Opinion: Our Neil. Man of the People

Last week saw the end of Nigel Pearson's reign at Leicester City.

Obviously this raised eyebrows with a great many Bolton Wanderers fans, with our very own Neil Lennon tipped to replace Mr Pearson as the Foxes boss.

Personally, I don't think that Neil will leave and would certainly be devastated if he did.

His no-nonsense approach towards his players along with his passion and desire to win can only lead to big things. But what would've happened if the Northern Irishman didn't make the move to Lancashire?

For one, the return of the Iceman himself wouldn't have occurred, along with his partner up front, Emile Heskey. The veterans were brought into the club early on in Lennon's tenure as Bolton boss and both put a fair shift in.

I'm too young to remember the Eidurs first spell in a white shirt, however, I can remember the Icelandic international wearing a Chelsea strip, as well as him playing at a club called FC Barcelona.

I admired him then and even more so now. In the second coming of Gudjohnsen I instantly noticed how he can pick a pass like no other. His touch is second to none and he can occasionally chip in with a goal. As for Heskey, a player with over 100 Premier League goals can't be a bad signing.

Despite him turning slower than a HGV and how he appeared to need a Zimmer frame to move, he has the experience, something we needed at the time of his arrival. The fact is that, without Lennon, we wouldn't have seen the duo link up.

Another player we wouldn't have seen pull on the Wanderers shirt is the man himself, Zach Clough. The fact that before Neil Lennon the 19 year old didn't even get a sniff in the first team is beyond me.

The thought of that makes my head hurt. How Douglas and his chums didn't see the potential that Zach has is beyond me. And how Jermaine Beckford was seen to be better than him is laughable. Another young player that we were more familiar with is Josh Vela.

The Salfordian had to adapt to playing right back, something which I at first seemed a bad idea to me. However he proved me wrong and had a very successful season, despite playing out of position. Again, Douglas branded Vela as ‘not good enough' and shipped him out on loan, probably to free up wages to sign one of his mates from Palace.

It's baffling to think if the Scot was still here Vela wouldn't be, let that sink in.

Finally, Tom Walker.

Yes, Tom had a few poor games towards the end of the season, including a horrendous one at now Premier League Bournemouth. However at the start of his stint in the team I was somewhat impressed. The pin-point cross to set up Le Fondre against Norwich is a highlight can't have come from a bad player. Next season, Walker will hopefully shine and I'm pleased Lennon gave him a chance.

Finally, the biggest thing that Neil Lennon has given us. Championship status for next season. I'm under no illusions that under Mr Freedman, we would've had to make a trip down the road to the local minnows in League One.

The current Nottingham Forest manager left us rock bottom of the league and thankfully Neil came in and turned the monstrosity around.

Lennon brings passion, desire and a winning mentality to the club, something which I've not seen since the glory days under Allargyce. It's not all doom and gloom, without Lennon we'd be much worse off. Neil knows where he wants to take us and believes he can get there, we should back him to the hills. Keep the faith.