Bolton boss Neil Lennon believes he is heading for his most challenging summer in management.
Having succeeded Dougie Freedman last October , this is his first close-season in charge at the Macron.
The 43-year-old had four successful years in charge of Celtic before leaving the Scottish giants in May 2014.
But with Wanderers finishing in the bottom half of the Championship the last two seasons, Lennon believes he faces a tougher task trying to transform the Bolton squad this summer and instil his philosophy for next season.
“Pre-season is always important but I think there’s more importance on this one at Bolton than I ever had before at Celtic because we’re coming into it completely fresh,” he said.
“We’ve got a good six or seven weeks, the pre-season programme is in place. The players know what is required of them when they come back on June 29 and then it’ll be bedding down a platform for the majority of the season.”
Bolton failed to win in their first 10 league games in 2013/14 and won just one of their first 11 last term so Lennon is keen to hit the ground running.
“We haven’t started the last two seasons well,” he added.
“I’m not saying there’s extra pressure on this one, to start it well, but it would be good to get off to a good start. Hence pre-season there’ll be a bit more emphasis on the importance of that this year.
“It’ll be tough, but we also want to get the tactical work into them.”
