What Lennon Thought - MK Dons

Neil Lennon praised his side’s ‘complete performance’, after Bolton ran out 3-1 winners over MK Dons at Macron Stadium.

Rob Holding netted his first goal in senior football before Darren Pratley added a second shortly before half time.

MK Dons did pull a goal back but Shola Ameobi restored Bolton’s two-goal lead with a late strike inside stoppage time.

And speaking after the game the manager was pleased his players delivered a performance for the entire 90 minutes.

“For me it was our best matchday of the season,” Lennon said in his post-match press conference. “It was a complete performance, and we got a performance in both halves of football.

“It was exactly what we wanted to see from the team. The players responded absolutely brilliantly and we can have nothing but praise for them today.

“MK Dons may not be one of the more superior teams in the division, but there was a lot of pressure on us going into the game and I thought we handled that very well.

“When they got a goal back right at the end I was thinking, ‘don’t do this to me’. It would have been a travesty had we dropped points today with the way we played.

“I was pleased and relieved to see the third goal go in. What we must now do is use this as a platform and look to build. 

“I’ve never stopped believing we can get out of this position. We have a free week ahead now and it gives us plenty of time to get our heads down and focus on what should be a cracking cup tie against Leeds.”

The manager also took time to clarify the future of Shola Ameobi, with the striker’s short-term contract now set to expire.

Lennon added: “We’ll have to see what the situation is and have a chat with the powers that be. He’s someone we’d like to keep around, but of course that all depends on finances. 

“He’s been great to have around the place and it was nice for him to cap what could have been his last performance for the team with a goal today.”



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Massive final 18 matches for Lennon.

If we stay up, it makes him look magic. He kept us up last season, if he does it again despite all that's been going on, bigger clubs will be queuing up for him.

If we go down, he'll probably just fade away, maybe in the MLS or something.

Really good to see him smiling again. I still think he's the right man and really hope he stays. Any manager would have been struggling with what's been happening to the club over the past few months.( We could have done without him banging his bit of fluff on the side though.)

I agree with Hip. If Neil can find his enthusiasm for the job again then I still think he's the best man for the job. I agree he's made some mistakes on and off the field but the fact he's stuck it all out when a lot of managers would have walked tells me he's got the guts to tough out the bad form as well. Hopefully when the takeover's done (if it ever is) he'll be able to build the squad he actually wants rather than the one he's had to accept due to the circumstances.

If he achieves the unlikely feat of keeping us in the Championship he'll be the Messiah let alone "a keeper". But we are a long way from that and our yoyo financial landscape suggests the task may get harder still. Next game is always the decider until it's over but Lennon still has a hand to play.

luckyPeterpiper wrote:I agree with Hip. If Neil can find his enthusiasm for the job again then I still think he's the best man for the job. I agree he's made some mistakes on and off the field but the fact he's stuck it all out when a lot of managers would have walked tells me he's got the guts to tough out the bad form as well. Hopefully when the takeover's done (if it ever is) he'll be able to build the squad he actually wants rather than the one he's had to accept due to the circumstances.

Let's first sell the team, get out of debt, and make "the great escape!"  Next season we can worry about him choosing his team.  More pay to play deals for this season probably.  After seeing what Gartside did on the Robert Hall deal, no one could have done worse. We need hungry players, and Ameobi showed he was in that class today... brilliant goal and incredible desire.

observer wrote:

luckyPeterpiper wrote:I agree with Hip. If Neil can find his enthusiasm for the job again then I still think he's the best man for the job. I agree he's made some mistakes on and off the field but the fact he's stuck it all out when a lot of managers would have walked tells me he's got the guts to tough out the bad form as well. Hopefully when the takeover's done (if it ever is) he'll be able to build the squad he actually wants rather than the one he's had to accept due to the circumstances.

Let's first sell the team, get out of debt, and make "the great escape!"  Next season we can worry about him choosing his team.  More pay to play deals for this season probably.  After seeing what Gartside did on the Robert Hall deal, no one could have done worse. We need hungry players, and Ameobi showed he was in that class today... brilliant goal and incredible desire.

