Morgan: Netting Stale is a coup

Wolves fought off interest from two Champions League teams to land Stale Solbakken, according to chairman Steve Morgan.

Solbakken was unveiled as Wolves' first foreign manager yesterday after signing a one-year rolling contract.

The Norwegian's last post at Cologne ended in disappointment and ultimately the sack amid a record similar to Wolves this season.

Locked in a power struggle with the club's sporting director who signed a player without his consent, he also struggled to introduce a zonal marking system to established players.

But before and after a turbulent few months at a German club that had 26 managers in 25 years, Solbakken had carved an impressive reputation as one of Europe's finest coaches at Copenhagen, who he led to five Superliga titles in six years, a Danish Cup and the highest Champions League placing that country has ever achieved.

Morgan shook hands with Solbakken at a room in Manchester airport after he interviewed him himself.

And the Molineux supremo insists Wolves have achieved something of a coup.

"At the time (he went to Cologne), he had three different Bundesliga clubs after him," he said.

"He had two clubs involved in the Champions League next season after him this time.

"They are from northern Europe and regularly involved in Champions League football.

"In the last few days we were aware of other clubs' interest, but Stale is a man of his word and we'd shaken hands at the beginning of the week.

"So I think it was quite a coup for him to come to Wolves.

"There's nobody out there with a track record that comes anywhere near his."

The appointment signals a change in direction for the club which looks like eventually leading Wolves to introduce a European-type infrastructure similar to how arch rivals Albion operate, with a sporting director, who the club will call a football development director.

"It needed to change – we needed a different coach around with fresh ideas," said Morgan. "We believe we've got our man.

"He will bring a steely determination to Wolves."

Morgan granted outgoing manager Terry Connor an interview on the back of his impressive handling of tricky issues behind the scenes, and the introduction of David Davis.

But he accepted that results dictated he couldn't remain in the hotseat.

"We did give Terry an interview but it's a results-led business and results weren't good over the last 13 games, but he did have some good achievements," he said.

"He was brave enough to give three youngsters their debuts, which hadn't been happening, but was something myself and Jez (Moxey) strongly welcomed.

"We've invested a lot in the academy and it was great to see three youngsters make their debuts.

"But our number one choice was Stale.

"We wanted to get him in place early so he had the full summer to look at players to bring in, to analyse players we have and to see who he wanted to keep."

Morgan said he has been aware of Solbakken for several years, and would have appointed him when he sacked Mick McCarthy if he had been available.

In the end, he approached him soon after the 44-year-old left Cologne on April 12.