Wednesday 15 October 2014 13:11, UK
Neil Lennon's time at Celtic was not always a bed of roses and the Northern Irishman will take his experiences of the dark days at Parkhead with him into his new position at Bolton.
The 43-year-old won three straight league titles at Parkhead, where he also claimed two cup competitions and guided the Bhoys to the last 16 of the Champions League.
Yet among those trophy-laden years was a barren spell. At the start of the 2011-12 season, Lennon's charges were already falling behind the pace set by Old Firm rivals Rangers and they found themselves 3-0 down at Kilmarnock in October.
However, after managing to claim a draw that day against the odds, they strung together a series of victories en route to the first title of Lennon's reign.
And after seeing Celtic weather the storm and come out of the other side richer for the experience, Lennon hopes he can now transform the fortunes of a Bolton team currently dwelling at the basement of the Sky Bet Championship.
When asked whether his new side's current predicament shocked him, he replied: "Nothing will surprise you in football.
"I had a very good team at Celtic in my second season and we started the season terribly and were 15 points behind Rangers at one stage in October and we were 3-0 down at Kilmarnock - that was walking the fine line for me.
"Anyway, we managed to rectify it and went on to have a great run of wins.
"I'm not saying that's going to be the case here - that there's going to be a turning point - but certainly I've been in a position before where backs are against the wall and managed to turn it around. I want to use that experience myself to bring here."
Lennon is also adamant he can extract more from the current crop of players, not least because they have interested in him in the past.
"I had an interest in a few of the players during my time with Celtic," the 43-year-old said.
"I know their qualities - I would have bought a couple if I could have done the deals and brought them up north.
"That wasn't to be, but I look at the dressing room and look at the quality and experience and players who have played and been successful at this level; there's no reason why we can't put a consistent run together.
"Results first and then performances after, that's what I'm looking for really.
"I watched Matt Mills for a while and Jermaine (Beckford) for a while. Young (Liam) Trotter was on the radar when he was at Millwall and Ipswich as well."
After signing a three-year deal at the Macron Stadium, Lennon was given an eye-opening account of the magnitude of the task facing him when he watched the DVD of the 4-0 hammering given to them by Fulham, which proved to be Dougie Freedman's final game in charge.
Lennon said he saw a team lacking confidence, while he has also outlined a number of areas where he feels they need to show a marked improvement.
"I like to win and I've made that pretty clear to the players as well," he added.
"I like to play football - whatever that is - obviously you want to be entertaining.
"At the minute there looks like there's a lack of creativity within the squad, maybe that's something we'll look at going forward and a little bit of pace as well maybe in the final third. Those players are hard to find sometimes but we'll endeavour to do that.
"I like Mark Davies as a player. I had a word with him and told him how important he was to the team, the squad and myself going forward. The sooner we get him back, the better we'll be as a team as well."
