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Stale Solbakken sacked by Wolves

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Wolves have sacked manager Stale Solbakken following their embarrassing FA Cup defeat to non-league Luton.

The club has also terminated the contracts of assistant manager Johan Lange and first-team coach Patrick Weiser.

Head of football development and recruitment Kevin Thelwell and development coach Steve Weaver will take first-team training until a successor is appointed.

It is understood Solbakken was told of the news in a phonecall from the board after his post-match press conference following the 1-0 loss at Kenilworth Road, Wolves' fourth successive defeat.

Poll: Were Wolves right to sack Stale Solbakken?

The early favourites for the job are Doncaster boss Dean Saunders and the man he succeeded at Rovers, Wolverhampton-born Sean O'Driscoll. Former Bolton manager Owen Coyle's odds were slashed from 40-1 to 10-1 on Saturday evening.

Boyhood Wolves fan O'Driscoll would get plenty of votes from fans after proving himself as a good operator on limited resources in the Championship at Doncaster and briefly at Nottingham Forest.

Wolves have already been linked with an approach for former Villa and Liverpool striker Saunders, who has taken Rovers to joint top of League One after being unable to keep the club in the Championship last season.

Whoever gets the job, Wolves will be hoping he makes a better fist of it than Solbakken, who had never managed in English football.

Only on Friday, Solbakken spoke bullishly of the need for a shake-up of the squad and getting rid of the dressing room hierachy.

But he struggled to win over the players, and results and performances were unconvincing from the start, while team spirit sank to a new low. At the heart of Solbakken's problems was his struggle to get the players to adapt to his methods.

On Friday he rounded on a comment by full back Kevin Foley suggesting players need to track back by saying Bakary Sako wanted more passes to him. Players who had been used to all-out effort and pressing high up the pitch under former boss Mick McCarthy were instead told not to go chasing the ball and stay compact.

Solbakken rejected any suggestion from the players of compromising his ideas.

But the end result was some of the worst football played by Wolves in many years, with players either unable or unwilling to carry out what he wanted them to do and the play devoid of passion, flair, width and creativity.

Solbakken was however, unlucky, in that only two of his six signings – Sako and Tongo Doumbia - were fully fit for most of his short tenure, while he never had chance to build his own team.

Speaking after the Luton match, Solbakken had said he was not "embarrassed" by the 1-0 defeat and insisted he remained the man to "put it right" at the club.

But Wolves bosses have clearly taken a different view.

The club are now looking for their fourth boss in less than a year after the departure last February of McCarthy and the brief tenure of Terry Connor.

Wolves, who are next in action at home to Blackburn on Friday in the Championship, will hope to make a quick appointment following the mess they made of selecting McCarthy's successor in February.

And the relatively swift action they have taken over Solbakken suggests they have a plan in place this time.

A statement from Wolves read: "Wolves are currently 18th in the Championship and have won three out of the last 16 league games after a hugely disappointing run of performances and results.

"Head of football development and recruitment Kevin Thelwell will take charge of first team training until a new manager is appointed, assisted by development coach Steve Weaver.

"The club would like to offer their thanks and best wishes to Ståle, Johan and Patrick.

Wolves will be making no further comment to the media at this current time."