One year on...

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

It's a year to the day since Neil Lennon became Bolton manager. What have been his biggest successes and failures? Where might he improve? How confident are you in him (considering the circumstances)?

[Lost Leopard Spot]

His obvious failure is our position in the Championship. He's not moved us forward upward. His biggest success (in my eyes) is that he's cut the carping about the manager, which is at least one minor step forward from the abysmal place we were in last year.
He can improve by welding the team into some sort of shape that operates on a weekly (not occasional) basis - I'm not even asking for success in terms of results, just a more settled team with a better 'gell' would do for me.
Unfortunately I'm not at all confident he's going to leverage us up away from the lower echelons of the table, and although his personality won't invite the sort of hounding that Coyle managed to attract, i still feel that in a couple of years with no forward progress we'll be in a similar position to the end days of Freedman/Coyle/...

[Hoboh]

I just don't know tbh.
There seems to have been a change in the club but to what extent and is it enough?
I just don't know.
Biggest worry for me is the fragile mind set some of our players still seem to have hung on to for a good few years now, even one or two of the newbies suffer it, something in the water up that end?

[BWFC_Insane]

He kept us up last year. I think beyond that, right now, I'm fairly disappointed.

Results have been atrocious from the last quarter of last season and the start of this one.

He inherited a squad that were widely said to be underperforming last season. Of the players who have left only CYL is one who Lennon would have rather kept. You can argue about Ream too, though Lennon has off record said he didn't feel Ream was physical enough.

But in essence the whole "we're good enough to be doing much better" rhetoric from last season either means Lennon is underperforming or we weren't really much better than our league position suggested at all.

My main issue is that when he came in, he quickly adopted a fairly simple system with Craig Davies up front, flanked by two attacking forwards and a 3 man midfield. It worked well. We played fairly direct, but it was a decent watch and effective. Since then that has been abandoned for systems that either leave us light in midfield, or without adequate balance or some bonkers 3-5-2 setup. There was a formula that worked well, albeit disrupted by injuries but why we've abandoned it totally is beyond me.

[Harry Genshaw]

He kept us up and improved the football. Quite an achievement when you remember where we were and how we looked at Fulham in Dougies last game.

The level of the debt and the places we're now shopping in means I don't expect much better for sometime yet. With the lack of resources I can see why he'd tinker about trying to get square pegs in round holes, but I hope he's abandoned 3-5-2 for the foreseeable

[TANGODANCER]

Quite possibly the fan base has come to terms with the fact that the club is in a different place now. Initial thoughts of bouncing right back into the Prem have melted away in favour of the reality of life in a lower division. We bounced off the bottom and can only regather and look upwards now. We do seem to be playing a better, if still erratic standard of football and nobody's mentioned pitchforks and bedsheets for a while. That must be progress.

[BWFC_Insane]

People aren't calling for the managers head, but I'm not seeing this huge swing in mood. It was definitely apparent initially, but results went with it. Now the Macron crowd trudges in and out about as optimistically as it did at the start of last season.

The fact a manager is "more popular" is not a positive unless it results in something. And right now it isn't. I'd probably not change manager this season whatever, but that is not because Lennon is convincing, more because everyone has realised that whoever was and is manager since we came down is and has been fighting a losing battle.

I do think we could and should be doing better than we are. 2 wins in 20 odd games is simply not acceptable. And that form needs addressing immediately, before we are cut adrift in the bottom three.

In some respects I feel sorry for Lennon just like I felt sorry for the last guy. It is very hard to manage in these circumstances. Not many businesses stay stable when it is widely known the owner wants to sell. Less still when that has been going on for a prolonged period of time. My main concern right now is that it seems selling the club is incredibly difficult. So how long will it take and if it does happen what sort of owner will we end up with?

[thebish]

Quite possibly the fan base has come to terms with the fact that the club is in a different place now. Initial thoughts of bouncing right back into the Prem have melted away in favour of the reality of life in a lower division. We bounced off the bottom and can only regather and look upwards now. We do seem to be playing a better, if still erratic standard of football and nobody's mentioned pitchforks and bedsheets for a while. That must be progress.

not much of a bounce!! we've surged up the table by ONE PLACE!!!

