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Rob Holding may be the first of many youngsters drafted to the front line of Wanderers’ relegation battle.
The young defender was one of the few positive aspects of Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Hull City and is expected to keep his place in the must-win game against Charlton Athletic this evening.
Should the club’s financial problems persist, Neil Lennon admits he may be forced to fast-track some of the development squad regulars into his first team.
“Rob was the big highlight on Saturday, really – he came in and looked unflustered, he’s athletic, quick, and got through the game very well. That’s a huge positive for us,” the manager said.
“You can’t keep throwing kids in the situation we’re in although we may have to because we’ve gone with experienced players and we are getting no results either.”
Tom Walker would appear next in line for a first-team call, having been an unused substitute for the last few weeks.
“You hope Tom could push on,” Lennon said. “He’ll be in the squad and has been for a while but he’s been a bit inconsistent, so that challenge is there for him.”
Though Wanderers' situation has felt more urgent in the last few weeks, their struggles in the league date back all the way to August.
So while Lennon accepts it has been difficult to avoid the negative vibes that have accompanied the club’s financial problems, he doesn't blame them exclusively.
“I think they wouldn’t be human beings if they weren’t affected, concerned or anxious about what is going on,” he said of the players’ reaction.
“It’s just the uncertainty with their future. We haven’t really spoken about it at length but there’s no question they speak about it among themselves.
“We’ve been in a dogfight since the start of the season. That situation hasn’t really changed regardless of what is going on away from the ground.
“They are not getting paid at a pretty important time of the year for all concerned. It is a pretty difficult situation for them to handle.”
A record of one win in 20 league games this season – or one in 28 if you take all competitions and the tail end of the previous campaign is a woeful return, regardless of the issues faced off the pitch.
Lennon insists, however, that things could change quickly and will attempt to do just that with a win at Charlton – the venue at which he suffered his first defeat at Bolton boss.
“As I said on Saturday one win in 20 is not good reading but I don’t know how many draws are in there,” he said. “It’s a big problem.
“Looking back at all those drawn games, a lot of them could have been won.
“I don’t think we played particularly poorly Saturday, we defended pretty comfortably in the main, but we needed to do better midfield to front with the amount of ball we had.
“We’ve analysed it with the players but we have to put it away now and concentrate on Charlton.”
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The young defender was one of the few positive aspects of Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Hull City and is expected to keep his place in the must-win game against Charlton Athletic this evening.
Should the club’s financial problems persist, Neil Lennon admits he may be forced to fast-track some of the development squad regulars into his first team.
“Rob was the big highlight on Saturday, really – he came in and looked unflustered, he’s athletic, quick, and got through the game very well. That’s a huge positive for us,” the manager said.
“You can’t keep throwing kids in the situation we’re in although we may have to because we’ve gone with experienced players and we are getting no results either.”
Tom Walker would appear next in line for a first-team call, having been an unused substitute for the last few weeks.
“You hope Tom could push on,” Lennon said. “He’ll be in the squad and has been for a while but he’s been a bit inconsistent, so that challenge is there for him.”
Though Wanderers' situation has felt more urgent in the last few weeks, their struggles in the league date back all the way to August.
So while Lennon accepts it has been difficult to avoid the negative vibes that have accompanied the club’s financial problems, he doesn't blame them exclusively.
“I think they wouldn’t be human beings if they weren’t affected, concerned or anxious about what is going on,” he said of the players’ reaction.
“It’s just the uncertainty with their future. We haven’t really spoken about it at length but there’s no question they speak about it among themselves.
“We’ve been in a dogfight since the start of the season. That situation hasn’t really changed regardless of what is going on away from the ground.
“They are not getting paid at a pretty important time of the year for all concerned. It is a pretty difficult situation for them to handle.”
A record of one win in 20 league games this season – or one in 28 if you take all competitions and the tail end of the previous campaign is a woeful return, regardless of the issues faced off the pitch.
Lennon insists, however, that things could change quickly and will attempt to do just that with a win at Charlton – the venue at which he suffered his first defeat at Bolton boss.
“As I said on Saturday one win in 20 is not good reading but I don’t know how many draws are in there,” he said. “It’s a big problem.
“Looking back at all those drawn games, a lot of them could have been won.
“I don’t think we played particularly poorly Saturday, we defended pretty comfortably in the main, but we needed to do better midfield to front with the amount of ball we had.
“We’ve analysed it with the players but we have to put it away now and concentrate on Charlton.”
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