Mel Eves: Walter Zenga's dismissal harsh at Wolves

The former Wolves forward, who scored 53 goals in 214 appearances for the club in the late 1970s and early 80s, says there were shoots of promise under the Italian like the recent performance against Villa.

Eves reckons the West Midlands rivals have already snapped up the best possible replacement in Steve Bruce – while other former players have highlighted the high turnover in players Zenga was forced to deal with.

"From the outside looking in, it looks pretty harsh," said Eves. "It's a results business but I do have sympathy with Walter.

"I thought on the whole the fans took to him. As far as dealing with the supporters goes, he has been brilliant.

"He's had a big squad and it seemed the majority of the players had bought into his ideas.

"I went to the Villa game recently and was really impressed. The only thing they didn't get was the result.

"It is incredible how quickly things change and football can be very cruel.

"There were a lot of good things about Walter. Ultimately, he just didn't get enough points on the board."

Don Goodman and Matt Murray reckon the club's aggressive recruitment policy made life difficult for Zenga, especially because he had to gel so many new players into his squad.

The Italian was not involved in the majority of transfers, and there's a feeling he's partly paying the price for mistakes others have made.

"The recruitment has fallen short at Wolves, not just in this regime, but perhaps arguably in previous regimes as well," said Goodman, who scored 39 times for Wolves during a four-year spell in the 1990s.

"They've spent an awful lot of money but they've bought a lot of Portuguese lads in and lads from foreign climes who have never played in the Championship and don't know how relentless it is.

"It hasn't paid dividends.

"Look at who got promoted last year – Sean Dyche, Steve Bruce, and Aitor Karanka – the DNAs of their squads are a million miles away from Wolves and their recruitment.

"It's only Watford – who I can recall in recent years – who have had an awful lot of foreign lads who came in and managed to get promoted."

Goodman's sentiments were echoed by former goalkeeper and fan favourite Murray.

"I can understand why the owners have reacted," he said. "But if I was Walter Zenga I would be saying, 'you bought me 12 new players, you're going to get inconsistent results'.

"There's a lot of guys who haven't played in England. Look at the recruitment at Newcastle, Norwich and Villa, they've all brought in proven Championship players.

"Yes, Wolves spent a lot of money but they haven't bought tried and trusted players.

"We've seen some flashes of brilliance, but sometimes you need to scrap in this league."

Although Murray wished good luck to friend Rob Edwards, who is interim head coach for the time being, he and Goodman backed Wolves fan Sam Allardyce to take over from Zenga.

"Of course he'd be my number one," said Murray. "He knows the history, he knows the area, he knows how to organise a team. If you could get him, he would be fantastic."

Goodman added: "It wouldn't be the worst appointment. Sam was given the task of getting West Ham promoted when they were relegated a few seasons ago.

"While supporters questioned the style of football, you can't question the outcome. They got back into the Premier League at the first time of asking which is no mean feat.

"He knows the template, he knows what it takes to get promoted from the Championship to the Premier League.

"If Wolves can overcome the certain off-field scenarios that have occurred in Sam's life recently then he wouldn't be the worst choice."

However, Eves reckons Wolves will struggle to find someone to match the appointment of Bruce, who has won seven points from a possible nine since joining Villa.

"The one manager I thought they should have got in has already gone down the road to Villa," he said. "It is that type of appointment they need now.

"Whether they will be able to go down that route, or whether the owners would prefer someone who is used to just being a head coach, we don't know."