Herald's Michael Grant on Neil Lennon

Chief Football Writer at the Herald gives us his views on Neil Lennon's appointment as Bolton boss

Following Neil Lennon’s appointment as the new Bolton Wanderers manager on Sunday evening, bwfc.co.uk caught up with Michael Grant, Chief Football Writer at the Herald, to get the lowdown on the former Celtic boss.

Michael has been reporting on the Old Firm since May 1999 and, having seen the Northern Irishman grow from Celtic midfield-general to Barcelona-conquering manager, is better placed than most to give his assessment on the latest man to warm the BL6 dugout.

“Neil has been a big figure in Scotland and in Scottish football. There has been a lot of interest in where he would resurface in football after he left Celtic. It was always going to be a fascinating next job.

“For me handling the Celtic job is a really big thing to have on someone’s CV. If you can handle Celtic with the size of the support they have and the pressure and scrutiny that they come under, then I think that equips you for a lot of other jobs. If you can handle that you can handle anything.  

“I think he is an impressive guy. I can’t promise you that he will be an absolute hit at Bolton but I don’t see why he wouldn’t be.  The club might not be in the position it was say ten years ago, but Neil is an experienced manager. He is a good man-manager and is used to pressured situations.

“He was quite keen to get into English football. That’s not a secret. He wants to challenge himself and he wants to manage in the Premier League. He’s looking at the size of the club and sees the potential when he looks at Bolton.

“It wasn’t that long ago when they were in the Premier League so that’s obviously going to be his long-term target now. His ambitions lie in the top flight and if he can take Bolton with him then that’s all the better for you guys.

“The highlight of his time at Celtic, at least in terms of the impact it made, was when they beat Barcelona in the Champions League. They won 2-1 at Parkhead in 2012, while only a last-minute goal saw them lose the return tie in the Nou Camp.

“Those two games were very impressive from how Neil set his team out. They were very organised, very structured. They knew how to restrict Barcelona. They harassed them and denied them space. Those two games I think made people sit up and take notice that Neil Lennon really had something.

“I think the Bolton fans will really warm to Neil. They will see that this is a guy who will give them as much as he gave Celtic. He will buy into Bolton, they will become his cause, and he is not going to be shy about fighting their corner.

“He will want to create a buzz and a stir around Bolton. He will want to get the town talking about its football club again, he’ll want to get the crowds up and he’ll want to get people really believing that Bolton are heading somewhere again.”

Source

Lennon sounds to me to be the complete opposite to Freedman, thank god! I never liked Freedmans way of setting up his team to sit back and try and soak up pressure, i much prefer a team to be on the front foot and pressing the opposition.

Failure to press was one of the big frustrations about Dougie's teams and it should be interesting to see if NL has managed to change that aspect of the performance for Saturday and if the players are fit enough to play that way.

In Dougie's team, the only player who seemed to want to press the opposition was Pratley, but he was very much on his own and - perhaps as a result of not having team mates help him out - was far too frequently late in the tackle and a bit of a liability. 

I would think it would take at least a month or more before NLs style gets embedded.

wanderlust wrote:Failure to press was one of the big frustrations about Dougie's teams and it should be interesting to see if NL has managed to change that aspect of the performance for Saturday and if the players are fit enough to play that way.

In Dougie's team, the only player who seemed to want to press the opposition was Pratley, but he was very much on his own and - perhaps as a result of not having team mates help him out - was far too frequently late in the tackle and a bit of a liability. 

I would think it would take at least a month or more before NLs style gets embedded.

Love it, Wanderlust slagging off Dougie! What happened to it not being Dougie's fault that the players were shite?

Natasha Whittam wrote:

wanderlust wrote:Failure to press was one of the big frustrations about Dougie's teams and it should be interesting to see if NL has managed to change that aspect of the performance for Saturday and if the players are fit enough to play that way.

In Dougie's team, the only player who seemed to want to press the opposition was Pratley, but he was very much on his own and - perhaps as a result of not having team mates help him out - was far too frequently late in the tackle and a bit of a liability. 

I would think it would take at least a month or more before NLs style gets embedded.

Love it, Wanderlust slagging off Dougie! What happened to it not being Dougie's fault that the players were shite?

Where do I slag off Dougie?

I intimated (as I have throughout) that I prefer us close down the opposition,  said nobody bar Pratley pressed and suggested it may be a month before NLs style comes through.

Not one word of that slags off Dougie. I did say that I found Dougie's teams frustrating but I've always said that and it's not in any way a personal slight on the man.

You live in a dream world.