AS new ownership drew ever closer at Wanderers yesterday Neil Lennon admitted he is concerned over his own long-term job prospects at the Macron Stadium.

By his own admission, the manager was “shocked” by events this week – which have included the appointment of insolvency specialist Trevor Birch as a financial advisor, confirmation Phil Gartside has stepped aside as chairman because of illness, and the instruction no money will be made available for new signings until a buyer is found for the club.

But as boardroom talks continued in the same building, Lennon conceded in his pre-match press conference that his own future was far from secure.

The Bolton News understands representatives of the Sports Shield consortium met with new financial advisor Trevor Birch yesterday morning to finalise what they hope will be a successful bid to buy Wanderers.

Lennon remains unaware of the group’s intentions and aims to fight his corner by turning round results on the pitch, starting with tomorrow’s game against Reading.

“If new people come in they might want their own people, I don’t know,” he told The Bolton News.

“If there are new investors coming in and they want me to stay on, then of course I will fight on.

“It might be a decision that is taken out of my hands but in the meantime I’m fully focused on getting results.”

Lennon was typically frank when asked if the extent of Wanderers’ financial problems had been a surprise to him.

The manager was called into a meeting with Birch at 5pm on Tuesday night with vice-chairman Brett Warburton to outline the full picture and why he had been told a few days earlier there would be no money made available to strengthen his team.

Owner Davies is no longer able to fund losses which are now understood to be approaching £1million a month.

“It came as a shock. I didn’t realise it was this bad,” the manager said.

“Particularly when you are looking for players and then to be told there’s no money at all. The alarm bells started then.

“I always felt there would be cash left over because of the cuts we’d made in the playing staff. Sales of Chungy and Tim Ream – there might be some money to strengthen the squad, but there isn’t.

“I met Trevor with Brett in the office downstairs and they told me what the situation was.

“We still don’t know the extent of Phil Gartside’s condition and I’m still very concerned about that as well.

“Trevor has been brought in to try and accelerate the process, to find a new owner for the club, and if we don’t then we could be in a bit of trouble.”