Lennon wants to bring a bit of Barcelona

Neil Lennon’s proudest moment in football management was masterminding a famous victory over Barcelona for Celtic.

But the Bolton boss reckons dumping Liverpool out of the FA Cup this week would be right up there with his finest achievement.

The Irishman has completely transformed the fortunes of the English Championship club to enhance his reputation as a shrewd tactician.

He managed to secure a creditable scoreless draw with Brendan Rodgers’ side at Anfield to set up Wednesday night’s replay.

It brought back memories of the night he led Celtic to a remarkable 2-0 victory over Lionel Messi and Co in the Champions League at Parkhead.

“Nights like those are the reason you want to be a manager,” said Lennon. “That was a special night for everyone connected with Celtic, and I’ll never forget it.

“But you move on, and I now want to try and give the Bolton supporters that sort of feeling of watching their team pull off a surprise scoreline.

“Put it this way, that’s the way we are approaching the game. We are going out there to try and win the tie and eliminate a very strong Liverpool side.

“We’ve got a chance, you always do in one-off situations.

“It will be similar to the first game and probably not hugely different to how I set up my Celtic team that night against Barcelona.

“You know you are going to concede the lion’s share of possession, and we just need to keep ourselves in the game and hopefully take whatever chances come out way. It is possible.”

Lennon insists it is very much early days in his attempts to turn around the fortunes of the Trotters.

He took over the club after a poor start to the season resulted in Dougie Freedman losing his job with his side in the relegation zone. Things quickly changed, however, when Lennon took over assisted by his backroom team from his Parkhead days, Johan Mjallby and Garry Parker.

They are already edging close to the middle of the table and looking good in terms of remaining in the division, but Lennon remains ambitious.

He said: “I’m happy with the progress we have made in a short space of time. We’ve moved up the table, which was the priority and our first objective.

“We’ve now managed to bring in one or two new players, and trying to look ahead rather than behind. And if we can enjoy a FA Cup run, then fantastic.

“The set-up at Bolton is unbelievable. The stadium is fantastic and so is the training ground. Everything is geared towards Premier League football.

“I’ve had some friends down from Glasgow and over from Ireland, and they are really surprised when they see the facilities.

“It’s just about trying to improve the team, but working within the budgets.”