Ahead of Saturday's visit from Bolton Wanderers, LFW talks to Rob Lathan from the Lion of Vienna Suite for the latest on Neil Lennon's men.
Assess Bolton's start to the season?
RL: It’s been a bit of a mixed bag so far this season. Bolton fans were full of hope at the start of the season, we had a half decent pre-season and then we should have beaten Derby County at home on the opening day of the season - hitting the bar twice through Gary Madine.
But it all fell apart a bit after that, losing at home to Burton Albion in the Carling Cup, getting taken apart at Middlesbrough and then losing at MK Dons. We didn’t even score a goal until our fifth match of the season, and only got our first win in the seventh at home to Wolves.
We went four games unbeaten and things were looking fairly positive, but then we went and lost 4-1 at Huddersfield despite having taken the lead. But there was a better performance at the weekend as we were the better side against leaders Brighton and came back from 2-0 down to grab an equaliser in the last minute.
What is the club's oft-talked about debt situation, how much danger does it pose to the club, how much effect is it having on the field?
RL: It’s an interesting, if slightly depressing situation. Our debt is all owed to our owner Eddie Davies, and was last estimated at £183m. The biggest concern is that Davies has lost interest, will no longer continue bankrolling the club’s spending and has put the club up for sale. The club is still spending more money than it can afford to, which means that it’s pretty much inevitable that we’ll become more and more in debt and soon enough we’ll be affected by FFP rules - unless we find a new owner. The club has already had to take out a bank loan of £5m to cover running funds, so there is potentially a huge danger to the club.
In terms of the on-field effects, it’s certainly restricting our ability to bring in new players. Neil Lennon has been talking publicly about bringing in a new striker for two or three weeks now, but it’s still failed to materialise. I can’t remember the last time we signed a player for a fee, and we’re now resigned to the fact that if another club wants one of our players then they’ll get them. Take Tim Ream for example, he was voted as our Player of the Year for the last two seasons and we sold him to Fulham for less than £2m.
What did you think of Neil Lennon when he arrived, and how do you rate the job he's done so far?
RL: I was delighted with the appointment of Lennon, and I think 99% of Bolton fans were really happy with it. Dougie Freedman was a disaster in the last year or so, and Lennon was seen as a big name manager with a good reputation. He did well to rescue us from Freedman’s mess last season, and now he’s started to put his own stamp on the side in his first full season. We’ve shown glimpses of playing some decent football, so he’s doing a good job in a very difficult situation. He’s also given youth a chance by putting the likes of Zach Clough, Josh Vela and Tom Walker into the first team, so that will always endear him to the fans.
Summer transfer business, ins and outs, disappointments and highlights?
RL: Lennon had a big task on his hands in his first summer transfer window - sure up a shaky defence, and add some pace and quality to a pretty awful attack. The forward he chose was Gary Madine, who only scored his first goal of the season on Saturday so that’s not been a great success so far.
The defence has largely been vastly improved, new goalkeeper Ben Amos is very solid, loan signing Prince Desire-Gouano has been fantastic so far, and we’re hoping for good things from former Real Madrid defender Derik Osede, who has only played a couple of games after getting injured in pre-season. We’ve also signed a couple of full-backs with good reputations in Francesco Pisano, who should play on Saturday, and Jose Manuel Cosado, who probably won’t. But possibly the most exciting new signing is the loan of Arsenal winger Wellington Silva, who has looked lively but needs to add a final ball to his game.
Star men and weak links in this current Bolton side?
RL: Our star man so far this season has probably been Mark Davies. He missed a lot of last season through injury, but this season he’s looked back to his best and been handed the captain’s armband with Darren Pratley injured. He just needs to add a few goals to his game and he could be one of the best midfielders in the league.
We’ve been absolutely awful away as long as I can remember, so I think our lack of confidence and form generally away from home is probably a weak link. One possible weak link could be in the full-back areas, Pisano only made his debut on Saturday and they often receive very little protection from our midfield. I could see Matt Phillips, for example, having a bit of a field day in the wide positions against us.
Short, medium and long term aims for the club?
RL: Short-term the goal realistically is to ensure we don’t get relegated - if that happened then it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that the club would completely fall apart. I think we do have the best man for the job in Neil Lennon, and we’ve shown signs of improvement already this season. One thing that is very promising is the number of good youngsters that are beginning to emerge from the youth teams, so if we can continue building under Lennon and slowly integrate the youngsters then I think there could be a positive future. The ideal long-term aim would be to emulate a club like Southampton, who went down, produced youngsters, rebuilt and came back stronger than ever.
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