Wolves - where did it all go wrong? Part 3: Managers

This summer marks 10 years since Fosun bought Wolves and in that time they have employed eight different managers.

Walter Zenga and Paul Lambert came and went quickly, before Nuno Espirito Santo enjoyed four impressive years that marked the most successful period in the club’s modern history.

Since Nuno, Wolves have had five managers in five years in a tumultuous spell that has seen the club slowly sink to the bottom of the table.

The environment each manager was working in was not conducive to success, as explored in earlier articles in this relegation series.

But that churn of managers has played a big part in Wolves’ demise.

Bruno Lage

Fellow Portuguese manager Lage was Nuno’s replacement and despite losing his opening three Premier League games 1-0, he was able to have some joy.

Wolves became masters at winning by a slim margin and although the football was not as expansive and exciting as many would have wanted, they were effective.

The remarkable 3-2 win at Villa Park - coming back from 2-0 down in the 80th minute - was a particular highlight as Wolves pushed for European football, before inconsistency got the better of them and they failed to win any of their final seven games, finishing 10th.

Wolves had a disaster with their striking signing the following season when Sasa Kalajdzic suffered a serious knee injury on his debut and Diego Costa was drafted in.

Lage was sacked by early October 2022, following a defeat to West Ham in which he played Ruben Neves at centre-back, and the churn of managers began.

Julen Lopetegui

Consistent mistakes and a poor handling of tough situations was par for the course for chairman Jeff Shi and the club made a mess of signing Lage’s successor.

Lopetegui was reluctant to join due to the poor health of his father and, under the guidance of sporting director Matt Hobbs, Wolves were embarrassed further when they tried to tempt Michael Beale from QPR, but were rejected.

Lopetegui eventually took the job and a general consistency in performances and results saw Wolves climb from the bottom of the table to a 13th-placed finish.

Lopetegui may have gone on to struggle at West Ham, but he is undoubtedly a good and experienced coach who did a tremendous job at keeping Wolves in the Premier League, so for the club to lose him in the way they did in the summer of 2023 was ridiculous.

The atmosphere in pre-season was difficult, with an air of frustration around the club, as they were under strict profit and sustainability restrictions.

Lopetegui, unhappy at the situation, eventually walked away from the job just days before the season started. His decision was based off his understanding that Shi misled him on the funds that would be available.

Gary O’Neil

O’Neil was the surprise replacement for Lopetegui and he quickly overcame the concern from supporters at his appointment, by playing some decent football.

Wolves beat Manchester City, Chelsea and Spurs at home, as well as a superb 4-2 win away to Chelsea. In the meantime, they also made history by beating Albion at the Hawthorns in the FA Cup in a huge fixture.

O’Neil was showing plenty of promise and was arguably overachieving with the squad he had, before the late collapse against Coventry in the FA Cup when Wolves were minutes away from going to Wembley, completely derailed the season.

They won just one of the final 10 Premier League games and slipped to 14th in the table.

O’Neil was given a new contract in August 2024 and in what will be a recurring theme, it was far too early. In hindsight, O’Neil should have been under pressure to perform in the months that followed and should have earned that contract.

However, Pedro Neto and Max Kilman were also sold from underneath him without adequate replacements and the squad was unbalanced.

O’Neil is proving at Strasbourg that he is a good coach, but he was also given too long before his sacking in December.

Wolves waited until November for their first league win and the final nail in the coffin eventually came with a 4-2 defeat at Molineux to Bournemouth, in which Jose Sa had a furious confrontation with supporters, before the 4-0 loss at Everton and 2-1 defeats to West Ham and Ipswich.

The final game to the newly promoted Tractor Boys saw Wolves concede a late equaliser, sparking angry scenes and red cards at full-time, as O’Neil lost control.

Vitor Pereira

As Shi rolled the dice again, he required another firefighter to come in and sort out his mess, resulting in Pereira’s appointment.

He made a good start with consecutive wins and later made history with six consecutive Premier League victories, as Wolves survived relegation and finished in 16th.

But last summer Wolves had a dreadful transfer window as they sold stars such as Matheus Cunha and Rayan Ait-Nouri and recruited six players who did not know the Premier League.

It is understood Pereira was considering his future due to how bad the summer was going - and he was even approached by Nottingham Forest at the time, who would go on to appoint him in January this year.

Wolves had lost their opening four Premier League games when Pereira was given a new three-year deal in September - another example of rewarding failure and getting your timing badly wrong.

The club lost 3-2 to Burnley in late October, to another last minute winner, which sparked angry scenes as Pereira addressed furious fans in the South Bank. That was the turning point and he was sacked a week later.

Rob Edwards

Wolves had another fairly embarrassing moment when Shi turned to former boss O’Neil as Pereira’s replacement and as talks advanced quickly, the Englishman eventually turned it down.

Edwards took over and although he inherited a damaged team that was not fit for purpose, he also failed to have any new manager bounce and lost his opening seven games.

There were improvements in some performances, such as away to Villa and Arsenal, but dire displays and defeats to Brentford and Nottingham Forest stick in the memory.

Edwards has since made Wolves more solid and competitive in general, but the last two defeats to West Ham and Leeds have shown there is a lot more work to do, as relegation was confirmed.

Do not miss part 4 tomorrow, where we look at what is next for Wolves following relegation.