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If Wanderers wanted another galvanising force to inspire them to achieve the impossible this season, then they may have found it in the most tragic of circumstances.
Phil Gartside’s passing was not unexpected at the Macron Stadium, where a dignified silence has been kept on the chairman’s illness for the last four months at his family's behest.
Proud to the very last, the chairman wanted his final weeks to be spent in the company of his family and friends and not have his deteriorating condition placed under the public’s enquiring eye.
But though Wanderers have been steeling themselves for Wednesday’s bad news there is no question that once it hit, no-one was immune to its effects.
Yesterday flags flew at half mast, the manager wore a smart suit, the sense of reverence unmistakable. Gartside’s presence has not been felt at the stadium since October yet his was the name on everyone’s lips as Lennon put himself front and centre once again in a difficult time.
The last 12 months for Lennon seems to have been a neverending procession of press conferences uttered in dignified hushed tones, of discussing dwindling finances, staff morale and poor performance on the pitch.
Once again the minutiae of tomorrow’s game against Brighton were largely consigned to the background, as the manager discussed his own relationship with the chairman – a man on whom many had an opinion, yet few can really claim to have known well.
“I met him at the Great Northern in London where we had discussions about taking on the job,” Lennon reflected. “I knew after five minutes I would like to work with Phil.
“Talks progressed a couple of days later and thankfully I was given the job. I had a great working relationship with him and I really missed not having him around the last couple of months. You miss his humour as well because he had a real dry wit.
“I knew what he had achieved with Sam (Allardyce), Gary (Megson) and (Owen) Coyley in the Premiership years and the European nights. They were unprecedented in the club’s history.
“He took an enormous amount of pride in his work and you will not get every decision right, whether you be a chairman or football manager.
“We are human beings and we all have strength and weaknesses. Every decision he would have made would have been for the best that he thought for the club.”
Whether Gartside’s death can serve as a uniting force for Wanderers remains to be seen.
No team in the last 10 years has recovered from their current position to keep their Championship status, let alone one facing the crippling financial problems in the midst of a takeover.
Lennon will nevertheless pose that challenge to his players as they travel to the Amex Stadium this afternoon in preparation for the game.
“I’d like to think the players would make a stand for Phil now and do something positive in his memory, and that is to survive,” he said.
“We have got a foothold in the race now but we have got some difficult fixtures to negotiate.
“There is an extra motivation now, as if they needed any more. Some of the players were close to Phil and had an excellent relationship with him.
“Through all these bad times something good might come out of it, driving the club forward.”
Lennon last saw Gartside a few weeks ago when he was sent home from hospital after a procedure to be with his family in Cheshire.
“I went to see him in hospital and then went to see him after his operation,” he explained. “Typical Phil he was in good spirits and good humour.
“His family have been through so much and it is difficult to put into words how they have handled things with real dignity.
“He is a fantastic family man; very close to his kids and grandkids. Any spare time he would have would have been back home with the family or pottering about in the garden which he didn’t like doing anyway.”
Overnight, club owner Eddie Davies had broken his silence during the takeover to assure Wanderers supporters the club “would survive” and that Gartside’s legacy would live on “forever more”.
Though the club’s grip on many of the assets accrued during the last decade and a half has looked increasingly weak during their financial problems, Lennon still addressed the press in a wonderful modern stadium and would depart to Euxton, a training facility still very much of Premier League standard.
Down the road, the Eddie Davies Academy create the next generation of Wanderers – something of which Gartside took particular interest.
"He was really enjoying seeing the young players coming through; that meant a lot to see the home-grown talent coming through because it meant that bit more to him,” Lennon said.
“You look around this place and it really is a fantastic set-up and one of the real reasons I came here – the infrastructure of the club, the stadium; green fields in 1996 and now we have a fantastic stadium. That will be part of Phil’s legacy.”
Source
Phil Gartside’s passing was not unexpected at the Macron Stadium, where a dignified silence has been kept on the chairman’s illness for the last four months at his family's behest.
Proud to the very last, the chairman wanted his final weeks to be spent in the company of his family and friends and not have his deteriorating condition placed under the public’s enquiring eye.
But though Wanderers have been steeling themselves for Wednesday’s bad news there is no question that once it hit, no-one was immune to its effects.
Yesterday flags flew at half mast, the manager wore a smart suit, the sense of reverence unmistakable. Gartside’s presence has not been felt at the stadium since October yet his was the name on everyone’s lips as Lennon put himself front and centre once again in a difficult time.
The last 12 months for Lennon seems to have been a neverending procession of press conferences uttered in dignified hushed tones, of discussing dwindling finances, staff morale and poor performance on the pitch.
Once again the minutiae of tomorrow’s game against Brighton were largely consigned to the background, as the manager discussed his own relationship with the chairman – a man on whom many had an opinion, yet few can really claim to have known well.
“I met him at the Great Northern in London where we had discussions about taking on the job,” Lennon reflected. “I knew after five minutes I would like to work with Phil.
“Talks progressed a couple of days later and thankfully I was given the job. I had a great working relationship with him and I really missed not having him around the last couple of months. You miss his humour as well because he had a real dry wit.
“I knew what he had achieved with Sam (Allardyce), Gary (Megson) and (Owen) Coyley in the Premiership years and the European nights. They were unprecedented in the club’s history.
“He took an enormous amount of pride in his work and you will not get every decision right, whether you be a chairman or football manager.
“We are human beings and we all have strength and weaknesses. Every decision he would have made would have been for the best that he thought for the club.”
Whether Gartside’s death can serve as a uniting force for Wanderers remains to be seen.
No team in the last 10 years has recovered from their current position to keep their Championship status, let alone one facing the crippling financial problems in the midst of a takeover.
Lennon will nevertheless pose that challenge to his players as they travel to the Amex Stadium this afternoon in preparation for the game.
“I’d like to think the players would make a stand for Phil now and do something positive in his memory, and that is to survive,” he said.
“We have got a foothold in the race now but we have got some difficult fixtures to negotiate.
“There is an extra motivation now, as if they needed any more. Some of the players were close to Phil and had an excellent relationship with him.
“Through all these bad times something good might come out of it, driving the club forward.”
Lennon last saw Gartside a few weeks ago when he was sent home from hospital after a procedure to be with his family in Cheshire.
“I went to see him in hospital and then went to see him after his operation,” he explained. “Typical Phil he was in good spirits and good humour.
“His family have been through so much and it is difficult to put into words how they have handled things with real dignity.
“He is a fantastic family man; very close to his kids and grandkids. Any spare time he would have would have been back home with the family or pottering about in the garden which he didn’t like doing anyway.”
Overnight, club owner Eddie Davies had broken his silence during the takeover to assure Wanderers supporters the club “would survive” and that Gartside’s legacy would live on “forever more”.
Though the club’s grip on many of the assets accrued during the last decade and a half has looked increasingly weak during their financial problems, Lennon still addressed the press in a wonderful modern stadium and would depart to Euxton, a training facility still very much of Premier League standard.
Down the road, the Eddie Davies Academy create the next generation of Wanderers – something of which Gartside took particular interest.
"He was really enjoying seeing the young players coming through; that meant a lot to see the home-grown talent coming through because it meant that bit more to him,” Lennon said.
“You look around this place and it really is a fantastic set-up and one of the real reasons I came here – the infrastructure of the club, the stadium; green fields in 1996 and now we have a fantastic stadium. That will be part of Phil’s legacy.”
Source