Wolves comment: No one avoids blame as disaster looms large

"Let me tell you something my friend – hope is a dangerous thing," Morgan Freeman's character Red tells Andy Dufresne in the Shawshank Redemption. "Hope can drive a man insane."

The white coats are on standby at Molineux, writes Wolves correspondent Tim Spiers.

There was plenty of hope in the WV1 air last July when Fosun heralded a new dawn at Wolves with statements of making them one of the biggest clubs in the world. Or, at the very least, in the Premier League as soon as possible – preferably by the end of this season.

Wolves may well be in a different division in 2017/18, but...well you can finish that line for yourself.

How on earth has it come to this?

Since Fosun's arrival an estimated £27m – plus loan fees and a massive bump in wages – has been splurged bringing in no fewer than 14 new signings. Wolves have smashed their transfer record twice and amassed a group of players with more pure footballing quality than the club's Premier League squads, according to nine-year veteran David Edwards.

Yet they currently sit 20th in the Championship table – seven places worse off than this time last season – and are just four points above the safety line.

They have the worst home record in the division, below Rotherham United and Wigan.

Indeed, only Newport County and Leyton Orient, the worst two teams in the land, have accrued fewer points at home in the EFL. And only three teams – Newport (six), Charlton and Villa (both 10) have won fewer home games than Wolves' 11 since the start of 2015/16.

The fact four of Wolves' next five matches are away from home could be a blessing, but first up it's high-flying Reading away (just two defeats in 17 home games this season). On the same day relegation rivals Bristol City host Burton and Wigan travel to Blackburn.

Rovers also face Derby tonight, while Bristol City are at Villa.

Without getting all apocalyptic, if results don't go Wolves' way in the coming days then the proverbial will hit the fan.

Who is to blame for this quite phenomenal disarray? The kind of disarray Wolves fans will tell you could only happen to them.

Well the easier question is 'who isn't to blame?'...because the answer is nobody.

Whether it's Fosun running before they could crawl with some impetuous mismanagement, spending money like it was about to go extinct on players with no Championship experience and hiring a manager with, yep, no Championship experience before giving him 17 games to work it all out, or Zenga himself whose team selections and dreadful man management baffled staff and players, blame lies everywhere.

There's the hangover from last season. Momentum was lost at the start of 2015/16 when Steve Morgan spent frivolously compared to Wolves' Championship rivals. And a number of players who came in (Sheyi Ojo, Grant Holt, Nathan Byrne, Jed Wallace, Adam Le Fondre) made no impact, quelling the momentum from a seventh placed finish the year before.

Kevin Thelwell oversaw those signings and his failure to land a prolific striker since Benik Afobe's departure 13 months ago (despite plenty of advanced warning that Afobe wanted to leave) is a big black mark. The record of Wolves' strikers since the start of 2016 is embarrassing, laughable and pathetic.

Eight forwards/strikers (Le Fondre, Bjorn Sigurdarson, Joe Mason, Bright Enobakhare, Nouha Dicko, Paul Gladon, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson and Michal Zyro) have made 147 appearances in that time. Between them they've netted 13 goals. How on earth has this not been addressed?

As for Paul Lambert, yes he oversaw a fantastic FA Cup run which showed Wolves' potential, but it papered over cracks he hasn't yet filled such as their inability to break defensive teams down.

No one escapes censure.

Not least the players, particular some of the less experienced ones whose professionalism is under serious question after many of them performed like future Premier League players against Stoke, Liverpool and Chelsea before looking like League One cloggers at best against Burton, Wigan and Blues.

To start the Wigan and Blues games with such nonchalance and, perhaps, complacency, suggests too many of them lack the desire to be consistent winners at this level.

The last thing Wolves want is another large turnover of players this summer, but a number of them are doing their best to suggest a clearout may be necessary. The next two months are a last chance for many, because Fosun won't accept mediocrity and will be ruthless in their demands for change.

Lambert has tended to put a positive spin on things. You can see why – he wants an uplifted club to be looking up the table rather than down with everyone pulling together while forging that crucial player-supporter bond.

But when things are going badly that positivity will grate with a fanbase that calls a spade a spade.

And there's absolutely no sugar-coating the fact that Wolves have just endured, statistically, the worse February in their entire history.

Five defeats, three of them of the fairly disastrous variety (two fellow relegation candidates and another to a local rival) from five matches is dreadful. At least Wolves are finally consistent.

So there are the many problems...what are the solutions?

From a football and results sense Zenga was sacked too soon, although behind-the-scenes issues were what did for him. The same notion of not being given nearly enough time, despite growing fears from an increasingly anxious and angry fanbase, can be said of Lambert's current position.

Hiring and firing managers at will is not the answer. Lambert, who is clearly more disgruntled with his players than he lets on, needs the summer at least to mould a winning team. Any manager needs a full pre-season to properly implement their philosophies and ideas.

If Wolves have the Lambert who masterminded a miracle at Norwich then they are onto a good thing and any talk of him not being the man to sort this out is premature. One bad month shouldn't change that - but Lambert, like any manager, needs results, for that's what he'll be ultimately judged on.

While many will point out that Zenga and Lambert's league records are similar, it's difficult to compare managers with wildly contrasting styles.

For example, the pair couldn't have more differing views on players like Jack Price, Romain Saiss, Bright Enobakhare and Cameron Borthwick-Jackson. The same can be said of their opinion of the club's hugely talented youngsters – who Zenga took absolutely no interest in despite them being right under his nose.

Uncomfortable comparisons with the last time Wolves fell apart at the seams are increasing, what with a player(s) unable to train and sent home, or a foreign manager with new ideas hired and disposed with before a relegation to League One with an expensively-assembled squad.

But this time, crucially, this doesn't feel like a club imploding amid squad in-fighting and a delusional manager in charge.

Until this frightful February it felt like a club on the up. Five successive defeats have been a sobering reality check – there is so much work to do.

Sources suggest that the immature indiscretions of Kortney Hause and Jordan Graham are a one-off, and not indicative of a dressing room in turmoil. Indeed, the squad are said to be supportive of Lambert's methods.

Lambert says he knows the problems. He was talking of big changes even when things were going well in January, after victories over Stoke, Liverpool, Villa and Barnsley. He'll want players who can fit his high-intensity and high-pressing attacking style and is now finding out who can and can't do it.

He needs short-term fixes in the coming weeks before a chance to rebuild on and off the field in the summer.

Whether Fosun give him the opportunity to do that, we're about to find out.

Either way, if Wolves don't buck up their ideas and address what could be an impending disaster they'll be needing a Shawshank-style great escape to avoid a League One reunion. Relegation is almost unthinkable, but it's a real possibility.