FIVE words were hammered like nails into the proverbial coffin when Dougie Freedman took charge of his final Wanderers game one year ago.

Asked if he felt the squad was good enough to avoid relegation following a 4-0 battering at Fulham, he answered with an air of resignation: “It doesn’t look like it.”

Less than 48 hours later he had left behind a group of players who had taken just five points from their first 10 games, with League One football a very real possibility.

Twelve months on Wanderers find themselves just two places higher than they were that night in West London and yet the vibe around the club could hardly be more different.

Gone are the protests and placards that had become commonplace in the Scot’s stormy final weeks, replaced by a positive environment that was clearly a factor in Saturday’s comeback against Brighton.

The squad itself does not differ significantly, however, and it may surprise some that 10 of the 17 players involved in the squad on Saturday were also available to Freedman at the time.

Some, like David Wheater, were unavailable through injury, others like Alex Finney, Tom Walker, Max Clayton and Josh Vela simply not considered ready for the first-team ranks.

Mainstays of Freedman’s team have also gone on to become key players for his successor, which begs the question: Was confidence the only thing missing from the team that was failing so badly in the Championship at the time?

Dean Moxey is perhaps the prime example, pilloried under Freedman after a shaky start to his Bolton career he has now developed into one of Lennon’s most consistent players.

Neil Danns, another of the six surviving players who took the field against Fulham, is enjoying a purple patch of his own, scoring against Brighton last weekend and revelling in a deep-lying midfield role.

Darren Pratley's transformation from bit-part player low on confidence to club captain has been nothing short of incredible, and his absence through injury for much of this year has been felt more acutely than any other player.

Dorian Dervite is sidelined with an ankle problem at present but aside from his needless red card against Blackburn, the Frenchman has barely put a foot wrong.

Liam Feeney has also enjoyed a renaissance this season, grabbing two goals so far and continually being singled out by his manager for his impressive work-rate.

Jay Spearing has found opportunities harder to come by but his cameo off the bench against Brighton last weekend was maybe a timely nudge to his manager going into this weekend’s game at QPR.

Of the other players to feature against Fulham five – Andy Lonergan, Matt Mills, Chung-Yong Lee, Jermaine Beckford, and Craig Davies – have been sold or moved on, while loanees Joe Mason, Owen Garvan and Chris Herd were quickly jettisoned.

Otherwise, Lennon has repackaged the core of a squad that was failing, added a few touches with the limited finances at his disposal, and slowly got things moving in the right direction.

We suspected all along Freedman’s statement at Fulham was incorrect and that the environment around the club, as much as anything else, was holding the team back.

Now, as Lennon approaches a year in charge, his team are starting to provide indisputable proof.