Bolton Wanderers: Eidur Gudjohnsen, Emile Heskey factor should’ve been Neil Lennon warning | OneFootball

The ageing attackers formed an intriguing partnership for Bolton Wanderers but it was perhaps a sign of what would come under Neil Lennon.

Bolton Wanderers appointed former Celtic boss Neil Lennon in October 2014 and then made multiple high-profile free-agent signings ahead of the January transfer window.

Eidur Gudjohnsen returned to the club on a free transfer around the same time that former England international Emile Heskey, an ex-Leicester City teammate of Lennon, also arrived at the then-Macron Stadium.

On Gudjohnsen’s second debut for the club on Boxing Day 2014, the pair combined with the Icelander providing an assist for Heskey as Wanderers completed a second-half turnaround to defeat local rivals Blackburn Rovers.

But though there were some special and fun moments for both players, more notably Gudjohnsen, the signs that the Lennon era may not be as successful as was initially expected were there early on with both arrivals.

Creating a team

At the time of their signing, Gudjohnsen and Heskey had a combined age of 73 and, as fun as it was and as much as it grabbed the headlines, the signs were there that Lennon was not creating something sustainable for Championship football.

There was a lack of tactical identity that had been shown anyway, and the lack of clarity in terms of an actual position for ‘Eidur the glider’, as nicknamed by Bolton supporters, as well as the general mobility of Heskey, perhaps showed that Bolton and Lennon were living in a bygone era.

Not just the actual personnel brought in but also the profile of player being targeted was at odds with the way Championship football was evolving into something a little more intense and tactically philosophical.

The arrivals of Gudjohnsen and Heskey were then followed by one of the more bizarre January transfer windows, too, as Lennon continued to confuse things at the Macron Stadium.

From a 4-2-3-1 to a 4-4-2 to a 4-3-3 to a 3-4-2-1 to a 3-5-2; it didn’t appear as though Lennon or Bolton knew exactly what it was they needed to do on a consistent basis but enough quality had been brought in that meant Wanderers would pick up the results against weaker sides to stave off the drop by the end of the 2014/15 campaign.

However, the 2015/16 season was utterly miserable after yet another bizarre and convoluted summer transfer window that lacked joined-up thinking and was clearly emblematic of how Lennon would go about his business: names and reputation rather than moulding and creating an identity on and off the pitch.

In the 2015/16 campaign, Bolton found themselves relegated to the third tier of English football for the first time in over 30 years with just 30 points collected from their 46 matches, winning just five games and finishing 19 points adrift.

As amusing as it was, the Gudjohnsen and Heskey strike partnership should have been an early warning in the Neil Lennon of the lack of joined-up thinking that would eventually see Bolton slide down the EFL divisions.