Terry Connor breaks his silence
Assistant boss Terry Connor has broken his long silence to insist Wolves must prove last season was not a one-off.
Assistant boss Terry Connor has broken his long silence to insist Wolves must prove last season was not a one-off.
Having served under four managers at Molineux – Colin Lee, Dave Jones, Glenn Hoddle and now Mick McCarthy - the No 2 is well-placed to assessed the changes that have taken place at the club.
The 47-year-old has rarely given interviews in his 11 years at Molineux, but after a year in the Premier League, the Yorkshireman is confident enough to declare his belief that the club will need to build on last season's 15th-placed finish.
He said: "We now have to prove that last season wasn't a one-off and that we deserve to be there on merit. And that we can stay there and progress as a football club.
"At the same time we quickly moved on to this season, thinking about how to strengthen the squad and give the lads more help to try to achieve more.
"We know the challenge will be just as difficult to maintain Premier League status, but we'll be doing everything we can to push the club forward and make further strides."
For all his hard work on the training ground, Connor's low public profile is belied by his generosity at the men who achieved survival – the players.
He said: "We can only tell the players and show them so much. They have to go out there and do it, so to achieve safety with two games to spare was a great credit to them.
"We know it's the players that did it but they needed a helping hand and the gaffer was fantastic that way in guiding them through.
"We've both been to the Premier League before, not stayed there and for Wolves to achieve it last season was a big feather in the gaffer's cap."
When the bad times came last season with the heavy defeats against Chelsea and Arsenal and the demoralising setbacks against Blackburn and Birmingham, you need a motivator.
But you don't get to work under four high profile managers without having plenty about you and Connor's natural effervescence is key to keeping spirits high.
He said: "It's the best bit for me being out there working on the training pitch – I enjoy it more than ever.
"Some days you come in and you might have lost the last game, but you've still got to work with the players and get things going.
"When you win you can see the smiles on their faces and what it means for those lads. That's what keeps us all going and chipping away to find the next answer for any problem.
"If there's any negativity around it soon festers and it soon drags you down. There has to be positive energies."
