NEIL LENNON’S time at financially-stricken Bolton was hardly memorable.
The Celtic manager had won three successive titles at Parkhead bfore leaving in the summer of 2014 with Norwegian Ronny Deila coming in.
Lennon joined the struggling Championship outfit in October 2014 as he took over from axed former Scotland international striker Dougie Freedman.
The team finished 18th in the league, but the Irishman quit in March 2016 with the club suffering a cash crisis that would eventually see them relegated to the third tier.
However, Lennon still did enough to impress one Bolton player he was the best boss he had ever worked with, despite the dire straits in which the once-famous club found themselves.
Goalkeeper Paddy Kenny had arrived at the side a month before Lennon as he was brought in as back-up to Andy Lonerghan wuth Adam Bogdan out with a long-term injury.
The shotstopper had a brief four-month spell at Wanderers before moving on. He played under veteran gaffer Neil Warnock for large spells of his career at several clubs in the Premier League and the Championship including Sheffield United, Queens Park Rangers, Leeds United and Rotherham.
Asked who was the best manager he had worked with – outwith Warnock – Kenny, speaking on the Under The Cosh podcast, answered: “Probably Neil Lennon.”
He highlighted the training regimes the ex-Hoops ace implemented and added: “Even though I didn’t play, he came in at Bolton when I was there and I remember I just loved his way of training and everything where you’ve got to be spot on every day.
“But then when you stopped training, you could relax a bit and have a bit of banter.”
Lennon returned across the border to take over as boss at Hibs in June 2016 and left in January in 2019 before his dramatic return a month later to Parkhead following Brendan Rodgers’ rapid departure for Leicester City.
The Irishman led Celtic to an eighth successive title triumph and followed it up with a ninth last season. He is now bidding for the historic 10 in a row and will get the chance to go top of the Premiership on Saturday when Steven Gerrard brings his Ibrox outfit to the east end of Glasgow.
A victory will put Scotland’s title kings in pole position with two points to spare and a game in hand.
