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Emile Heskey reckons if anyone can turn round a dismal situation at Wanderers, it’s Neil Lennon.
There has been little to shout about at the Macron Stadium this season as crippling financial constraints continue to bite, and poor form chips away at the manager’s stock of goodwill on the terraces.
Even to a seasoned veteran like Heskey, now in his 21st year as a professional, the mood around the club as it sits rock bottom of the Championship is difficult to take.
Calls for a change in management have begun to emerge in recent weeks, and while the dissenting voices are still in the minority they may grow louder should Wanderers fail to get a result against Leeds United this afternoon.
Lennon voiced his own opinion on Tuesday night – arguing that without investment, the club risks being cut adrift in the bottom three.
Heskey feels his manager’s frustration but has backed him to keep fighting to turn round the Whites’ form and climb away from danger, just as he did on his arrival just over 12 months ago.
“It is hard to be upbeat about the situation,” said the former England international. “You see the manager and he is only human. He might look as though he is down but he is trying to keep us positive.
“That’s what we have got to show on the pitch.
“He showed last season that he can dig deep. He showed the character and the lads warmed to it.
“We have shown in our play we can respond. Now we have got to show it in our results.
“As a player he was very combative and a very strong person who never gave up. So, that’s what we have got to show as a team.
“But we still have more or less the full season to really have a go at it.”
Spirit around the camp at Wanderers is predictably down. The club has won just once in 12 games, experiencing what is now an annual early-season struggle.
But Heskey feels a weight of responsibility to try to keep his team-mates on message. Victory over Leeds could give the place a welcome boost, with a local derby at Preston North End on the Halloween horizon.
“The place is going to be unhappy,” he said. “We are sitting bottom of the league so I don’t expect anyone to be doing cartwheels. But we have got to stay positive to try and change things around.
"The other players will look to me to provide direction and for me to provide a few answers. But we have still got to go out there and perform. That’s the difficult thing.
“I’ve been in this situation before, a few times, and even with Birmingham.
“That wasn’t a nice time. You start looking at yourself and try to get the answers.
“We have got some good players as we have shown with our performances. We have got to get those goals that we feel the performances need.
“We can all talk about it but we have got to show it on the pitch. We have shown it in spits and spats but we have got to do it more often.”
Steve Evans’ appointment at Elland Road adds an extra bit of spice to the occasion but Heskey prefers to concentrate on improving a performance he accepts was way below par in the midweek defeat against Birmingham.
“I thought we’d played reasonably well at the weekend but that wasn’t the same,” he said.
“It doesn’t make a difference who we’re playing on Saturday. We still have to go out there and perform. I am not really fussed about Leeds. We, as Bolton, have got to show what we are capable of and stand up for ourselves.
“Every game from now on is massive. We are sitting bottom of the league so we want to win as many as possible to push us up the league.
“I can’t put my finger on why things have gone the way they have. But as players we have got to take responsibility. The fans pay their money so they are going to be frustrated but we want to do it for them.”
Heskey is currently on a run of 29 games without a goal, stretching back to his strike on debut against Blackburn Rovers on Boxing Day last year.
He is closing in on an unwanted career record of 40 successive goalless games which was broken when he scored for Newcastle Jets last summer but originating in 2011.
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There has been little to shout about at the Macron Stadium this season as crippling financial constraints continue to bite, and poor form chips away at the manager’s stock of goodwill on the terraces.
Even to a seasoned veteran like Heskey, now in his 21st year as a professional, the mood around the club as it sits rock bottom of the Championship is difficult to take.
Calls for a change in management have begun to emerge in recent weeks, and while the dissenting voices are still in the minority they may grow louder should Wanderers fail to get a result against Leeds United this afternoon.
Lennon voiced his own opinion on Tuesday night – arguing that without investment, the club risks being cut adrift in the bottom three.
Heskey feels his manager’s frustration but has backed him to keep fighting to turn round the Whites’ form and climb away from danger, just as he did on his arrival just over 12 months ago.
“It is hard to be upbeat about the situation,” said the former England international. “You see the manager and he is only human. He might look as though he is down but he is trying to keep us positive.
“That’s what we have got to show on the pitch.
“He showed last season that he can dig deep. He showed the character and the lads warmed to it.
“We have shown in our play we can respond. Now we have got to show it in our results.
“As a player he was very combative and a very strong person who never gave up. So, that’s what we have got to show as a team.
“But we still have more or less the full season to really have a go at it.”
Spirit around the camp at Wanderers is predictably down. The club has won just once in 12 games, experiencing what is now an annual early-season struggle.
But Heskey feels a weight of responsibility to try to keep his team-mates on message. Victory over Leeds could give the place a welcome boost, with a local derby at Preston North End on the Halloween horizon.
“The place is going to be unhappy,” he said. “We are sitting bottom of the league so I don’t expect anyone to be doing cartwheels. But we have got to stay positive to try and change things around.
"The other players will look to me to provide direction and for me to provide a few answers. But we have still got to go out there and perform. That’s the difficult thing.
“I’ve been in this situation before, a few times, and even with Birmingham.
“That wasn’t a nice time. You start looking at yourself and try to get the answers.
“We have got some good players as we have shown with our performances. We have got to get those goals that we feel the performances need.
“We can all talk about it but we have got to show it on the pitch. We have shown it in spits and spats but we have got to do it more often.”
Steve Evans’ appointment at Elland Road adds an extra bit of spice to the occasion but Heskey prefers to concentrate on improving a performance he accepts was way below par in the midweek defeat against Birmingham.
“I thought we’d played reasonably well at the weekend but that wasn’t the same,” he said.
“It doesn’t make a difference who we’re playing on Saturday. We still have to go out there and perform. I am not really fussed about Leeds. We, as Bolton, have got to show what we are capable of and stand up for ourselves.
“Every game from now on is massive. We are sitting bottom of the league so we want to win as many as possible to push us up the league.
“I can’t put my finger on why things have gone the way they have. But as players we have got to take responsibility. The fans pay their money so they are going to be frustrated but we want to do it for them.”
Heskey is currently on a run of 29 games without a goal, stretching back to his strike on debut against Blackburn Rovers on Boxing Day last year.
He is closing in on an unwanted career record of 40 successive goalless games which was broken when he scored for Newcastle Jets last summer but originating in 2011.
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