Wanderers have to sell before we can buy – Neil Lennon

Neil Lennon admits he will have to sell more players if he is to strengthen key positions before the start of the season.

Current cash flow problems at the Macron Stadium mean it has been slow going for the Wanderers boss as he attempts to overhaul the squad which finished a lowly 18th in the Championship last season.

Lennon has brought the wage bill down below £26million by moving on 16 players this summer – a drop of nearly 40 per cent on the total spent by the club when it dropped into the second tier three years ago.

But the Northern Irishman admits further cuts are necessary if he wants to add any more players to a squad that still looks painfully thin in some positions.

“If we’re going to bring someone in, it looks like there has to be someone going out. It’s a juggling act at the minute,” he told The Bolton News.

“It’s a source of frustration when you consider how much money I’ve saved since we came through the door but that’s just the reality of the situation.

“Unless that changes, we work within our limitations.”

Lennon remains confident he can add to his squad but looks like losing out on former Newcastle United defender Ryan Taylor.

Wanderers have made the 30-year-old an offer but it is understood it has been eclipsed by another Championship side.

Lennon remains optimistic he can bring in some fresh blood, even if it means shedding more of the players he inherited from Dougie Freedman last season.

“We’ve cleared quite a substantial amount of money off the wage bill so we are looking to improve the squad, but we have found it very difficult,” he said.

“Things won’t happen overnight and I’d tend to think there will be more business done between now and the start of the season, that things will probably hot up when we get back to England.

“We have our eye on one or two players and there may be a couple more players going out. Conor Wilkinson has already gone, Sanmi Odelusi has gone, and I think there will be more.

“We still need strengthening in one or two positions quite urgently, goalkeeper being one of them. We still have quite a bit of work to do.”

Lennon also spoke for the first time about rumours linking him with the Leicester City job – dismissing them out of hand.

“I’ve got nothing I can say, it’s speculation, and it’s easy linking me with the Leicester job being an ex-player,” he said.

“I think I’m one of about 27 that has been linked with the job over the last week, so it’s all I can say on it really.”

Source

Just read this on the BN site.

At the risk of being labelled a pessimistic doom-monger, reading between the lines, it sounds to me as though he's getting a bit fed up with the situation he finds himself in.

He's done a sterling job of continuing to get the wage bill down and yet it's still not enough to free up any cash for new blood.

Realistically, how much are we likely to get for the likes of Spearing, Medo, Dervite, Moxey et al?

Not much....

So it looks like the starting squad is already pretty much in place and it's hardly an inspiring picture, in my view.

And as for "dismissing (the rumours about the Leicester job) out of hand", he hasn't, has he?

All he said was it's speculation and that's all he can say - hardly dismissing it out of hand.

Breadman wrote:Just read this on the BN site.

At the risk of being labelled a pessimistic doom-monger, reading between the lines, it sounds to me as though he's getting a bit fed up with the situation he finds himself in.

He's done a sterling job of continuing to get the wage bill down and yet it's still not enough to free up any cash for new blood.

Realistically, how much are we likely to get for the likes of Spearing, Medo, Dervite, Moxey et al?

Not much....

So it looks like the starting squad is already pretty much in place and it's hardly an inspiring picture, in my view.

And as for "dismissing (the rumours about the Leicester job) out of hand", he hasn't, has he?

All he said was it's speculation and that's all he can say - hardly dismissing it out of hand.

It's like you read my mind. I read that on BN this morning and that is pretty much word for word what went through my mind.

Spooky!

Or perhaps it's just blindingly obvious and even a pair of idiots like us can see what's going on....

We could get 30 mill if we cashed in clough.



































i'll get my coat

But I thought we had "investment"

Breadman wrote:Spooky!

Or perhaps it's just blindingly obvious and even a pair of idiots like us can see what's going on....

it is worrying as we don't really have many sellable players do we? No one is going to splash the cash for Spearing Medo or (gulp) Trotter are they? The best we can hope for is just letting them go for a small fee just to get them off the wage bill.

Also we are still desperately short of another keeper, decent fullbacks and a goalscorer 

But if we get rid just to reduce the wages bill, we'd have to then increase the wages bill when someone else comes in. Unless we are going to get rid and play unproven players. Bit of a mare for our NL

Lennon will walk soon

Offload Medo or Spearing fast. Even a loan would free up at least part of their considerable wages. Surely one of the top few Championship splurgers would be interested if there is no transfer fee involved.

Spearing will start against Derby and be captain.

Natasha Whittam wrote:Spearing will start against Derby and be captain.

 think you're right on starting the game.

Spearing is absolutely terrible.

The bookies might be on to something picking us for a relegation fight...... can't argue with them as it stands today.