Neil Lennon hopes transfer picture will soon become clearer at Bolton Wanderers

Neil Lennon wants the answer to some big questions by the end of the month.

Although the Whites boss is pressing ahead with his recruitment plans, scouting in France, Sweden and Norway, he remains in the dark over his playing budget.

Part of the problem is that he is still waiting on the outcome of contract offers to key first teamers Adam Bogdan, Darren Pratley and Matt Mills.

Keeper Bogdan has been tempted with a reported £18,000-a-week to remain at the Macron, which would put him in line with the biggest earners in the squad.

It is understood Pratley and Mills are being asked to take a cut in their salary to bring them into line with the current wage structure, which is being reduced again next season.

One thing clouding the issue is talk of outside investment – rejected out of hand by several senior sources at the club but an ongoing issue judging by the manager’s post-match assessment on Saturday.

Lennon said talks were “ongoing” with potential backers after the 1-0 defeat to Birmingham and hoped to have a clearer picture on what he would have to spend in the next few weeks.

“I don't think we are far away,” he said of the contract offers already on the table. “We will have some news in a week or so.

“I will have a fair idea of what I will have to work with in the next two or three weeks as well. Hopefully, we can put down a marker for next season in terms of recruitment that the fans will want to hear.”

Lennon has been strongly linked with Rotherham United centre-half Craig Morgan and more recently with Blackpool’s former Celtic defender Darren O’Dea, both of whom are out of contract in the summer.

Morgan took a step back from the speculation last week, claiming he was ready to remain with the Millers if the contract offer was right.

“I feel like I fit here,” he told the Sheffield Star. “I don’t always feel like moving is the best option. I have done that before and it hasn’t worked.

“I am settled here, I like what it’s about. I enjoy being captain.

“I am captain of the football club, and I have always said if the offer in front of me is in keeping with the football club then I will happily sign it tomorrow.”

“If it’s right, I want to be at Rotherham United.”

Source

Don't think anybody would argue that our days of paying top dollar are over (luckily). £18,000 a week for top earners is still a healthy wage for Championship sides though, and would attract players from the likes of Leeds.

The better part of a million quid a year (£936,000 to be precise) for a second tier footballer at a small town club like ours is utterly stupid money to be honest. I know it's the market rate etc and that's what clubs pay elsewhere but it's well and truly outrageous that footballers earn so much for so little. Anyway, morality aside I think if we're paying that kind of money and Bogdan hasn't ripped our arm off already he should be shown the door pronto. It's clear to me that a guy who must be a millionaire already by his mid 20's who doesn't sign a deal that's going to net him nigh on two and a quarter million quid (after basic deductions) over 3 years is a greedy little git and therefore not what we need. Give me Ben Amos any day, a young lad hungry to prove he can do it and has a point to prove.