Jez Moxey: Wolves paid price for loyalty

Wolves chief executive Jez Moxey today hinted for the first time the club got the timing of Mick McCarthy's sacking wrong.

McCarthy was axed in February with 13 games left and in the messy search for his successor, Alan Curbishley and Walter Smith turned the job down, Brian McDermott and Gus Poyet rejected approaches and it's claimed the club did a U-turn on offering it to Steve Bruce.

Terry Connor was eventually handed the post to the end of the season and he has picked up just two points from 10 games as relegation was confirmed with Sunday's 2-0 home defeat by Manchester City.

"What to do, but more importantly, when to do it was probably the most debated point within the club," admitted Moxey when asked about the timing of McCarthy's departure.

"We always knew this was the difficulty with the timing of the decision – there weren't many candidates available with lots of experience to do the job that could have helped us.

"Terry took it because we felt at the time he was the best man of the small number of candidates available.

"People have said maybe we should have gone behind Mick's back and tried to line someone up beforehand.

"Maybe that's the way people work in this business, but we're a loyal organisation and we like to do things properly and professionally."

Moxey also hinted that McCarthy's summer signings had weakened the team. McCarthy splashed out £4.5m on Roger Johnson and £5m on Jamie O'Hara, but Johnson has lost his place after poor form and turning up for training feeling the effects of alcohol and O'Hara has been injured for much of the season.

"We survived by the skin of our teeth last season, and despite spending quite a lot of money in the summer, we performed worse than the season before," said Moxey.