Express & Star

Steve Bull: Wolves will thrive under Julen Lopetegui

With the news that Julen Lopetegui is staying at Wolves, that’s the start we needed to what will be a long summer.

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The manager was a big point for Wolves, he’s been absolutely brilliant since he came in.

From where we were at Christmas to now, we’re in a brilliant position, and that is down to one man and his coaching staff.

Everything feels stable now – supporters won’t be worrying what is going to happen to the club and whether we’re back to square one again.

We’ve turned a corner with Lopetegui committing to Wolves. It’s a massive bonus for the fans and the players.

It’s good that he’s said he’s staying, the fans will be happy, and now we can see what he can do with a full season.

Hopefully he gets the signings he wants to move the team forward.

He can analyse the team, look at the players he wants to bring in and who he wants to let go.

We have to be careful with Financial Fair Play and what we can bring in, but the club should give Lopetegui what they can to allow him to build the team he wants. He can take us on further than last year.

The fixtures are out now, and it would always be nice to get a newly promoted side for the first game, but it never happens like that.

If we’re going to do it, we’ll do it the hard way. It’s a tough start for Wolves, but there’s plenty of points to pick up.

It’s a long, hard season and I don’t care if we’re starting the season at Manchester United, you still have to go there and play them at some point over 38 games.

You may as well get it out the way and try to catch them when they are still on the beach.

I’m not worried about the start or end of the season at the moment, I’m more worried about getting the summer business done.

I want to see a settled side at the start of pre-season. I know we’re always last to get players in, but I’d love to see a settled team preparing for the season and the fans will say the same.