Disaster on the pitch for Wanderers was mirrored by catastrophes on it as the club toppled into the third tier of English football for the first time in 23 years after suffering a record 26 league defeats. Marc Iles takes a look at how events unfolded away from the boardroom

IT’S July 13, 2015, and some nutter had decided to appoint Claudio Ranieri as the new manager of Leicester City.

Wanderers had been crushed 4-1 by the powerhouses of SC Paderborn in their final match of a tour to Austria. They were still a couple of strikers short – but at least Neil Lennon was talking to me again after going quiet during intense speculation linking him with the manager’s job at his former club.

The Whites had genuinely feared losing Lennon to the King Power Stadium. A concerned Phil Gartside had phoned me for daily updates on any shred of gossip coming from the East Midlands, forgetting perhaps I was stuck inside a shabby hotel room hundreds of miles away in Graz.

The night before the Paderborn game he called contentedly to tell me Gus Hiddink had the job and that, quote, “you can stop stirring now.”

He was half right. Even with Lennon staying put I had reservations about how the squad was coming together but pre-season has a funny way of tricking you into thinking everything will be okay.

That day Cameroonian midfielder Marcel Ndjeng scored the most incredible goal – a volley from the halfway line which would later be nominated for a FIFA Award. Wanderers had been terrible but this was a friendly, surely they would get it right by the time August came around?

Lennon’s training methods had been questioned by renowned fitness expert Raymond Verheijen, somewhat unfairly it turns out as Wanderers avoided the numerous muscle injuries which had plagued the previous campaign. It did not, however, excuse them their traditional slow start.

By September, the club had been booted out of the Capital One Cup by another Dutchman, Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink, and his upwardly mobile Burton Albion. The charismatic former Chelsea man had applied for the Bolton job the previous October but was dismissed out of hand. Burton’s stock would continue to rise.

Wanderers hadn’t had much luck. Though tactically outclassed at Middlesbrough they matched Derby County stride for stride, did not deserve defeat at MK Dons and should have got more than a point from Blackburn Rovers.

Zach Clough had not found his groove until he helped Wanderers gain their first win of the season, against Wolves. A game later he dislocated his shoulder and was out until mid-December.

Max Clayton soon joined him on the long-term list after a horrific hamstring tear against Brentford.

A particularly nasty defeat at Huddersfield Town set alarm bells ringing for Lennon, whose work in the transfer market over the summer came under increased scrutiny.

His signings had all been free transfers: Derik Osede and Ben Amos the pick of the bunch. Yet you felt he had snatched at squad players like Stephen Dobbie, Lawrie Wilson, Francesco Pisano and Jose Manuel Casado. In the fans’ eyes, those smaller salaries totalled one striker who could have alleviated some major problems.

It became patently clear promises made to the manager were being broken as a number of loan signings slipped through the net but Lennon did manage to land Shola Ameobi, who scored on his debut in a 1-1 home draw with Leeds United.

By November Wanderers still only had one win on the board and questions were being asked about the state of the club’s finances. Words like ‘administration’ and ‘liquidation’ had suddenly entered the common vernacular.

Lennon was told there would be no cash for new signings. The ill-health of Gartside left vice-chairman Brett Warburton to pass on the bad news that deals for Liverpool’s Joao Teixeira and Wolves’ Rajiv van la Parra had to be cancelled.

It was suddenly dawning on the Northern Irishman how serious the situation had become and he was not impressed by the fact information had been kept from him.

But any sympathy Wanderers fans had with his situation subsided as a tabloid report into his personal life raked up all manner of sordid details and forced the club to launch an internal enquiry.

By now Gartside’s health was deteriorating and he was no longer making the decisions. Trevor Birch – hired by Eddie Davies to make some sense of the takeover talks – had his hands full and so it was Warburton and fellow directors Anthony Massey and Richard Gee who eventually cleared Lennon to continue in his role.

Ironically, it had been the manager’s perceived loyalty to the club during the Leicester City situation which swung the vote rather than the crippling financial mess which was unfolding.

Now in a total transfer embargo, players uncertain when and where they would be paid, and with a High Court hearing on the horizon Wanderers were hammered at Rotherham on Boxing Day, heightening the calls for Lennon’s resignation. He stuck fast and got partial redemption with a second win of the campaign against Blackburn.

The form of academy graduate Rob Holding caught the eye of Wanderers fans and any number of Premier League scouts. Briefly, things looked up. Wanderers finally despatched non-league Eastleigh after a farcical FA Cup clash in the mud and also beat MK Dons and Rotherham at home. Safety at that stage did not look so far away.

Financial issues continued to bite and newly-installed consultant Terry Robinson oversaw the contract termination of Casado and Medo Kamara – a flop of epic proportions from the Dougie Freedman era. Ameobi also failed to seal a longer deal despite offering to play for free.

Gartside passed away on February 10, after which Wanderers took just three points from a possible 42, and Lennon, who had struggled to lift the dressing room for months, was finally put out of his misery and departed the club.

The takeover ensured the ugly process of administration, or less probably liquidation was avoided. But it came much too late to avoid relegation, especially after a messy and drawn-out ratification from the Football League which raised all manner of questions about the suitability and sustainability of the new ownership.

Lennon’s departure on March 15 was one of the first decisions made by majority shareholders Ken Anderson and Dean Holdsworth, the second being to loan Liam Feeney to Ipswich Town for the rest of the season.

It soon emerged Jay Spearing would also spend the rest of the season in limbo too, his former club Liverpool owed a £100,000 payment the next time he took to the pitch.

Jimmy Phillips and returning legend Peter Reid were appointed to see through the final weeks of the campaign, getting off to the worst possible start with a 6-0 defeat at Bristol City.

Phillips and Reid did manage to restore a little shape to the team in the closing weeks and took on what was an impossible task with huge dignity. But ultimately a haul of just four points from nine games meant a dreadful season ended with a whimper.