Pressing Issues

Wolves are Barebones

The main defence that O’Neil has publicly expressed is that Wolves sold £112 million worth of players over the summer – starman Pedro Neto and reliable centre-back Max Kilman the most notable departures.

In return, the board chose to acquire a range of prospective talent focusing on the club’s future success.

5 of Wolves’ 6 signings were under the age of 23, with 2 18 year-olds on this list. Essentially, O’Neil has had the rug pulled from underneath him and been handed a tea-towel to sit on as a replacement.

It should be considered that when O’Neil took over prior to the 2023/24 season that Wolves were widely thought of as candidates for relegation. And while they survived, the sale of two of their most experienced players was in retrospect, a premature move.

As a result, attributing Wolves’ situation on 9 points and 19th in the Premier League entirely onto O’Neil is a complete oversight of the many other factors that have contributed to their current mess.

Credit in the Bank

As mentioned, when current West Ham manager Julen Lopetegui was sacked as Wolves boss in 2023, Gary O’Neil’s appointment was discussed in relation to whether he would be able to keep Wolves up.

Not only did the Englishman achieve this, but they finished 14th on 46 points, 20 clear of the relegation places.

His side provided fans with great afternoons out – including victories over Manchester City, Tottenham (twice) and Chelsea (twice) in the Premier League. On days like these, O’Neil’s tactics and man management were talk of the town as some of the best the Premier League had to offer.

Then this season’s fixture list rolled around, and decided that Wolves would play each of Arsenal, Chelsea, Newcastle, Brighton, Aston Villa, Liverpool and Manchester City in their opening 10 games.

Regardless of who was manager, they were almost handed a poor start to the season before it had even begun.

Back to back 2-2 draws against Brighton and Crystal palace followed by victory over Southampton and more impressively a 4-1 thumping of Fulham at Craven Cottage suggested that O’Neil had turned a corner.

Since then it has been followed up by 3 successive losses – including an embarrassing 4-0 defeat to an Everton side who hadn’t scored for 4 games prior to the meeting.

So why is it that yesterday’s statement from the Wolves board that O’Neil will “continue to have our full backing” shouldn’t come as a surprise?

While fans are fed up of the poor results and languishing league position, O’Neil has supposedly been told he will be able to spend in the January transfer window, and the board clearly feel that he remains the right man to turn the ship around.

His tactical nous, understanding of the club and Premier League (as well as a lack of other options) seem to have bought him more time.

If they lose at home to Ipswich on Saturday though, things might get ugly.

Lack of Alternatives

As much as O’Neil has received words of faith and praise from Wolves higher-ups, senior figures at the club are known to have approached various managers as potential replacements for the 41-year-old.

Former Brighton and Chelsea man Graham Potter, as well as the seasoned David Moyes are among the two most high profile names approached for discussion.

This was largely unsuccessful with every preferred candidate declining talks.

If Wolves were to sack O’Neil, the most likely outcome is now that they would appoint James Collins as caretaker manager, and then explore Championship options such as former Wolves player and current Luton Town manager Rob Edwards, or West Brom’s Carlos Corberan.

However, the acquisition of Corberan would involve compensation payments, and Edwards’ Luton are currently fighting in the lower echelons of English football’s second flight, so his stock isn’t exactly high as of present.

As a result, O’Neil appears to remain relatively safe for the time being.