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Neil Lennon admits he would not have taken on the Wanderers job had he known the full story behind the club’s finances.
The Whites boss told The Guardian newspaper at the weekend his brief on accepting the position in October 2014 was to keep the club in the Championship, after which an assault would be made on the Premier League.
Instead, the club found itself relying on free transfers and loans after Eddie Davies withdrew his funding – meaning Lennon is yet to pay a transfer fee in his time as manager of Bolton.
He remains upbeat about the prospect of saving Wanderers but found the task made even harder after a 2-1 defeat against Burnley on Saturday.
Speaking about his decision to return to football at the Macron Stadium, Lennon reflected on the massive financial cuts he has undertaken on the squad.
“I certainly didn't see the club being in this position," he said.
“When I took the job on, it was a case of: 'Keep us up and we will have a go at it next season.' We kept them up comfortably but the rest didn't materialise; I have had to cut, cut, cut the wage bill, sell players and not spend a penny. It does curb your enthusiasm because it wasn't how I expected the job to go.
“I knew about the debt. I wish I had been told that the money coming in would stop. If I had known about the situation with the owner I would have had serious reservations about taking it on.
“I knew there was a big debt but I knew it was the owner's debt and he was prepared to write it off. What I didn't know was that I wasn't going to be given the chance to invest in players and the squad, as I wanted to. And build, rather than have to demolish; that's all I have done – 19 players went out the door last summer. We cleared about £10m from the wage bill as well as bringing in £2.5m in fees.
“There have been experiences that I don't really like. I wouldn't want other managers to experience a lot of those things.
“I'm enjoying the challenge – that in itself is a motivation. And if we keep the team in this league, what a great achievement. If we stay up, people will appreciate all that a lot more than if we go down. That's the black and white of football.
“I want the chance to rebuild because I haven't had a chance to build anything.”
Source
The Whites boss told The Guardian newspaper at the weekend his brief on accepting the position in October 2014 was to keep the club in the Championship, after which an assault would be made on the Premier League.
Instead, the club found itself relying on free transfers and loans after Eddie Davies withdrew his funding – meaning Lennon is yet to pay a transfer fee in his time as manager of Bolton.
He remains upbeat about the prospect of saving Wanderers but found the task made even harder after a 2-1 defeat against Burnley on Saturday.
Speaking about his decision to return to football at the Macron Stadium, Lennon reflected on the massive financial cuts he has undertaken on the squad.
“I certainly didn't see the club being in this position," he said.
“When I took the job on, it was a case of: 'Keep us up and we will have a go at it next season.' We kept them up comfortably but the rest didn't materialise; I have had to cut, cut, cut the wage bill, sell players and not spend a penny. It does curb your enthusiasm because it wasn't how I expected the job to go.
“I knew about the debt. I wish I had been told that the money coming in would stop. If I had known about the situation with the owner I would have had serious reservations about taking it on.
“I knew there was a big debt but I knew it was the owner's debt and he was prepared to write it off. What I didn't know was that I wasn't going to be given the chance to invest in players and the squad, as I wanted to. And build, rather than have to demolish; that's all I have done – 19 players went out the door last summer. We cleared about £10m from the wage bill as well as bringing in £2.5m in fees.
“There have been experiences that I don't really like. I wouldn't want other managers to experience a lot of those things.
“I'm enjoying the challenge – that in itself is a motivation. And if we keep the team in this league, what a great achievement. If we stay up, people will appreciate all that a lot more than if we go down. That's the black and white of football.
“I want the chance to rebuild because I haven't had a chance to build anything.”
Source