Sammy Lee pays for Bolton's poor start as Gary Megson's name becomes the third on the manager's office door at the Reebok Stadium in under a year.
Only ten games into this season’s Premiership campaign, the Bolton board have suffered a sever case of cold feet in their relationship with new manager Sammy Lee and decided to remove him from the Wanderers’ hot seat in a change which may decide whether the team avoid relegation.
Sammy Lee’s Managerial Difficulties
Sammy Lee’s short managerial reign began when he was promoted from assistant manager towards the end of last season following Sam Allardyce’s shock decision to leave the club. Unfortunately for Lee, it quickly became apparent that the only thing larger than Big Sam was the size of his shadow, which continued to cast itself directly over The Reebok Stadium.
Over his years in charge at Wanderers, Allardyce sculpted a club which combined a direct, physical style of football, played by individuals discarded by other sides, with a large investment in both science and state of the art technology. The result was a team who so frequently exceeded expectations that many of The White’s supports and directors began to assume they were guaranteed a top ten finish.
When Lee took control he initially appeared to make life difficult for himself by attempting to make Bolton play a more attractive style of football. Whilst certainly an admirable aim, it did little to maintain the continuity that was so precious to the club and which many hoped Lee’s promotion would guarantee. It also appeared to unsettle both players and coaching staff, taking them out of the comfort zone in which they were happy and successful in a league as unforgiving as the Premiership.
Whilst Lee may not have made things easy for himself he certainly wasn’t helped by other factors, including injuries to key players, most notably Kevin Davies. On top of this, although in the beginning the Bolton board were vocal with support for their new manager, over the summer they didn’t appear to back this up with any funds for new players. In a league where almost every club was spending multi-millions on players, Lee was given a relative pittance for new signings and certainly nowhere near the amount necessary to replace important departures such as Ben Haim or the £8m Allardyce had been allowed to risk on the temperamental Nicolas Anelka.
Megson’s Surprise Appointment
As inevitable as Lee’s departure ultimately was, his subsequent replacement by Gary Megson was equally surprising.
Megson had only recently been appointed as the new manager of Leicester City and his poaching by Bolton was strange as, although he had twice guided West Brom to the Premiership, his record with them in the top league was less than impressive.
His appointment by Wanderers appears to be an extremely early case of a club still reeling from the sudden change in their circumstances and battening down the storm shutters ready for battle to avoid relegation at all costs. On this basis it will be interesting to see what Megson does with the squad Lee so recently assembled until the transfer window reopens in January, and when it does reopen, whether he will be given more money to invest than his predecessor. An even more interesting question, however, will be what Bolton do if Megson doesn’t appear to be the man capable of doing the job he was brought in for.