What did PG do on the RH deal Obs?

wanderlust wrote:

observer wrote:

luckyPeterpiper wrote:I agree with Hip. If Neil can find his enthusiasm for the job again then I still think he's the best man for the job. I agree he's made some mistakes on and off the field but the fact he's stuck it all out when a lot of managers would have walked tells me he's got the guts to tough out the bad form as well. Hopefully when the takeover's done (if it ever is) he'll be able to build the squad he actually wants rather than the one he's had to accept due to the circumstances.

Let's first sell the team, get out of debt, and make "the great escape!"  Next season we can worry about him choosing his team.  More pay to play deals for this season probably.  After seeing what Gartside did on the Robert Hall deal, no one could have done worse. We need hungry players, and Ameobi showed he was in that class today... brilliant goal and incredible desire.

What did PG do on the RH deal Obs?

As reported by LOV this week, it is one crazy deal:

• Initial transfer fee of £450,000
  
• £250,000 if Bolton were to be promoted to the Premier League within three seasons (which clearly isn't happening)
  
• £2,500 per appearance for the first 100 appearances Hall makes for Bolton in the Championship (total of £250,000 if he made 100 appearances)
  
• OR £10,000 per appearance for the first 100 appearances Hall makes for Bolton if in the Premier League (£1 million if he made 100 appearances)
  
• 20% of any profit made in selling the player to another club at any point in the future
  

observer wrote:

luckyPeterpiper wrote:I agree with Hip. If Neil can find his enthusiasm for the job again then I still think he's the best man for the job. I agree he's made some mistakes on and off the field but the fact he's stuck it all out when a lot of managers would have walked tells me he's got the guts to tough out the bad form as well. Hopefully when the takeover's done (if it ever is) he'll be able to build the squad he actually wants rather than the one he's had to accept due to the circumstances.

Let's first sell the team, get out of debt, and make "the great escape!"  Next season we can worry about him choosing his team.  More pay to play deals for this season probably.  After seeing what Gartside did on the Robert Hall deal, no one could have done worse. We need hungry players, and Ameobi showed he was in that class today... brilliant goal and incredible desire.

obs I completely agree. All I said was get the takeover done and then if the resources are available allow Neil to build the squad he actually wants rather than having to grab whatever dregs everyone else left behind that we can afford. 

I'm not saying give him total carte blanche, eg he won't be signing Messi and Ronaldo but hopefully he'll get the necessary funds to build a competitive squad. I don't even expect a wholesale change all at once, obviously some players will take longer to replace or source than others. It's a project rather than an essay if you catch my drift and I suspect it will take two or three years to really rebuild the playing side to a point where it can challenge for promotion and that's assuming we get taken over AND avoid relegation this season.

luckyPeterpiper wrote:

observer wrote:

luckyPeterpiper wrote:I agree with Hip. If Neil can find his enthusiasm for the job again then I still think he's the best man for the job. I agree he's made some mistakes on and off the field but the fact he's stuck it all out when a lot of managers would have walked tells me he's got the guts to tough out the bad form as well. Hopefully when the takeover's done (if it ever is) he'll be able to build the squad he actually wants rather than the one he's had to accept due to the circumstances.

Let's first sell the team, get out of debt, and make "the great escape!"  Next season we can worry about him choosing his team.  More pay to play deals for this season probably.  After seeing what Gartside did on the Robert Hall deal, no one could have done worse. We need hungry players, and Ameobi showed he was in that class today... brilliant goal and incredible desire.

obs I completely agree. All I said was get the takeover done and then if the resources are available allow Neil to build the squad he actually wants rather than having to grab whatever dregs everyone else left behind that we can afford. 

I'm not saying give him total carte blanche, eg he won't be signing Messi and Ronaldo but hopefully he'll get the necessary funds to build a competitive squad. I don't even expect a wholesale change all at once, obviously some players will take longer to replace or source than others. It's a project rather than an essay if you catch my drift and I suspect it will take two or three years to really rebuild the playing side to a point where it can challenge for promotion and that's assuming we get taken over AND avoid relegation this season.

Thumbs up!