900 not out: Is Mark McGhee bitter at Wolves?

The 58-year-old is back home in Scotland, having taken charge of Premier League side Motherwell for a second time last October, writes Craig Birch.

He's now looking to join fellow Scots Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Matt Busby, Jock Stein, Jim McLean and Jim Jefferies in achieving the 1,000 milestone.

McGhee will be in the away dugout at Hearts this weekend and still he should have gone on to bigger and better things, even if he's wide of the mark with what he believes would have got him there.

It's been over 17 years since he was fired by Wolves, on Bonfire Night 1998, and he's been in charge of five clubs since, also serving as assistant boss with the Scotland national team to Gordon Strachan.

He never got back to the Premier League after joining Wolves, coming the closest when he led them and later Millwall to the play-off semi finals in what is now the Championship.

He didn't make Wembley on either occasion, Wolves losing to Crystal Palace in 1997 and then Millwall suffering heartbreak against Birmingham four years later.

There was no guarantees he would have won the final on each occasion, in any case, or been with a success with either club in the top-flight.

But he said: "Losing in play-off games were the worst moments of my career. That was painful. These were chances to go into the Premier League and they were life-changing games.

"That is the reason – and don't misinterpret me – why I'm managing Motherwell and not Liverpool.

"If I had won promotion on either of these occasions, the chances are that's the kind of place I would be.

"That's the progression you need to make if you want to manage in the Premier League and I failed to make it so that's why I feel unfulfilled.

"I've always been very much unfulfilled. I'm standing here having managed almost 900 games, but I don't feel as if I've been a success.

"I've not managed in the Premier League in the last 10 years which is what I set out to do, so therefore I still feel that I've got everything to prove and achieve."

The writing was on the wall for him at Molineux after that defeat to Palace, as the honeymoon period ended with owner Sir Jack Hayward.

McGhee had walked out on Leicester City - who were in the Premier League when he arrived - after a year at Filbert Street for Wolves in December 1995, replacing the sacked Graham Taylor.

Sir Jack endured 18 months of patience after, putting up with a 2oth-place finish - the lowest since 1989 - in a write-off first few months.

He wanted no mistake in McGhee's first full season in charge as a promotion campaign was then launched, with ambitions of an automatic spot.

But poor results in the final 10 games allowed Barnsley to nick second place and dumped Wolves into the play-offs, first heading to Palace away.

A 3-1 defeat at Selhurst Park was a blow they didn't recover from and it could have been worse, had Jamie Smith's goal not replied late on.

They won the second leg 2-1 at Molineux, but it wasn't enough as the Eagles soared through on aggregate. Mark Atkins and Adrian Williams' strikes proved in vain.

It took a lot of the gloss off leading Wolves to third place, their highest finish in 13 years, since relegation from the old top-flight in 1983-84.

Sir Jack launched into a tirade when promotion was gone, fuming that he would no longer be "the golden tit" supplying the club with endless finance.

He cut the manager's spending power and also fired his own son Jonathan as chairman, who had been instrumental in bringing McGhee to the club.

He still got another season in charge, though, which again failed to bring promotion as Wolves finished ninth, outside of the play-off picture. An FA Cup semi-final run brought him some respite.

But there was no saving him after an horrendous start to 1998-99. Despite winning his opening four games, the following 12 yielded just two victories.

The axe fell, with his assistant Colin Lee handed the reins as caretaker and then permanently. McGhee managed 156 competitive games for Wolves with 64 wins, 54 defeats and 38 draws.