[TANGODANCER]

Quite possibly the fan base has come to terms with the fact that the club is in a different place now. Initial thoughts of bouncing right back into the Prem have melted away in favour of the reality of life in a lower division. We bounced off the bottom and can only regather and look upwards now. We do seem to be playing a better, if still erratic standard of football and nobody's mentioned pitchforks and bedsheets for a while. That must be progress.

not much of a bounce!! we've surged up the table by ONE PLACE!!!

A bouncing object, like most others, is subject to the laws of gravity. Nothing to say you can't fall back downwards even after a bounce.

[thebish]

Quite possibly the fan base has come to terms with the fact that the club is in a different place now. Initial thoughts of bouncing right back into the Prem have melted away in favour of the reality of life in a lower division. We bounced off the bottom and can only regather and look upwards now. We do seem to be playing a better, if still erratic standard of football and nobody's mentioned pitchforks and bedsheets for a while. That must be progress.

not much of a bounce!! we've surged up the table by ONE PLACE!!!

A bouncing object, like most others, is subject to the laws of gravity. Nothing to say you can't fall back downwards even after a bounce.

let's hope not - cos eventually it will settle at the lowest point!!

[BWFC_Insane]

let's hope not - cos eventually it will settle at the lowest point!!

If Eddie doesn't find a new owner or change course, that is more than likely what will happen.

[thebish]

let's hope not - cos eventually it will settle at the lowest point!!

If Eddie doesn't find a new owner or change course, that is more than likely what will happen.

and then roll off the table and down another level onto the floor...

[Bruce Rioja]

Do lists exist of the players let ago and the players brought in (or that have emerged) under Lennon?

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Do lists exist of the players let ago and the players brought in (or that have emerged) under Lennon?

DSB'll have one if anybody does. But, from the look of his avatar, he's had a new hairdo and is too busy combing it through.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Do lists exist of the players let ago and the players brought in (or that have emerged) under Lennon?

DSB'll have one if anybody does. But, from the look of his avatar, he's had a new hairdo and is too busy combing it through.

That old avatar's from about 2010, haven't bleached my hair since we were in the top 8...

Poke around Transfermarkt, although personally I find its interface a little confusing with its comin's-an'-a-goin's all in one column. Soccerbase used to be good but appears to have given up, especially on loans. So as is often the way, Wiki's clarity of purpose probably wins the day... 2014/15 transfers here, 2015/16 here.

[jonnycooper]

It's the late goals that seem to be killing us all the time!! We've been in a good position in plenty of matches and then fecked it up either in the last 10 mins or in added time!! This squad needs to learn to see a game out!!

[Prufrock]

Think he could go either way. Like his manner, think his signings have been pretty impressive on the budget he's got. Clearly knows how to take advice after taking up my suggestion to sign Eidur. When we've looked good, we've looked v good, as good as I think we've looked since we came down.

On the other hand: results. Not been good enough. I'm also still a little wary he might have an element of that crazed, stubborn tactical streak that has hindered the last two to sit in that seat.

[twilight]

I really like him, was pleased we got him as manager, am still behind him now although frustrated with a lot of our results, especially away ones...just hoping that everything clicks into gear soon, although I do feel for him regards finance, but he has to deal with it and signings wise think he's done fairly well, here's hoping things eventually turn out well for us and for him

[thebish]

Think he could go either way. Like his manner, think his signings have been pretty impressive on the budget he's got. Clearly knows how to take advice after taking up my suggestion to sign Eidur. When we've looked good, we've looked v good, as good as I think we've looked since we came down.

On the other hand: results. Not been good enough. I'm also still a little wary he might have an element of that crazed, stubborn tactical streak that has hindered the last two to sit in that seat.

have we??? when was that?

[Harry Genshaw]

Think he could go either way. Like his manner, think his signings have been pretty impressive on the budget he's got. Clearly knows how to take advice after taking up my suggestion to sign Eidur. When we've looked good, we've looked v good, as good as I think we've looked since we came down.

On the other hand: results. Not been good enough. I'm also still a little wary he might have an element of that crazed, stubborn tactical streak that has hindered the last two to sit in that seat.

have we??? when was that?

I'm sure Pru can answer for himself but since I agree with his sentiment I'd say off the top of my head we've looked very good v Wigan, Cardiff and Liverpool. Usually, whenever weve adopted a high tempo we've looked good we've just never managed to sustain it for a full 90 minutes - Watford, Derby etc

You've made a few posts on this thread now Bish, but without offering an opinion of your own. What do you think?