Lennon: Sports Shield takeover "is going to happen" at Wanderers

WANDERERS remain on course to confirm Sports Shield’s takeover by the end of the week.

The deal, worth an initial £7.5million, was being finalised today with a view to making an official announcement tomorrow or Friday.

Dean Holdsworth’s group expect to be in charge by the time Wanderers face local rivals Preston North End on Saturday.

Neil Lennon confirmed after last night’s 2-2 draw with Ipswich Town he expected the deal to be completed, and hoped that would lead to an end to the transfer embargo which was placed on the club at the start of the year.

“The takeover is going to happen, it’s very, very likely, which is great news,” he said. “Then you want to get the embargo lifted and the accounts sent in, and I don’t know how long that might take.

“I’d hope I can add to the squad.

“But we have got to keep going again with Preston at home. We have had so many chances over the last four or five weeks and not put teams away.”

Lennon admits his own position will come under increased scrutiny once the takeover is rubber-stamped.

“Obviously there’s an air of uncertainty,” he said. “People will probably look at results and say ‘he hasn’t done a good job there’ but there are mitigating circumstances to everything.

“As a manager it’s a results-driven business and we haven’t had enough positive results even though the performances have been good.”

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

stop talking now Lennon, performances haven't been great, granted we played well against Burnley but other than that we are poor and the table doesn't lie

He "hopes he can add to the squad."

No chance. Of bigger concern is that all the pace in the side will be leaving in summer as things stand. Feeney will definitely be gone. Wellie is obviously going back to the Arse where he can dive away to his heart's content. Woolery is out of contract and I can't see where the money to re-sign him - or Holding - is going to come from.

There's talk about rebuilding with kids, but we are tied to a bunch of overpaid old codgers and can't afford to resign our youngsters that are set to leave.

wanderlust wrote:He "hopes he can add to the squad."

No chance. Of bigger concern is that all the pace in the side will be leaving in summer as things stand. Feeney will definitely be gone. Wellie is obviously going back to the Arse where he can dive away to his heart's content. Woolery is out of contract and I can't see where the money to re-sign him - or Holding - is going to come from.

There's talk about rebuilding with kids, but we are tied to a bunch of overpaid old codgers and can't afford to resign our youngsters that are set to leave.

A post compiled of assumptions.

Anyone we have under 23 would attract a fee if they want to move whether they have a contract or not so I think the anticipated exodus of kids may well not happen.

 The older players who are being paid five figures a week are going to be with us until either we can offload them for peanuts (unlikely) or the end of their contracts (very likely) no matter who the manager and owner is so we might as well use them as much as possible while we have them. 

Basically we all know that given the embargo we simply can't do anything else because we can't sign anyone, not even a free as things stand and at this point in time no one has said the embargo will be lifted at all much less when that might happen.

I don't think Feeney, Clough etc necessarily WILL be gone in the summer. It will be up to the manager and/or owners to decide about that and it's far from certain we'll get bids for them anyway. In truth I still rate Lennon and hope he stays but even if he doesn't a new manager isn't going to walk into a situation much better if at all than the one that exists now given how the League are reacting to the SSI takeover. IN which case who would want the job?