Neil Lennon is adapting to a more sedate football life far from the Celtic maelstrom

At his regular Bolton Wanderers press event the other day he spoke to a "pack" of only three guys, and then to another couple who were there for radio. At Celtic there would have been 25 to 30 hanging on his every word.

England has its own regional peculiarities and media priorities. Resources are scattered around the country and nearly every club draws fewer journalists than Celtic or Rangers do. Besides, the great dukes of the Fleet Street hierarchy aren't stampeding towards a team in the lower half of the SkyBet Championship. But the relaxed gentleness of the scene around Lennon was nice. He is in a different place now, in every sense.

The regular media duties and then a morning training session were good places to lie low, given that the family were moving house that day and he fancied pushing his luck and being involved as little as possible.

His partner, Irene, and son, Gallagher, have taken to life in Lancashire like ducks to water. Wee Gallagher's mop of red hair meant he stood out in the Parkhead posh seats and these days he is enthusiastic about dad's team at the Macron Stadium. He's not the only one.

Bolton have been invigorated by Lennon's arrival in October, four and a half months after he stepped down at Celtic. They still limp under debts of more than £160 million, but they were bottom of the league when he took over and he has hauled them to 16th, seven points above the relegation places. A run of one defeat in 12, with an FA Cup tie to come against Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday, has put a charge into Bolton.

"When I left Celtic I wanted to have a break," Lennon said. "The only time I have been back is when I was doing the Scotland-Ireland game for RTE. There is a mourning period, if you want to call it that, and then this opportunity came up and I thought, 'right, it's time to get back to work'. I am enjoying what I am doing here. It's different. Do I miss Celtic? Of course I do. It was a big part of my life for a long, long time. Put it this way, it's not as hectic now, but I enjoyed the chaos at times, if you know what I mean.

"I don't think anyone suffered as much as I did on the personal side of things, but it made you really mentally strong. You come down here and think 'new life, new start, different skill set'. People are watching you, thinking, 'it's easy to manage Celtic, blah, blah, blah', so you take on that challenge as well and people are realising now that what we did over the last four years at Celtic was pretty good."

Bolton are a grand old football name. Four FA Cup wins on their honours list and a statue of the great England centre-forward of the 1950s Nat Lofthouse outside the ground. A "great, traditional club", in Lennon's view, full of "good football people".

The team are unbeaten at home since he took over and attendances have climbed from 12,000 to almost 20,000. Around 6000 will follow them to Anfield. Lennon has had to adjust his mindset and recognise there is no anger or screaming back page headlines when Bolton slip.

"At Celtic you are used to winning every week. You are used to playing well and it took us a little bit of time, for myself, Johan [Mjallby] and Garry [Parker], to adjust to that. When we first came in, it was win-loss-win-loss-win, so we addressed that."

In December he raised eyebrows by signing two old-timers, 36-year-old Eidur Gudjohnsen and Emile Heskey, who turned 37 last week. Both have already scored. Lennon was a team-mate of Heskey's at Leicester and had wanted to work with him again ever since.

"He was only 17 then. I tried to get him for years for Celtic and he wouldn't come and I eventually got him now at 48! He still has that strength. The pace maybe isn't there now, but he still has great attributes and he will be one player who is really looking forward to going to Anfield."

Heskey left Leicester for Liverpool in 2000, the year Lennon left for Celtic. And then there is Gudjohnsen, the former Chelsea and Barcelona star. Had he ever tried to take him to Celtic? "No, I couldn't afford him."

After years of trying to get goalscorers into Parkhead, Lennon would now love to get one out. His courting of Kris Commons has been public. Commons is roughly five years younger than Heskey and Gudjohnsen and would walk into the Bolton team.

Ronny Deila has been less enthusiastic, but the player's farewell gesture to fans yesterday suggests he is set for a move before the window shuts. "Would I bring Kris Commons here? Absolutely," Lennon said. "He was a top player for me. He had a fantastic season for me last year and I know his make-up. But he's Celtic's player and I think they will do everything they can to keep him."

It would be misleading to say there is a strain in Lennon and Deila's relationship, not least because they don't have a relationship. They have not met since Deila was appointed - "I've not had the opportunity yet," Lennon said, although some barbs were fired back and forth via the media over the issue of the Celtic players' fitness. Could be better, said Deila. Good enough to win the league by a mile, countered Lennon.

"I don't want to get into a war of words but they were pretty fit for the last three or four seasons," he said when asked again. "Ronny wanted to improve that aspect and I understand that, but we won the league by 29 points last year and that wasn't our best season."

Lennon went through it all at Celtic, the highs of trophies and European spikes and the nadirs of assaults, letter bombs and bullets in the post. His first season in charge, in 2010/2011, featured seven Old Firm clashes including the "shame game" when he and Ally McCoist whispered into each other's ears and brought the country to a standstill.

His derby record was six wins, four defeats and two draws. Because of Rangers' liquidation there were only those 12 derbies in his four-and-a-bit seasons at Celtic manager. Would he have liked more?

"I had seven in my first year, that's enough for a lifetime," he responds.

When the teams meet again in the League Cup semi-final a fortnight today Lennon will be far from the front line. "I am looking forward to it as a neutral … well, not a neutral but as an outsider looking in. They're not as strong as they were, either team. Both would admit to that, but it's still a great fixture.

"The assumption is that Celtic will win, but you can't call an Old Firm game. It's never a guarantee although I watched Rangers against Hibs after Ally [McCoist] left and they are a shadow of the team they were. My advice to Ronny would be win the game. Just win it. It doesn't matter how you win it. Even if it's penalties, just win it because it will change Ronny's life.

"If Celtic come through, it will change the perspective of things. It will give him a huge shot of confidence, it will give the club a huge shot in the arm and the supporters too, like every Old Firm game does until the next one. When you win you just feel relief afterwards and when you lose you don't go out, you lock yourself in a dark room for three or four days and then come out and face the music.

"The fans at Bolton have been very good to me although, to be fair, I haven't seen much of the town yet. But it's good whereas at Celtic it was intense. There's not the intensity there. Sometimes you miss the intensity, I have to say."