18 wins from 79 games is a bad record for any manager , but that is exactly the record of former Northern Ireland and Celtic great Neil Lennon at Championship side Bolton Wanderers. As a result of this, it wasn't surprising that Lennon left Bolton
last two weeks after the debt ridden club was taken over by Dean Holdsworth and his new team . The record was not just bad but also the worst by any Bolton manager in 50 years. While Lennon is not entirely to blame for the poor run of form , as it should be noted that off-field problems played a significant role in the recent demise of the North West Club, with a total debt in exceeds of €180 million at present.
Bolton are also 12 points adrift from safety after the weekend 6-0 loss to Bristol City . This means Bolton are bottom of the league , having scored 36 goals and conceding 68 in 38 matches so far. That means an average of 1.7 goals in each game while scoring 0.9 goals in each game . What this further means is that Bolton has a point of 0.6 points per game this season . Also statistics has it that they have a 49 percent average possession and 40 percent shot accuracy which clearly shows the grass isn't greener at the Reebok.
This is a team that wooed the world under current Sunderland boss Sam Allardyce (2003-2007), who took them all the way from Division One to top the English Premier League after four games in the 2001-2002 season . Bolton also reached the League Cup final only to be beaten 2-1 by Steve Mclaren's Middlesbrough in 2004. Bolton also finished eight in 2003/2004 season, and sixth in 2004/2005 season which was their best ever finish as they were equal on points with UEFA Champions League winners Liverpool.
It is difficult to understand that the Bolton team that is now in the championship represents the old team which had Fernando Hierro ( Former Real Madrid And Spainish Captain) JayJay Okocha ( former Nigerian Captain ), Youri Djorkaeff (Former World Cup winner with France in 1998) and Ivan Campo (Former Real Madrid and Spainish international ) to mention but a few.
While Neil Lennon is a former three times Scottish League Champion, it is difficult to decipher why he struggled to make the team better after finishing 18th last season in the Championship. Having said all these, it is only inevitable that Bolton will be relegated to League One as their form suggests . The only positive thing this season is that the new team who acquired the club led by Dean Holdsworth would find a perfect manager for the club next season . Top of that list is former Hull City manager and current Southend manager Phil Brown, who led the Tigers (Hull City) to promotion to the Premire League in 2007. Brown left Hull shortly before their relegation to the Championship. Also he has recently led Southend to League One from League Two. For now , Bolton is an example of a club that has fallen from grace to grass in a short period of time (2005-2016).
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