UPON hearing that Neil Lennon would be the new manager at Wanderers, a bit of background research was needed.

Phone call made to all the ex-Wanderers players who had made their way to Celtic, check, couple of emails fired off to local journalists in Glasgow, check, browse of Wikipedia – discounting every single fact printed on the page, check.

The best investment made at The Bolton News towers in the last seven days has been Lennon’s warts-and-all biography “Man and Bhoy” – which gives a unique insight into some of the fearful situations he has faced during a playing career with club and country.

He is not the first Wanderers boss to pen a book, or have one written about him.

Nat Lofthouse published a couple of memoirs, including “The Lion of Vienna” by Andrew Collomossse in 1989 and the ultra-rare “Goals Galore” in 1959, while he still regularly pulled on a shirt for the Whites.

Stan Anderson penned “Captain of the North” in 2010 with Mark Metcalfe, while another manager who didn’t leave much of a footprint, Roy McFarland, released “Clough’s Champion” earlier this year.

Some eager Wanderers fans may still have a copy of “Life at the Kop: The Phil Neal Story,” published in 1986 – shortly after he arrived as a player at Burnden Park.

Like Neal, it’s safe to say that the Bolton chapter in John McGovern’s “From Bo’ness to Bernabaeu” would be fairly short when compared to his playing career.

But if Jimmy McIlroy had published his memoirs “Right Inside Soccer” a decade later, the former Burnley inside forward would have barely mustered a page on his 18 days with Wanderers.

Moving on to more modern times, those who scour hard enough might be able to find a copy of “Just Give Me a Chance! The Playing Days of Dougie Freedman,” by James Wright. His assistant, Lennie Lawrence also published an autobiography, entitled, erm “Lennie” which also features input from Sir Alex Ferguson.

Jimmy Armfield published the account of his glittering career in 2009, entitled “Right Back to the Beginning” – very good Jim – but none can hold a candle to the ramblings of another former Wanderer – albeit one who never managed the club.

Frank Worthington’s “One Hump or Two” from 1994 remains a fixture of the bookshelf for most Whites fans – if only for the magnificently risqué title.