THERE’S something missing at Bolton Wanderers these days and I just hope it doesn’t cost them their Championship status.

I know there are a lot of unhappy people around the town at the moment as the club struggles to get clear of the bottom three, and we read story after story about the financial problems they are facing.

If ever there was a time the whole place needed to pull together, this is it.

Bolton isn’t the club I remember. Back in the days of Sam Allardyce, Gary Megson and Owen Coyle there was a family feel – but I think that started to ebb away once Dougie Freedman came in and changed a lot of things behind the scenes. It made the place feel very cold. There wasn’t a friendly vibe.

It looks like Neil Lennon has managed to repair some of that and I’ve got no doubt, by the way, that he’s the man to lead them out of danger. I think a lot of fans agree with me and have stuck by him despite the fact the team is down the bottom of the table.

But the manager desperately needs some help – and that is going to have to come from the top.

Whether it’s the owner finding him some money to make signings or the chairman coming out and giving him some backing, something needs to happen.

I worry that if Bolton get relegated into League One they won’t come back. It’ll be like the 1980s all over again.

Neil clearly needs some quality – you can’t build a team on loans and veterans like Emile Heskey and Shola Ameobi.

Having said that, there’s one old face I’d like to see back and that’s Kevin Nolan. Every effort has got to be made to get that lad back at the club which put him on the map.

The biggest mistake Megson ever made was letting him go. He was the heart and soul of the dressing room and no manager has got that back.

Freedman and the club compounded it by treating Kevin Davies the way they did and Neil has been left with a squad that simply isn’t good enough, in my view.

There is no voice in the dressing room. No big leader. No one for the manager to trust to pull the lads up by the scruff of the neck and say ‘this isn’t good enough – make it better.’

I’ve said for long enough that refereeing standards are suffering in the Premier League because of poor leadership, and that applies to any business, or any club in the world. If you let things drift, you can’t expect them to go the way you want.

I’m not pining for the good old days. Things have changed and Bolton are a Championship club now but the basic elements remain the same as when they were a top club under Big Sam. You need a leader calling the shots.

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JOSE Mourinho will turn it round at Chelsea and prove once again that he is the best football manager in the world.

Anyone would want him to stay in the Premier League. He’s box office.

The only people who can really force him out are the media – and they seem to be doing their best at the moment. It’s like a dog with a bone.

No wonder he’s refusing to speak to them. This was always going to happen, especially when he gets hit with punishments that don’t fit the crime.

When managers have a go at a referee they get a touchline ban. Now I don’t condone swearing at officials – but I can speak from experience, it happens a lot. Not everyone sees their transcript printed in the newspapers.

On the pitch it’s going wrong. Jose needs to rectify that but he’s got the experience and pedigree to turn Chelsea’s season round, no question.

He’s getting no luck on the pitch. Loic Remy’s honesty caused referee Anthony Taylor some problems in the Blues’ defeat against Stoke City.

Jack Butland came hurtling out to meet the striker, who took evasive action and then lost his footing, failing to put the ball in the unguarded net.

If the player had allowed himself to get hit – penalty. By the laws of the game tripping, or attempting to trip, an opponent is punishable by a direct free kick.

But because he tried to stay on his feet – something we’re asking players to do – you can understand that Anthony felt it would not be a credible decision.

The laws also say that if you impede an opponent it can be punished by an indirect free kick, but when was the last time you saw that happen?