be important in terms of a good level of fitness and we need more players who are accustomed to this Championship. A bit more experience and more quality.”
On the game, which never really got going and meandered to an unsatisfactory conclusion, Lennon felt it summed up some of the problems he will have to tackle this summer.
“We were a bit tippy-tappy,” he said. “We looked lightweight but then we did have four centre-halves injured or suspended.
“We had plenty of the ball but didn’t have any punch in the final third. Birmingham scored with their only or one of their only shots on target. We weren't good enough to break them down second half.
“Maybe it was symptomatic of our season. We showed a bit of promise but in the end we fizzled out.”
First team coach Garry Parker echoed Lennon’s appetite for change as he took over some of the press duties after the game.
“We know deep down that they're not good enough and we need to make things right next year because we're not where we want to be,” he said.
“There will be new signings. We went away last week with the manager and we're looking all the time. Things will change because some of the players we've got aren't good enough.”
Source
It had all been building to this for the Whites boss, who has had to keep up a brave face over the last few weeks despite clearly wishing the time away.
Now, and only now, can he start to remodel a squad that he feels has significant flaws, preventing the success he craves.
There was no ranting and raving, no individuals picked out for criticism despite the meek and rather submissive defeat to Birmingham.
Rather, Lennon looked a relieved man as he finally got a chance to begin the rebuilding job he has been speaking about for some time now.
“We’ve got a mountain of work in terms of where we want to take this club,” he said. “We’ve known that would be the case all along.
“We had to get over the line, to stay up, and we looked okay in November and December, then the injuries really hit us hard.
“It was so mix and match towards the end of the season – I don’t want to go through that scenario again.
“It is important we start our recruitment now to make us better and add to the core of good players we already have here.
“Since January, we have had at least eight players out. At one stage we had 12. That has to change.
“Pre-season will be important in terms of a good level of fitness and we need more players who are accustomed to this Championship. A bit more experience and more quality.”
On the game, which never really got going and meandered to an unsatisfactory conclusion, Lennon felt it summed up some of the problems he will have to tackle this summer.
“We were a bit tippy-tappy,” he said. “We looked lightweight but then we did have four centre-halves injured or suspended.
“We had plenty of the ball but didn’t have any punch in the final third. Birmingham scored with their only or one of their only shots on target. We weren't good enough to break them down second half.
“Maybe it was symptomatic of our season. We showed a bit of promise but in the end we fizzled out.”
First team coach Garry Parker echoed Lennon’s appetite for change as he took over some of the press duties after the game.
“We know deep down that they're not good enough and we need to make things right next year because we're not where we want to be,” he said.
“There will be new signings. We went away last week with the manager and we're looking all the time. Things will change because some of the players we've got aren't good enough.”
Source
