DARREN Pratley finally feels like he will be given a fair crack of the whip at Wanderers.

Virtually ignored at times by Owen Coyle and Dougie Freedman, the midfielder looked to be heading out of the Macron Stadium until the arrival of Neil Lennon last season.

He became a mainstay of the Northern Irishman’s team and has been rewarded with a new three-year contract.

Going into his fifth season with the Whites, Pratley feels his manager’s backing could bring out the best of him this season.

“Obviously it was a big decision, the contract, but I feel like I’ve got a chance of playing,” he told The Bolton News.

“If I do well in pre-season I’ll have a chance, whereas before I wouldn’t.

“Before you’d have to wait until half way through the season to get going and then you’d be playing catch-up with everyone else.

“Football is highs and lows. All I can really do is look after myself and then it’s down to the manager but I feel like I know this place, there aren’t many around who were here when I got here. I like the responsibility.

“If it means me and a few more of the experienced lads seeing it through, then fine. I’ll enjoy it like anyone else would.”

Pratley says he knew at the end of last season that he would be staying on at Bolton.

QPR and Ipswich Town were strongly linked with the 30-year-old over the off-season but he dismissed the links as speculation.

“It’s been done for a while,” he said. “I knew before we broke up that I’d be staying at Bolton. I read stories, as you do, but just laughed at them.

“The gaffer had spoken to me and I knew I’d be coming back, but it’s nice to get that out of the way now.”

Pratley admits training in the Austrian sunshine has taken its toll – but the midfielder believes the players will feel the benefits in the long run.

“Pre-season is never nice but it’s good, we need it,” he said.

“It has been a tough start and hopefully it’ll set us up nicely for the season.”

Meanwhile, Wanderers have confirmed the departure of chief operating officer Bradley Cooper, who has left the club to pursue other business interests.

Cooper was appointed in September 2012 following the departure of the long-serving Allan Duckworth.