There was apprehension but excitement and anticipation too as Lee set about putting his own stamp on the way Wanderers would be run and how they would play.
Gary Speed was elevated to joint first team player-coach to work alongside Ricky Sbragia and Jimmy Phillips, but Allardyce's appointment as manager of Newcastle United began to cast a huge shadow over events at the Reebok.
There was speculation that he might take key players to Tyneside - Nicolas Anelka and El-Hadji Diouf were the hottest tips - but it was on the backroom scene where the impact was greatest with key support staff becoming unsettled.
Bolton cut season ticket prices by 10 per cent and turned down a £2m bid from Sunderland for Jussi Jaaskelainen and Lee promised a more expansive, attacking style of football. But a last-ditch bid to persuade Tal Ben Haim to stay at the Reebok failed miserably as the Israeli confirmed he was Chelsea-bound.
Anyone else baffled or is it just me?
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