Express & Star

Wolves can still fight for promotion, says new boss Dean Saunders

New boss Dean Saunders this afternoon insisted Wolves can still save their season and challenge for promotion back to the Premier League.

Published

The bullish manager, who was unveiled this afternoon after leaving Doncaster, reckons the club are not out of the promotion race despite dropping 18th in the Championship.

Wolves sacked Stale Solbakken after Saturday's 1-0 FA Cup exit to Luton capped a run of just three league wins in 16 games.

They are six points above the drop zone and nine points off the top six ahead of Friday's visit of Blackburn and Saunders refused to give up on promotion.

"I'm not going to get carried away looking at the league table. If you get three results it could be completely different," said the ex-Villa striker.

"If you win three games on the trot in any league you are right up there. There is plenty of time to go and I think the players have to realise that, stop feeling sorry for themselves, stop blaming everyone else and get the club back to where it belongs."

Saunders, who won 75 caps for Wales, is Wolves' third manager since they sacked Mick McCarthy just under a year ago and he challenged the players to rediscover their fight.

He said: "What they've had is like going to the best party ever and then waking up with a hangover and you can't get rid of it. Wolves were always up against it in every Premier League game but they rolled their sleeves up, were hard to play against and you knew you were in for a tough game.

"Then you get relegated into the league below and you become the big team. You think you are going to beat everyone in the league. But there are teams like Peterborough, with smaller budgets, in the league and if you're not right mentally you get beaten by everyone.

"We have to get the mentality right and hopefully the talent will eventually come through. If you haven't got the other bit – like what happen at Luton – you will lose. How can Luton beat us? That's not right but I predicted it might happen because I've been at that level.

"We need to make sure if we're not having a good day we don't let the ball in the net as regularly as we have done.

"That needs players with pride and determination - players who are determined to fight for the club."

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.