Back to the drawing board as Smith says 'No' to Wolves

Wolves were this afternoon considering their options after Walter Smith rejected the chance to manage the club on a short-term basis.

The 63-year-old had been excited about the prospect of reviving Wolves' fortunes while the club worked behind the scenes to find a long-term successor to Mick McCarthy in the summer.

Chief executive Jez Moxey knows Smith from their days at Rangers together in the early 1990s and the Wolves supremo turned to Ibrox's second most successful manager after being met with a string of disappointments since sacking McCarthy 10 days ago.

And, as a dramatic day of twists unfolded, the longer Smith thought about the offer, reservations about turning around the club's fortunes began to kick in, knowing he would only have been there until the end of the campaign.

Smith, who never met club officials face-to-face, had been in talks with the club over the last few days, and initially 'no' to managing the club on a longer-term basis.

Then he received a call last night asking if he would manage the club until the end of the season and was tempted – only to decide against it knowing he risked possibly closing his glittering career with a relegation on his CV.

"It's true I'm not going," Smith told the Express & Star this afternoon.

"I was totally unsure whether I really wanted to do it or not.

"It was a purely personal thing, nothing to do with Wolves.

"I know Jez and I knew I was more of a fall-back than anything. We didn't even get as far as discussing money.

"There was never a face-to-face meeting and we never discussed finance.

"If someone asks you, you're pleased to be asked, but the longer you think about it, you start to ask yourself whether it was right."

It's understood Wolves turned to Smith after meeting with disappointment elsewhere.

Alan Curbishley turned down the job twice, then they approached Reading and Brighton asking for permission to speak with respective managers Brian McDermott and Gus Poyet.

But they were denied the chance to speak with either of them after McDermott signed a new three-and-a-half year contract while Poyet claimed there was "no decision to make".

Now Wolves have to pick up the pieces and decide where to turn to next, with Steve Bruce and Dave Jones in the frame and current interim boss Terry Connor ready to take it on a short-term basis.